A Short Stack PPT Developed by the Center for Strategic Change

at George Fox University

Developing a Compelling Vision Statement

The Center for Strategic Change at George Fox University has a simple mission: To help college and university leaders succeed.

We will accomplish this mission by serving as both a platform and resource for strategic innovation. As a platform, we will provide current practitioners an opportunity to present their ideas and insights to the higher education community.

As a resource, we will provide curated content in the areas of leadership, visioning, strategic planning, and organizational design.

ShortStack: A ShortStack is a concise, 25 slides or so, PowerPoint presentation that focuses on a specific topic or issue. ShortStacks are designed to brings teams up to speed on a specific topic or issue.

Vision-Centric Strategic Planning

This book will serve as the foundation for this presentation

www.strategypublishing.com

Without vision, people perish. – Proverbs 29:18

There is no more powerful engine driving an

organization toward excellence and long-range success than an attractive,

worthwhile, and achievable vision of the future that is

widely shared. – Burt Nanus

Included on any list of why strategic plans fail is the lack of a compelling vision.

What Is a Vision A vision is a realistic, credible, compelling and shared future for

your organization.

A vision statement answers the question, “What will success look like?”

Importance of a Vision Statement Karl Albrecht uses the image of “the

northbound train” to describe the importance of a vision to an organization.

A northbound train conveys an unwavering commitment to a particular direction.

The idea of a moving train also conveys a strong sense of momentum – of unstoppable, implacable movement toward an unambiguous direction or goal.

A Vision Is Not … A mission. Missions describe why you do what you do; visions describe where

you are going. A mission is your raison d'être.

Factual. Great visions are inspirational.

While they may have factual elements, they are designed to inspire.

All inclusive. Rather, it focuses and limits.

Philosophical. Instead, it is intuitive and declarative.

Static. Visions are dynamic. They are always slightly out of reach. They lean forward.

Your whole story. Rather, it is just enough of your story that people say, “Tell me more.”

Overcoming the Gravity Issue People in organizations tend to orbit

the familiar and the safe.

Because of this, a vision must be compelling enough to pull people out of their comfortable orbits.

To do so, a vision must create a sense or urgency around a more enticing view of the future.

Attributes of a Great Vision Imaginable. It defines the optimal desired future state and provides a mental picture of

what an organization wants to achieve over time.

Directional. It functions as the "northbound train” and offers clear direction.

Appropriate. It builds on your mission and core values.

Desirable. It appeals to the long-term interest of those who have a stake in the enterprise.

Differentiating. Your vision compellingly distinguishes you from your top competitors.

Feasible. Your vision contains realistic and attainable goals. Communicable. Your vision is easy to communicate and can be explained quickly. Vivid. Your vision is written succinctly in an inspirational manner that makes it easy for all

employees to repeat it at any given time.

MLK “I Have a Dream” Speech Likely one of the best vision

statements ever

Delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

The speech is 17 minutes long and imagines a future that inspired millions.

How Compelling Are the Following Visions? Oxfam: A just world without poverty

XXYYZZ College, a respected leader in Pennsylvania, will be nationally recognized for our commitment to student success and excellence in teaching, empowering learners to enrich the social, cultural and economic vitality of our region and the global community.

U of Phoenix: Education for busy adults

How compelling is your current vision statement?

Developing a Compelling Vision

An Eight-Step Visioning Process1. Assemble the vision team.2. Create the master planning calendar.3. Listen and learn.4. Identify your “compellings.”5. Write the first draft of your vision statement.6. Solicit input.7. Revise and refine your vision statement.8. Adopt and communicate.

Assemble the Team The process begins with the creation, by the president, of the

visioning team. In most cases the team includes the senior team, as well as

faculty leadership. Depending on your specific context, the team may or may not include alumni, trustees and donors.

Ideally, you want to keep the team as small as possible. Remember, though, that while not everyone should be on

the team, everyone should be represented by someone on the team.

Create the Master Planning Calendar Next, the team creates the master planning

calendar.

This calendar shows how long the planning process will take and highlights key milestones.

Listen and Learn Next, the team reviews existing mission, core values, and

vision statements (your strategic core) and holds interviews with internal stakeholders and external audiences.

Other, more formal research is likely to be conducted at this time.

Part of the “listen and learn” often includes reviewing the vision statements of competing schools and other institutions and organizations.

Identify Your Compellings At this point you should begin to identify your “compellings,” those

qualities and characteristics that are of keen interest to both your internal and external audiences.

Remember, the goal is compelling and not merely distinctive. The size of your library may be distinctive, but students increasingly

use libraries for other things beyond checking out books. A very high medical school placement rate is compelling.

A list of sample visioning questions may be found in Appendix A.

Write the First Draft of Your Vision Statement Now it is time to write first draft of the new vision. After this draft is completed,

the team asks itself:

Does this vision statement clarify who we are and what we value?

Is the vision simple, obvious and intuitive?

Will this vision change us? If so, how?

Will this vision be durable enough to help us meet the challenges ahead?

Does it differentiate us from key competitors in ways that our most important audiences will find compelling?

Will it inspire and motivate?

Solicit Input After the vision statement is refined in the previous step, it is now

time to “walk” the draft vision around campus and solicit input from faculty, staff and others.

This step is important for two reasons: It increases the likelihood that the vision will be accepted among

key campus constituencies and key external audiences. The iterative nature of Step 6 is a great refining process.

Many of the questions asked in the previous step are asked again. Of particular interest is this question: Will this vision overcome the

gravity issue?

Revise and Refine Your Story

With input from internal and external audiences, the visioning team develops a final draft.

Care must be taken at this step not to be distracted by wordsmithing. Too much wordsmithing can squeeze the life out of a great vision statement.

Adopt and Communicate At this point the vision is formally adopted by the campus

community and then aggressively communicated to both internal and external audiences over time.

A handy formula will help you understand the importance of communicating your vision:

Vision + Communication = Shared Purpose

Communicate widely, often, and with creativity.

A Vision Checklist An ideal vision…

Provides clear direction Builds on institutional history,

culture, and core values Institutionally intuitive

Prioritizes Is clear, understandable (simple) and explainable Is achievable within existing resource base Is exciting Provides a point of compelling differentiation Will attract resources (talent, students and donated dollars)

Appendix A – Sample Visioning Questions Why were you founded? Do the reasons for your founding still exist? If you were founded today, what would you stand for? If you would go out of business today, who would miss you? What one word currently describes you? What one word do you wish would

describe you? What part of your story do you have the most difficulty telling? Proving? Why do people give to your institution? Why do your best faculty and staff stay? What is the thing about your institution that your competitors wish

they had/could do/could say? What are your competitive advantages?