http://ctb.ku.

edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/leadership-functions/develop-and-communicate-
vision/main
http://humanresources.about.com/od/leadership/a/leader_vision.htm
http://www.kotterinternational.com/our-principles/changesteps/step-3

http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/29109/leaders-have-vision
Why Leaders Must Have Vision
Great leaders have vision. There are very few natural visionary leaders in the corporate world. I have
been lucky to have worked with two during my 34-year career with Walt Disney World. The good news
is that this is a skill that can be learned. It is probably the most powerful tool in a leaders toolbox. So
what is a vision? How does it work, and how is it different from a vision statement?
Let's begin by defining a vision statement and a vision. A vision statement is a statement of words
describing where and what an organization wants to be in the future. It usually remains unchanged for
many years. There is nothing wrong with vision statements. They have their place in the organizational
structure. However, vision statements do not necessarily translate into action. Without action, an
organization has a nicely framed statement on the wall but no forward motion.
In contrast, vision can be defined as a picture in the leader's imagination that motivates people to action
when communicated compellingly, passionately and clearly.
To be a visionary, a leader need have nothing more than a clear vision of the future. The difficult task is
communicating that vision with clarity and passion in order to motivate and inspire people to take
action. A visionary leader who clearly and passionately communicates his or her vision can motivate
employees to act with passion and purpose, thereby ensuring that everyone is working toward a
common goal. The end result is that everyone contributes to the organization's forward momentum.
"In order to take the organization to the highest possible level, leaders must engage their people with a
compelling and tangible vision," said Warren Bennis, professor of business administration at the
University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.
What follows is a practice exercise that you can use to develop and hone your visionary communication
skills:
Step 1: Think of one challenge within your department, division or organization.
Step 2: Imagine the big picture. Visualize the incredible future success that you will realize from the new
and improved situation, as well as the benefits to the organization and to the employees. This is your
chance to be a true visionary. No dream is too big or too fantastic. This is the "pie in the sky" result you
are seeing.
Step 3: Determine how you will communicate your vision. What words and phrases will you use? In
what environment will you choose to communicate your vision in a staff meeting, one on one, with
supervisors and managers? How will you communicate the benefits to the staff and to the organization?
Write down your ideas on paper.
Step 4: Practice communicating what you have written. Make sure it sounds sincere. Practice out loud to
yourself and to others. If you don't believe it, no one else will believe it either.
If you use this exercise frequently, you will find that expressing your vision in a compelling and clear
manner will soon feel very natural.
When you are ready to communicate your vision to your employees, give them only the vision of
success. Great leaders use vision as a tool to inspire and motivate, not to dictate. Do not give your
employees the steps for achieving the vision, but let them determine the methods and tactics for
achieving the goal. Great leaders know how to give the gift of vision and then step away.

http://hr.uq.edu.au/step-3
Create the vision & strategy
Steps 1 and 2 were about creating motivation for change and bringing together people who can lead
change. In Step 3, create the vision and strategy, the guiding coalition has two distinct roles:
1. Creating a vision for change that clearly paints a picture of where we want to go; and

2. Developing a plan to get us there.
Watch John Kotter talk through his views on how to create a powerful vision for change.

In this step in the process we use the guiding coalition to help us more fully understand the
opportunities or issues that we are dealing with and bring us to a clear vision and strategy for moving
forward.
Create your vision
Once the need for change has been clarified we need to be able to explain the purpose of the change
what are we trying to achieve, or, in other words, what is the vision for the future? The success of the
change will hinge on this picture of a desirable future and how it is communicated and understood. If
the vision is not clearly defined, the change efforts can become confusing and take the
school/faculty/institute/unit in the wrong direction.
A clear vision serves four important purposes:
It motivates us to take action in the right direction
It can be communicated quickly and clearly

It helps co-ordinate actions in a fast and efficient manner
It empowers action.
To be effective, a vision should incorporate the realities of the current situation but also set in place
goals that are truly ambitious. Great leaders know how to make these ambitious goals seem achievable
and meaningful. When communicating your vision, ensure you convey to your audience that it is
underpinned by a strong, credible strategy; this will help them see the vision as achievable and relevant.
The process you use to create your vision will depend somewhat on the size and scale of the proposed
change. For example, the change vision for a large scale change such as a faculty review involves a
Review Committee (the guiding coalition) developing a number of issues papers, inviting broad based
input and then creating the vision the Formal Proposal.
Your vision will be appropriate to the change proposed, for example:
We will embrace new mobile learning technology as a way to deliver enhanced teaching outcomes for
our students and increase accessibility to our courses.
It will most likely take you a number of attempts to get the vision right, and youll need to have
conversations with your guiding coalition and broader stakeholder group to ensure the vision is
compelling and focussed.
Create your strategy
The change strategy is not the same as a detailed change management plan. A change strategy is a high-
level document that considers three crucial elements:
The content of the change - strategy, structure, systems, technology, business processes,
products, services, or culture
The people aspect of the change - peoples emotional reactions to the change changes in
mindset, behaviour, and culture that your future state requires, how to engage your people in
design and implementation, and how to ensure commitment and capacity to change
The process component of the change - a high-level roadmap to get you from where you are
today to where you need to be to achieve results from your change.
You will flesh out your change strategy with specific actions at different levels as you move through the
change process. Read the on-line resource by Anderson & Anderson from the Change Leaders Network
on Building Your Change Strategy: How to Ensure that Your Effort Is on the Right Track.


http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch18.html
SKY Magazine
Vision is a widely used term, but not well understood. Perhaps leaders don't understand what vision is,
or why it is important. One strategic leader is quoted as saying, "I've come to believe that we need a
vision to guide us, but I can't seem to get my hands on what 'vision' is. I've heard lots of terms like
mission, purpose, values, and strategic intent, but no-one has given me a satisfactory way of looking at
vision that will help me sort out this morass of words. It's really frustrating!" (Collins and Porras 1991).
To understand vision, clarify what the term means.
DEFINING VISION
One definition of vision comes from Burt Nanus, a well-known expert on the subject. Nanus defines a
vision as a realistic, credible, attractive future for [an] organization. Let's disect this definition:
Realistic: A vision must be based in reality to be meaningful for an organization. For example, if
you're developing a vision for a computer software company that has carved out a small niche in
the market developing instructional software and has a 1.5 percent share of the computer
software market, a vision to overtake Microsoft and dominate the software market is not
realistic!
Credible: A vision must be believable to be relevant. To whom must a vision be credible? Most
importantly, to the employees or members of the organization. If the members of the
organization do not find the vision credible, it will not be meaningful or serve a useful purpose.
One of the purposes of a vision is to inspire those in the organization to achieve a level of
excellence, and to provide purpose and direction for the work of those employees. A vision
which is not credible will accomplish neither of these ends.
Attractive: If a vision is going to inspire and motivate those in the organization, it must be
attractive. People must want to be part of this future that's envisioned for the organization.
Future: A vision is not in the present, it is in the future. In this respect, the image of the leader
gazing off into the distance to formulate a vision may not be a bad one. A vision is not where
you are now, it's where you want to be in the future. (If you reach or attain a vision, and it's no
longer in the future, but in the present, is it still a vision?)
Nanus goes on to say that the right vision for an organization, one that is a realistic, credible, attractive
future for that organization, can accomplish a number of things for the organization:
It attracts commitment and energizes people. This is one of the primary reasons for having a
vision for an organization: its motivational effect. When people can see that the organization is
committed to a vision-and that entails more than just having a vision statement-it generates
enthusiasm about the course the organization intends to follow, and increases the commitment
of people to work toward achieving that vision.
It creates meaning in workers' lives. A vision allows people to feel like they are part of a greater
whole, and hence provides meaning for their work. The right vision will mean something to
everyone in the organization if they can see how what they do contributes to that vision.
Consider the difference between the hotel service worker who can only say, "I make beds and
clean bathrooms," to the one who can also say, "I'm part of a team committed to becoming the
worldwide leader in providing quality service to our hotel guests." The work is the same, but the
context and meaning of the work is different.
It establishes a standard of excellence. A vision serves a very important function in establishing
a standard of excellence. In fact, a good vision is all about excellence. Tom Peters, the author
of In Search of Excellence, talks about going into an organization where a number of problems
existed. When he attempted to get the organization's leadership to address the problems, he
got the defensive response, "But we're no worse than anyone else!" Peters cites this
sarcastically as a great vision for an organization: "Acme Widgets: We're No Worse Than Anyone
Else!" A vision so characterized by lack of a striving for excellence would not motivate or excite
anyone about that organization. The standard of excellence also can serve as a continuing goal
and stimulate quality improvement programs, as well as providing a measure of the worth of
the organization.
It bridges the present and the future. The right vision takes the organization out of the present,
and focuses it on the future. It's easy to get caught up in the crises of the day, and to lose sight
of where you were heading. A good vision can orient you on the future, and provide positive
direction. The vision alone isn't enough to move you from the present to the future, however.
That's where a strategic plan, discussed later in the chapter, comes in. A vision is the desired
future state for the organization; the strategic plan is how to get from where you are now to
where you want to be in the future.
Another definition of vision comes from Oren Harari: "Vision should describe a set of ideals and
priorities, a picture of the future, a sense of what makes the company special and unique, a core set of
principles that the company stands for, and a broad set of compelling criteria that will help define
organizational success." Are there any differences between Nanus's and Harari's definitions of vision?
What are the similarities? Do these definitions help clarify the concept of vision and bring it into focus?
An additional framework for examining vision is put forward by Collins and Porras. They conceptualize
vision as having two major components: a Guiding Philosophy, and a Tangible Image. They define the
guiding philosophy as "a system of fundamental motivating assumptions, principles, values and tenets."
The guiding philosophy stems from the organization's core beliefs and values and its purpose.


http://www.bates-communications.com/articles-and-newsletters/articles-and-
newsletters/bid/57961/How-Leaders-Develop-and-Communicate-a-Vision
How Leaders Develop and Communicate a Vision
How do leaders develop and communicate a vision?
The first step is to understand what vision is, and the second step is to create a process for identifying
and articulating a vision.
Understanding this process will help you articulate your own vision and values, and will help you assist
the leaders of your organization to do the same.
Developing and Communicating a Vision
There is actually nothing mystical about vision. A vision is a picture of what an organization could and
should be.
A hallmark of great leaders is that their vision includes big ideas. Big ideas get people excited.
Nobody wants to do something small. Leaders want to feel motivated about coming to work, because
what they do matters.
Some examples of big ideas that most of us are familiar with are Martin Luther Kings I Have a Dream
speech and President John F. Kennedys vision for the space program, We choose to go to the moon . . .
not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
Great business leaders also know how to paint a vivid picture of the future. They make it look easy.
However, most of them have worked hard to develop and articulate their powerful thoughts.
The creative process of developing a visionary statement consists of four steps: Observe, Reflect, Write,
and Speak. Heres what I tell my executive clients about these processes:
Step One: Observe
In order to determine a vision, you must become an astute observer of your world. You have to immerse
yourself in watching, listening, and wondering. Pay attention, ask questions, probe, discuss, and gather
information.
Step Two: Reflect
Now you turn inward. For example, you look at important events in the company, or important events in
your life and career, and ask yourself: What did I learn? What is this telling me?
During reflection, you come up with stories and examples that form your vision and clarify your values.
These stories enable you to speak authentically from your own wisdom and experience.
In this reflecting stage of the process, its better to have someone listening and asking questions. A
coach or trusted advisor can help you talk through a story or idea and find the significance of it.
Personal stories are a rich source of material that can crystallize a vision. When searching for personal
stories with a client, we look at broad categories, both positive and negative, that usually yield some
interesting images and help to communicate the vision and values that are important to the client.
These include, among others: personal challenges, major changes, new experiences, lost opportunities,
awkward situations, failed attempts, turnarounds, last-minute saves, inspiring people, remarkable
achievements, and memorable events that may have occurred in a clients life.
Some people are uncomfortable with the idea of talking about themselves in business speeches.
However, by weaving personal stories into their speeches, leaders connect with people. Their
experiences are interesting to an audience, because they say so much about the leader.
Step Three: Write
Because we live in a fast-paced world, with little time for reflecting and writing, many people want to
skip this step. That is a mistake. When you write, you discover how to say precisely what you mean.
Many executives ask why they cant just speak off the cuff. That is an important skill. But when you are
articulating a vision, writing it down is a critical step in the process.
One of my clients, the president of a college, was preparing to give his inaugural address. It had been
word-smithed by an outstanding, talented speechwriter. But as he read the speech, we realized
something was missinghimself! He had graduated from this school, worked on Wall Street, retired,
and served on the colleges board of directors, who then drafted him for the job.
But nowhere in the speech was there any information about why he accepted the position, what made
him want to do this at this stage in his career, what his education at the college meant to him, and what
his vision was for the college.
As I interviewed him, we were able to identify two or three great stories that would tell people who he
was and what he stood for. As he practiced the new speech, what came through was a leader and a
person committed to the colleges success.
Step Four: Speak
If you have followed the process, speaking and communicating your vision is a natural outcome.
A leader is far more powerful and effective when he or she gets up to speak because of this process.
Then, the speaking must be scheduled. It does no good to create a vision without a plan to speak about
it in many venues over a period of time. It takes several repetitions for most people to truly hear and
remember the message.
Speaking well requires practice. All the preparation in the world will not wow an audience if the leader
cannot speak fluently and confidently. There is no magic wand that will make a speech great if the
speaker has not rehearsed so that he or she looks and sounds like a leader on the platform.
The activities of observing, reflecting, writing, and practicing a speech are not usually on an executives
calendar, but they should be. A powerful vision, well-articulated, attracts people to an organization,
motivates them to take action toward progress, and drives business results.

4. Create vision
Creating a vision means that a person can image the future and literally "see" what the future could look
like. Someone who creates vision can see opportunities for change, is able to think beyond obstacles,
and can recognize what is best for the organization, even if obstacles and challenges to this vision exist in
the present situation.
Managers who are leaders may have a vision about how the work in their area could be organized in
order to improve efficiencies, or they may see an opportunity to move into a new area or create a new
product in the interest of meeting the organizations strategic goals. Creating vision requires a certain
amount of creativity, thinking out-of-the-box, and freedom to explore. Sometimes managers at MIT who
are caught in the day-to-day operations of their group may feel too busy to generate the creativity
necessary for a vision. Stepping back from the day-to-day responsibilities and reflecting on the big picture
can help managers have some of the perspective to create a vision. Holding a retreat at an off-site
location can provide the necessary distance from the day-to-day work to have the mental energy to create
vision.
Tips to keep in mind about creating a vision:
A vision taps into embedded concerns and needs.
A vision asserts what you and your colleagues want to create.
A vision is something worth going for.
A vision provides meaning to the work you and your colleagues do.
By definition, a vision is a little cloudy and grand.
A vision is simple.
A vision provides a starting place from which to get to more and more levels of specificity.
(Adapted from Warren Bennis and Joan Goldsmith, Learning to Lead: A Workbook on Becoming a
Leader)

Step 4: Communicate the Vision
What you do with your vision after you create it will determine your success. Your message will probably
have strong competition from other day-to-day communications within the company, so you need
to communicate it frequently and powerfully, and embed it within everything that you do.
Don't just call special meetings to communicate your vision. Instead, talk about it every chance you get.
Use the vision daily to make decisions and solve problems. When you keep it fresh on everyone's minds,
they'll remember it and respond to it.
It's also important to "walk the talk." What you do is far more important and believable than what
you say. Demonstrate the kind of behavior that you want from others.
What you can do:
Talk often about your change vision.
Address peoples' concerns and anxieties, openly and honestly.
Apply your vision to all aspects of operations from training to performance reviews. Tie
everything back to the vision.
Lead by example .