Vision is the “What”
If purpose is about “why,” vision is about “what.” I’ve always defined vision as “what it will look like when we get there.” Andy Stanley defines vision as “a mental picture of what could be fueled by the passion that it should be.”
I like his better.
Vision motivates us big time. Vision can move the intangible to the tangible. The vague to the specific. The inanimate to the living. Impossible to doable. As an example of a vision statement, check out Andy’s vision for North Point Ministries…
‘to create churches that un-churched people love to attend.’
Broad. Clear. Simple. “Big picture.” Long term. Action oriented. Desirable.
So few of us really think about vision. Maybe we lack the imagination or the concentration to think hard about what could and should be. I’ve been working on a vision statement for our family. Understand, our family is really three families living in three cities. Two kids, their spouses plus five grandchildren. Here’s what I have so far….
“to love God, love each other, love people, and do capers together.”
A friend dredged up a talk Andy did on vision. In it, he lays out developing a vision and a vision statement…
a. Define the problem – What is the problem the vision is designed to solve?
Your ‘peeps’ must feel the problem.
b. Explain how your vision is the solution. Engage the imagination as to how
it will look when the vision becomes reality and the problem is solved, or
improved, or prevented.
c. Give a compelling reason to act. Why should this be done now? Why is
it urgent?
Once you’ve honed your vision into something that’s clear and coherent, come up with a brief, poignant, memorable sentence or phrase people can understand, relate to and “own.” Then….
A. Cast your vision and cast it continually –
Vision creates passion, purpose and direction. It must compel people. “If we don’t do it, it won’t get done.” The leader is the steward of the vision he casts. He can’t just cast it once. He must cast it continuously and convincingly.
B. Celebrate your vision systematically –
Celebrating victories shows people the vision is working. Plus, it gives the leader the chance to redefine the vision, to reinforce its urgency and importance. Testimonials, especially visual ones, remind people “it’s working” and keeps them engaged. Radical Mentoring looks for stories of mentees who’ve experienced transformational life-change through a mentoring group to show the tribe how valuable mentors can be. I create music videos of vacations and ‘capers’ to remind our family how great it is to love each other and do stuff together. North Point does baptism videos to highlight how the vision is working….how un-churched people are coming to Christ through a great church and through small groups.
C. Model your vision publicly –
The leader must participate fully in the vision. He has to let his ‘peeps’ see and feel his personal passion for the vision by his own participation. Andy and Sandra participate in small groups to model that small groups are important to them personally. We’re challenging Senior Pastors to personally create and lead Radical Mentoring groups. Modeling disciple-making gives others permission and motivation to become disciple-makers.
Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18).
Question: Have you thought seriously about a vision for your life? Your family, company, practice, school, church, ministry, or organization? Share it with us here…
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Responses (2)
Honestly, I have thought much more about the vision of our organization than for our family or for my life. I remember when Allen Smith led us through an exercise to determine the vision for InterCel – that would be a fun exercise to do with our family! My personal vision might be something along the lines of “Honoring God by being the man, husband, father (and hopefully grandfather) he created me to be.” I need to think through that further and break it down like we have done with our company vision.
Last year we engaged Eyespeak (a local company – highly recommend them) to help us rebrand BlackSheep. Part of that exercise was to develop our vision… “Changing the world through the production of exceptional events.” We break this down as follows:
We “change the world” through…
1) Our clients – understanding what they are looking to achieve and developing a customized solution to fit their specific needs.
2) Our “vision partners” – focusing on our employees and vendor partners to help them become all they can be, both personally and professionally.
3) Our industry position – whatever position we achieve, we will use it as an opportunity to help others in our industry change the world.
4) Stewardship of our blessings – includes our assets, relationships, opportunities and potential.
“Through the production”…
At our heart we are a production company. In his book “The E-Myth Revisited”, Michael Gerber notes that companies (and especially small companies) need to develop a system for “how they do what they do.” Over the past year, we have worked to codify the way we produce events. While it will continue to mature as we continually refine our process, it provides us with a foundation of consistency that we can use as we grow.
“Of exceptional events”…
We know that when our vision partners, people and organizations that we have selected (NOT hired – see http://goo.gl/ZHg7R) , and match them with our production process that exceptional events will be the result.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to type that out… I now have my blog entry for our website for next week!
Mark, you think more strategically than most. I applaud what you’re doing with BlackSheep!