How to create a shared vision in 3 simple steps

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James Wood FBCS CITP

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VisioningFirst set the scene with

a visioning exercise

It’s 6pm June 24 2015, you’re sitting at a small round table with a crispy white cloth, adorned with Champagne glasses and appetizers h'orderves, on adjacent tables are seated Bill Gates and Virginia Rometty. You’ve been nominated for CIO and IT Team of the Year award and are tipped as the hot favorite to win.

Your CEO put your name forward after you motivated and nurtured your IT team to achieve true greatness in building a public cloud service that has revolutionized the way non-profit organizations and NGOs operate worldwide.

Your achievement has been hailed as a watershed in collaborative societal networks and has brought relieve and benefits to millions of people in need of care around the world. The award ceremony is drawing to its climax, and the winner is... Yes, YOU, who else… What an achievement…

Grab some

Post-it Notes

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Close your eyes and imagine June 24 2015 after winning the award, what are some of the keywords that come to mind? What are people saying, what are your colleagues and clients saying? What about family? How does it feel?

Inspired

Realizing Potential

Progress

Success

Leading

Enabling

Nurturing

New Possibilities

Ecstatic

Proud

Get ready to placeyour Post-it Noteson the whiteboard

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Each person

participating

Should placehis or her Post-it Notes

on the whiteboard

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Inspired

Realizing Potential

Progress

SuccessLeading

EnablingNurturing

New Possibilities

Ecstatic

Proud

Inspired

HelpingConfident

SuccessCollaborating

EnablingEnablingReaching

ElatedProud

Inspired

ExcitedNew Ways

Connecting Collaborating

DevelopingEnablingExcellence

RelievedProud

Mark

Sue

Steve

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Next we

must findthe common

themes

Finding common themesPeopl

e

Connecting Developing

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7

Realizing Potential

Progress

Success2x

Leading

Nurturing

New Possibilities

Ecstatic

Helping

Confident

Reaching

Elated

Inspired3x

Excited

New Ways

Connecting

Collaborating3x

Developing

Enabling3x

Excellence

Relieved Proud3x

People

Connecting Developing

The “central” Post-it Notes provide the cohesive force of the shared vision — they help

bring it together

Arrange the Post-it Notes in groups around the common

themes, note that “central” Post-it Notes emerge

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Now we

can create our shared

vision

Creating our shared vision3

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Realizing Potential

Success2x

Leading

Reaching

Inspired3x

Collaborating3x

Enabling3x

Excellence

Successfully enabling agencies to lead in collaboration excellence by inspiring people to realize their potential and global reach

Use the central Post-it Notesto create the shared vision

Try to keep it punchy and succinct —

it should speak to everyone involved

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To create a Shared Vision, large numbers of people within the organizationmust draft it, empowering them to create a single image of the future. All

members of the organization must understand, share and contribute to the vision for it to become reality. With a Shared Vision, people will do things

because they want to, not because they have to.

If People can work for something that they agree to then they will be working to achieve something that they believe in and this is the true power of Shared Visions.

People want a vision that they can believe in, not some generic corporate slogan.

Recommended reading:

Download Sea of Systems (SOS)

at: vanwood.net/blog

Some thoughts on shared visions from Sea of Systems (SOS)

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