In workplace terms, a ‘vision’ is the end goal that an organisation wishes to achieve as a result of all of its work and interactions with its clients. An organisation’s vision can differ from ‘being ranked the number one retailer in Australia’ to something smaller in nature such as, ‘to have a united team that improves revenue by 2% by the end of the financial year.’ The end vision should be whatever suits your business the best.

Research has shown that if employees are able to establish an emotional connection with the vision as set by the organisation, there is a higher success rate in actually achieving that vision.

Below are steps which are critical in creating an emotionally compelling vision. It is important that you discuss this as a team as this will enable team members to feel ownership and ‘buy into’ their future team success. It is often helpful to have a facilitator to guide team members and ensure they stay focused throughout this process.

Creating a Vision

1. Identify what the work team would ideally like to experience in the future.
2. Identify what the work team would like to achieve together in the future.
3. Identify how the team would seek to accomplish this.
4. Discuss what has been identified and how they should be combined to create a final ‘vision’.

Once an idea of a team vision has been established, it is important that the team discuss and identify the details they need to know that will help them in achieving the vision.

The facilitator should then lead the team through the following simple, but structured process.

1.      Identify the team’s key stakeholders.
2.      Think from an outsider’s point of view what the ideal experience of working with the team would look like.
3.      From point two, discuss and identify a list of words that describe this ideal scenario.
4.      Prioritise the list of words together as a team.
5.      Develop several short and catchy phrases from the prioritised list, and then the team must reflect on these for a couple of days.
6.      Two days later, come together as a team and decide which phrase should describe their vision.Remember, when creating a vision make sure that all team members are involved in the process and understand the outcome.

Remember, when creating a vision make sure that all team members are involved in the process and understand the outcome.