In the third part of my journey on Vision, Mission and Values I will be discussing Vision in detail and presenting to tools and techniques to assist with this. For a review of what I have already discussed please see my previous articles in this series. Vision, Mission and Values – Part 1: Overview and Vision, Mission and Values – Part 2: Values and Beliefs
Overview:
What are Values, Vision and Mission? These are tools designed to focus and guide to you in your life’s goals. We create these so that we can measure our daily actions and insure that we are on track with where we want to go. With these we are able to take a critical look at what we are doing, where we are putting our energy, and decide if it is assisting us in getting where we want or if we are doing something that will hinder us.
What is a vision? A vision describes where you want to go either personally or organizationally. It must be inline with your values and cannot contradict these values. This does not mean that visioning won’t affect your values. While visioning you may discover that it provides clarity and changes or re-prioritizes your values. This is OK. None of these guiding tools are written in stone. If you find that they don’t work for you then take the time to re-evaluate and modify them so that they are in line with who you are and the direction you want to travel. These statements are likely to shift over time as we our selves develop and grow in ways we did not anticipate.
Stephen Covey often draws a parallel between the United States Constitution and a Mission Statement. He notes that sometimes changes to the Mission statement may be required if it no longer serves us. The US Constitution has since been amended twenty-seven times, the first ten amendments being known as the Bill of Rights. So as we develop and create this guiding tools for our selves it has to be ok to amend them as times change.
NOTE: Personally I feel that when we create these items we should work with them for a significant period of time before changing them otherwise we won’t get closer to our goals. I don’t have a set period of time in mind for my self, but I feel that I must try and make these work prior to changing them.
What are the Elements of a Vision? These can and should be unique to each situation a vision is developed for. For my personal vision statement I will seek to answer the following questions.
Personal
* How does your life look in 5 years, 10 years, 25 years, and at the end?
* Where will you be living?
* What have you achieved in this time?
* How have you grown personally and spiritually?
* How are you a better person?
* What are doing in your non-work time?
* How do you feel about your life?
* How much is your personal income?
Questions to ask around Visioning.
- Why are you creating a vision? Create a vision because you want it, not because everyone has one. The value of a vision should be in its ability to provide direction.
- Don’t be afraid to change it. If the current vision is not working and does not inspire you then, throw it out! Decide what you want and start making it happen.
- Keep it Simple. It will not serve you if you can’t remember your vision and where you are going. So short and memorable is far more beneficial.
- Focus: It may be necessary to have a multi-layered vision. Some people think you should not have a vision that is too grandiose as you won’t be able to achieve it. For example ‘World Peace’. It is suggested that you bring this down to something that you can see and get too. For my self I have a feeling that having a grandiose vision can be very inspiring, but also note that I may want to break it down into more manageable pieces or milestones. For example if my main vision was to ‘Create World Peace’ I might want a shorter term vision of creating peace in my house and then neighborhood.
Process and Suggestions:
- A vision is never about the HOW. Do not concern your self with how will I get there. It is more important to put the emphasis on where you want to go and leave the getting there to the mission statement.
- While you are visioning do not assume that things will work the way they are now. Don’t get bogged down in ‘tradition’ or ‘that’s the way it has been done’. If the way you are doing things now was working that well then chances are you’d already have your vision met. You will probably need to broaden your frame of reference in some aspects of your life, make some changes which will then allow your vision to come to fruition.
- As you develop your vision it should get you very excited and be full of energy otherwise why would you bother going on the journey. If your vision is not exciting to you then you must be missing an important piece of the puzzle.
- Creating a vision can take some time especially to fully ‘flesh’ it out. Take the time now so that you are on the right journey for you and don’t forget you can always tweak and modify your vision as it becomes clearer.
- Creating a clear vision statement for your life and your life can be fun! Take some time out, ask yourself some key questions and allow yourself to dream.
Closing:
I am splitting Vision into two posts so that I can more thoroughly cover it. In the next part I will discuss tools and techniques that can assist us in creating the fullest Vision. I would like to thank all of those who have done this work and provided so much material to assist others, like myself, in doing this work.
Sources and Resources:
http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/p245813700_How-to-create-a-vision-statement.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Create-Your-Vision&id=957304
