Yesterday at work, I had a discussion on vision statements. And today in my inbox is a FastCompany post on the same subject. Coincidence or what!
One of the articles referred to by the author is a good resource for anyone working on framing vision statements. The five practical tips shared by the author are:
#1 Articulate your organization’s “core idea” — help make decisions
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Southwest’s “THE low-fare airline”
#2 Don’t zoom out, choose — makes hard choices to create focus
#3 Make the vision concrete — concrete goals helps everyone share common picture of the destination
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JFK’s “We will put a man on the moon and return him
safely within the decade.”
#4 Show why employees should care about it — make your employees feel proud & want to support it
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Sony in the 1950’s wanting to become the company most known for changing the worldwide image of Japanese products as being of poor quality
#5 Consider the virtues of single focus – change can happen quickly when leaders orient the company toward a single, bright-line goal.