We believe that a good corporate vision describes in great detail what success looks like. We believe that it should be used as a planning tool and not as a marketing slogan or motivational tool. Over the past several years Meeting Facilitators International has been using a new approach to creating a vision statement.
If we don’t agree on what success looks like, we won’t be able to agree on the best way to get there. The purpose of this step is to help the client, in this case an imaginary ABC Inc., develop a shared vision of success. The approach works with not-for-profit as well as for profit organizations. It is also very useful with divisions or groups within a company, particularly when there is a new manaegment team. To do this we use the “miracle question.” (We modify this question depending on the situation.)
Imagine that today’s session is over and that you go home and that later tonight you go to bed and go to sleep. While you are asleep a miracle occurs. The miracle has changed ABC Inc. such that you have achieved the success that you desire. All of your problems are gone, and all that you desire has been realized. Everyone within ABC Inc. is thrilled with the results that are achieving. Not only are you an overnight success, but in a single night three year’s worth of progress has taken place. Your customers, suppliers, employees and owners couldn't be happier. The only ones who are unhappy are your competitors who are now benchmarking themselves against you and desperately seeking ways to catch up.
Now the problem is that you were asleep when this occurred, so that you don’t know that a miracle has occurred. Tell me, what is that you will see when you return to work that will let you know that there has in fact been a miracle, and that the ABC Inc. has made all of this progress and has achieved this tremendous success. Be specific. What would you see? What would be happening? What would people be saying?
People are asked to record on post it notes each of their observations. The more tangible and visible these observations are the better. The post it notes are then collected and posted on flip charts on the wall. (Duplicates will be eliminated.) Once all of the observations have been recorded we then use a group sorting process to cluster the observations into themes. These themes are then be labeled. (The facilitator needs to work closely with the group here to make sure that the labels are complete and compelling. The theme headings need to stand on their own. One word statements aren't good enough.) Once the labelling has been completed the group will have a detailed description of what success looks like. When we read back just the top line themes to the group and ask -- Is this what success looks like? -- The answer we get is a resounding yes.
As always the next steps are going to depend on the client and on what else is being done in the enagement.
One very common next steps would be to complete a scaling activity to score how close the organization is to the vision of success today. A lot can be learned not only from the individual scores that people give the organization, but from the range of the scores and people's reasons for this range as well. The facilitator needs to work closely with the group to keep the group from getting bogged down, while still helping the group understand and learn from the different perspectives.
Another very common next step would involve a priority setting exercise to determine priorities for improvement. It is great if we can agree on where we want to get to and where we are today. It is even better if we can agree on our priorities for improvement so that we can focus our efforts and make progress as quickly as possible.
For more details on this and our entire approach to strategic planning why not contact us?