“You don’t need eyes to see you need Vision.”

Faithless

What is Vision? 

A ‘vision’ for me is the visualisation of a destination point (this obviously can be and will be dynamic), all leadership is around facilitating and expediting that journey.

Starting with successful organisations,

Organisation	Vision
Amnesty International	Amnesty International’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.
Microsoft	Welcome to Microsoft UK. Over the last three decades, Microsoft has consistently transformed the way that people live, work, play, and connect through great technology. We are inspired every day by the genuine belief that we can change the world for the better.
BBC	To be the most creative organisation in the world.
American Express	We work hard every day to make American Express the world’s most respected service brand.

How many of you knew that the employees work towards the BBC’s vision ‘to be the most creative in the world’? I certainly didn’t, but thinking about it it makes perfect sense, why would they want anything else for their organisation?

The BBC's vision is 'to be the most creative in the world'? I certainly didn't know this, but thinking about it it makes perfect sense, why would they want anything else for their organisation? Click To Tweet

Let’s start with your organisation. What matters to them? what are the most important priorities? think about the mission statements and the artefacts around the corridors and use your own experiences to draw these out.

Rank these in order of priority.

1.

2.

3.

What matters to you?

Now think deeply about the above question (This activity was the most important thing I ever did as a school leader). Highlight points from your list which are the most important things, the things which you get up in the morning for. This essentially is your core purpose.

1.

2.

3.

Warning: If these two lists do not marry up relatively closely, I would suspect you are in the wrong organisation. As everything that you do in life should be in relation to your core purpose; When these values are compromised inner peace and congruence cannot exist.

Visualisation of Vision

In my leadership sessions. I often start with some blue sky thinking? If I could give you unlimited funds, unlimited time and resources, a proverbial magic wand what would you do? think big, not the little day to day changes but the huge and overwhelming, you can only dream of changes.

1. What is does your perfect school/organisation look and feel like? Including you, the staff body and the pupil?

Visualise this. Draw out common traits,

e.g.

A place where all pupils feel safe.

A place where all staff are valued and feeling comfortable enough to challenge leadership.

…

Keep going until you feel you have covered the needs of all your stakeholders. This picture in your head is your vision and the trait and are what you must do you articulate it to your followers. (that blog is for another day).