Jan

10

The Key Elements of a Compelling Vision

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An article by Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner “The Vision Thing: Without It You’ll Never Be a World-Class Organization” provides some insights into the key elements of a compelling vision which includes:

  • A Significant purpose: Purpose is your organization’s reason for existence. It answers the question “Why?” rather than just explaining what you do. It clarifies-from your customer’s viewpoint-what business you are really in.
  • A picture of the future: What will the future look like if you are living according to your purpose? A picture of the end result should not be vague. It should be something you can actually see.
  • A Clear set of values: Values provide guidelines on how you should proceed as you pursue your purpose and picture of the future. They answer the questions, “What do I want to live by?” and “How?” They need to be clearly described so you know exactly what behaviors demonstrate that the value is being lived. They need to be consistently acted on or they are only good intentions. How do you want people to behave when they are working according to your purpose and on your picture of the future? Fewer than 10 percent of organizations around the world have clear, written values. Most organizations that do have values either have too many values or they are not rank ordered. Research shows that people can’t focus on more than three or four values or those values will not really have an impact on behavior. Also, values must be rank ordered to be effective. Why? Because life is about value conflicts. When these conflicts arise, people need to know which value they should focus on.

How does your vision stack up? Do you have these three elements as part of your vision?

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One Response to “The Key Elements of a Compelling Vision”

  1. How do you know when your vision is working….? on February 25th, 2007 20:43

    [...] are responsible for creating a compelling vision, I’ve previously posted on the key elements of a compelling vision as consisting of; a significant purpose, a picture of the future and a clear set of values. Many [...]

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