Vision Statements

Message from the textbook
I would suspect that there would be a certain amount of cynicism felt by some as a discussion about vision is commenced. There is no doubt that there is a great deal of ‘fad surfing’ that has occurred in regard to developing corporate visions. Often the concept of a vision is poorly defined, which means it is just difficult to know what it is. Then from there, it can be poorly communicated, which leads to further distancing from even the concept of a vision. For some, a vision is just fanciful and impractical and hence its significance and application becomes irrelevant to what is done in the workplace. Yet it is contended that having a vision is one of the greatest contributors to successful change in organizations. In fact it may be that vision is equally important to any key change in our life; be it work, home or extra-curricula activities.

The concept of a vision describes a statement that:

· Is possible.
· Just could be achieved if we stretched ourselves.
· Is relevant.
· Can be effectively communicated with passion, and imparts desire to ‘go for it’.
· Is understandable to primarily those within the organization and yet also can spark the interest of those outside the organization!

Ahh so that is all that is needed!!   Why didn’t we know that before!

Well with just a brief glance and then further consideration of the list above we can grasp just how carefully a vision needs to be crafted. Yet crafted it must be. When considering a major change, a change that will be widely felt throughout the organization, the harder it is to craft this vision so that it will fit the above criteria. If we are managing change within a small department the vision may not be as hard to craft (and more often than not it is overlooked!), but a vision of where the change is taking us should still be crafted.

In some versions of the book, The Bible, it declares that ‘for a lack of vision, the people perish’. The idea is that the vision...