Vision as Storytelling—How to Develop the Narrative

Step

Actions for the Senior Team

1. Become informed

Leadership team articulate their   vision for the future—five to fifteen years ahead—of the organization, taking   into account:

External impacts and future business challenges?
  Economic, social, political, and technological trends and developments?
  What are other organizations doing to prepare for the future?
  Core values and beliefs?

2. Visit the future

Imagine it is five years into the   future, and the organization has been so successful that business magazines   want to report the story, covering:

What is the organization’s reputation and what do   competitors envy?
  What is the customers’ experience?
  What contributions have been made to the community?
  What do employees tell friends and family about working here?
  What new business ventures have been developed?

3. Create the story

Write the vision story as a   narrative (1,500 to 2,000 words):

Describe the actors, events, actions, and consequences
  What are the key messages and themes?
  What’s happening in the marketplace?
  How are staff providing services and interacting with customers?
  What is the mood—what are people experiencing and feeling?

4. Deploy the vision

Develop the story for further   discussion across the organization:

Explain the business case for change and the desired   outcomes
  Explain what is not negotiable—values, operating principles
  Collect responses—what needs clarification, elaboration, explaination?
  Finalize the vision story—translate into strategies, targets, goals

In your textbook the authors discuss a technique for developing a vision called “Vision as Story-Telling”.  Use this technique to develop your own personal vision statement.  Write a story of what your life will look like in 5 years. Include a discussion of your core beliefs and what changes in your life you’d like to see made (include at least two).  Next develop specific goals for yourself (at least five) for the next year to help make this vision a reality.  Finally, discuss two reasons that identifying your vision and goals will help to make them happen and two possible stumbling blocks that may impede your progress towards your vision. 

Your paper should be no more than 4 – 5 pages and in current APA edition format.