HOW TO WRITE A VISION STATEMENT

You see where you want to be but how are you going to get there? You are on a journey to your goal but the image of the trip is vague. You need an image or a vision of the goal and the trip. A team vision is the collection of action points which keep the journey on track and in sight. A vision statement suggests the scenery or landmarks on the road toward the mission. Whatever your organization's mission, the vision is the how, what, and wherefore of the process to keep on track. An easy way to increase risk for emotional spinning is to turn a team into a band of wandering emotional nomads. Employees on a mission with no map are at a greater risk for an Emotional Terrorist ambush . Emotional Terrorists are keen to employ lost and vulnerable employees into their own mission process and have creative ways to sell their vision agenda. Managers need to lead the way with simple to understand maps and visions of the journey.

A way to create one kind of vision map is to try the following exercise with your team:

1. Each team member writes ten simple and clear positive words that describe the essence of your mission. (i.e. Compassion, Service, Winning, Satisfaction, Health, Money, Delicious Food, Clean Engines, Best of Show, Fast, Excellence, Famous, Safety, etc.)

2. Throw all the words in a hat.

3. Rank order the top ten words.

4. Break into groups and randomly assign each group one word

5. Take that word and develop a positive phrase and action statement for each word

6. Take all those collective efforts and put them together to make The Grand Vision Statement. Then the team can vote for the directive vision statement based on the Grand Vision Statement.

Example : If one of the top ten words was VISION, a group could take that word and make a symbolic vision statement using the letters of the word:

V	Visualize the Future (We are Moving from the Past through the Present into the Future) Proposed action Proposed action Proposed action
I	Intentions (Our intentions are to work for a Higher Purpose choosing Light over Darkness and being our best selves) Proposed action Proposed action Proposed action
S	Stop all Sabotage (Our journey is a long one, so we will discourage all behavior which sabotages our successful arrival at destination) Proposed action Proposed action Proposed action
I	I and Thou (We take care of ourselves and each other) Proposed action Proposed action Proposed action
O	Owning the Process (We are stakeholders in this mission and own the process we develop) Proposed action Proposed action Proposed action
N	Naming the Mission (We name our Mission "Service" and make a commitment to find new ways to provide it for our clients ) Proposed action Proposed action Proposed action