Crafting a Powerful Vision
A vision is a long term goal you would like to accomplish in 10 to
20 years. Some visions stretch to 50 or more years. The Bible clearly states that
" where there is no vision the people perish". For your family or
company to reach its full potential it must be guided by a clear vision.
Individuals, teams, organizations and nations are sold out to visions that are:
1) Inspiring.
An inspiriring vision
wakes you up from bed in the cold winter. When there are obstacles you are energized to move forward by a powerful vision. An inspiring vision propels people to do things at greater speed, scale and scope than they would ordinarily do.
2. Meaningful.
Pursuing the vision
should also bring meaning to your life and others. Teams often ask why are we pursuing
this vision? What will it change? Who will be made better? It's not strange to hear someone say , "I don't want to be
part of this vision because it's worthless to me". Make the vision meaningful and people are willing to support you.
3. Ethically acceptable.
What ever we do we should ensure we improve livelihoods and wellbeing of
people. We must be cognizant of acceptable actions and behaviours. What ever we
pursue, we must remember to protect the future generations instead of harming them. We
must be responsible enough to resist the temptation of maximising profits
at the expense of the environment or future generation wellbeing. Therefore our vision and endeavours should be ethically acceptable.
4. Easily understood
The vision
must be easily understood by the most "uneducated" person in the
team ( if there is such). For the team to pursue the vision with vigour and
energy the vision must be explained in layman language . What does the vision mean
to me as a receptionist, driver or messenger?
5. Short and sweet
Sustained accomplishment
of a vision depends on whether it's short and sweet. The power in some visions is
lost in complexity and clutter.Reciting the vision should be an
enjoyment instead of pain. Short and sweet visions bring confidence to the
team as everyone easily shares the reason of existence and knows where they are going. It should not be a taxing mental test to ask what the company vision is. Not at all. It must be as easy as a, b and c.
Example of a Powerful Vision : The Econet vision
I always like to share the Econet vision because it was a magnet
that attracted me 20 years ago. Econet vision is " to provide
telecommunications to all people of Zimbabwe".
It is pertinent to remember that
20 years ago only 3 out 100 people (3%)owned telephone lines in Zimbabwe. When you applied
for a telephone in Harare, the Capital City you were promised a telephone after
15 years or 20 years.
Therefore, "providing
telecommunication services to all people of Zimbabwe" was a simple but
meaningful and inspiring vision worth pursuing. Everyone in Econet knew what
the vision was and how hard we were supposed to work to bring the vision to reality. The majority of
employees agreed that the vision would hardly be accomplished in our working life. The vision had to be passed to the future generation as well.
The sweeter part of
the vision was summarized by the founder Dr Strive Masiyiwa as "every
mbuya/gogo (grandmother) in rural area having a phone". That statement
gave more clarity to the vision. The logic in the statement is that you can
only see every grandmother in rural community with a phone when the working
class and youths have been serviced.
The vision to provide
telecommunications to all people of Zimbabwe is definitely ethically
acceptable. Telecommunications enhance livelihoods and wellbeing of the people
through socio economic empowerment and inclusion.