Businessdictionary.com defines the vision statement as the “aspirational description of what an organization would like to achieve or accomplish in the mid-term or long-term future. It is intended to serves as a clear guide for choosing current and future courses of action.”
A vision statement is a tool used by organizations and individuals to develop a vision through a concrete step by step process. It summarizes the past, defines the future, and sets a course of action. Writing a vision statement forces a person or an organization to consider the past juxtaposed against the future.
Vision Statement – Examine the Past
To walk sure-footed into the future, it is necessary to understand the past. Therefore, the first step to writing a vision statement is to examine one’s past. Comprehending one’s past clarifies and sheds light on where the future might lead.
Uncovering the past starts by developing a list of significant life events or turning points laid out in a timeline format or listed sequentially. The key to this exercise is to see how each event is connected, how experience A led to experience B. Once the list or timeline is complete, the next step is to write one or two defining words next to each experience. What is significant about the event? Are there reoccurring themes or patterns? Does anything stand out?
Another way to examine the past is to list great successes and failures along with the contributing factors to each. Strengths and weaknesses become apparent through this type of exercise. In addition, writing a short article about one’s accomplishments, dreams, motivations, and wishes brings clarity to what is really important and what one really wants to accomplish. Writing thoughts out helps to set them in concrete and makes them tangible.
Examining the past accomplishes more than uncovering strengths and weaknesses. It reveals one more important piece of the vision statement – passion. Max Lucado in his book Cure for the Common Life calls this reading “your life backwards” (2005, p 147). In doing this, areas of passion, excitement, and energy begin to emerge and become clear.
Vision Statement – Identify the Vision
The exciting part of writing a vision statement begins with a brainstorm session where ideas and thoughts free flow without self-editing. This is the opportunity to explore what one really wants to accomplish, to see done, or how one envisions the future. It can be as simple as “providing the monthly financial metrics within five business days after month end close” or as expansive as “growing the business base 5% each quarter while enhancing team unity and productivity.” The sky is the limit for the first draft. This is the time to let thoughts flow without censure. Once the first draft is created, it’s time to edit and to pull the thoughts into a tightly written statement that will energize and inspire the people who hear it.
Writing a vision statement requires commitment. Periodically, it’s necessary to take it out for a review and tweaking in light of new information. The discipline it takes to produce the document is worth the effort as people begin to catch the vision.
Katherine Melvin - Katherine has focused on writing and the creative arts since childhood. She writes poems, essays, articles, poems for children, and short ...
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