Vision Building Exercise

Purpose of this exercise

A clear, shared vision for the business is essential.  It informs strategic decision-making, underpins performance of the management team and is the basis of effective communication to employees and staff.

This exercise helps you and your colleagues describe your vision for the business in a semi-standardised way.  This will allow you to compare different perspectives as a team and so come to a common vision.

Instructions

Appoint someone to keep track of time.

Read the guidelines below then write down your vision for the business.  Check back against the guidelines to see that you have incorporated them as far as possible.  Read it out to the rest of the team and discuss.

Guidelines - what makes a good Vision Statement?

-          It must be motivating for you.  It must be something that you think is worth achieving and which matches your values and beliefs

-          It should describe a particular point in time.  This might be when you plan to exit or when you plan to achieve “success” as you see it.  It should have a date

-          It should describe what the business will be in concrete terms – how large, what it will be known for, what it will be able to do

-          It should have a personal goal that describes how you will be spending your life.  This might include your working life or your personal life or the options you would have by then

-          It should have some concrete financial dimension – usually sale value, turnover or profit

Discussion
Appoint someone to take notes on a whiteboard or flipchart.

As each person’s vision is explained, look for areas of commonality and difference.  Are the differences fundamental or simply differences of degree?  Where are people’s values appearing?

Coalesce the discussion into bullet points – don’t worry about the detailed wording now.  Check these bullet points against the guidance above.  They will form the skeleton of your Vision Statement