Creating a Vision
The first question is what is a vision. Vision paints a picture for a future state. It provide a direction as well. I wrote a book about creating a life plan years ago including the creation of a vision statement. I used the analogy of planning a family vacation. The vision was a fun family vacation at Disney World. From this, we are able to create a plan to execute that vision. We could determine travel plans for getting there whether by airplane or car. We could develop a schedule for how long it would take to get there and how long we were going to stay. We could create a budget for how much it would cost and make any secondary plans like dining reservations. But it all stemmed from that simple vision.
This is the same concept for creating a vision. You can be as ambitious as you like with it. I generally recommend going big on it. I think that sometimes we think of vision as a goal or just the big goal, but it is more than that. It is a future state. It is a fun vacation. It is a family vacation. So it gives some idea that it includes everyone in on the fun. But when we think about vision we tend to think about it as a business term or idea. However, we should have a vision for many areas of our lives.
We should have a life vision. What do we see for our lives? Where is it leading? Naturally, there will be twists and turns and detours along the way, but maybe it is to live a productive life and to retire at a certain age to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Maybe it is to build a legacy of community. Mine has been for a long time to have a productive life in the business world and to “retire” as a professor sharing knowledge and experience with future leaders.
We should have a vision for our family. What do we see for our family long term? Maybe it is to have a family with productive children who help create a better society. Maybe it is to build a family business where we are able to work together as well as play together. This is truly up to each person and their family dynamic, but vision is not just a work concept but a personal one as well.
Then of course there is career vision. You should have a vision for your career. Do you see yourself starting a business, running an established business, moving into management and leadership, or continuing as a contributor. Not everyone has the same career goals in life, and they shouldn’t. I know plenty of engineers who never desired to move into a management role. They loved the technical aspects of being a contributing engineer, solving complex problems, and helping customers meet their technical goals. Your career = your vision.
Finally, there are business visions. Many people think this is just the overall company vision, but it isn’t. There should be a vision for your job. There should be a vision for your department. Naturally, these visions should feed into the overall business vision, but you should have one. More importantly, you should articulate it to your team and to your manager. They should know that you have a vision for where you want to take things within the organization. You may be surprised that when you do this, others get on board because people love to have a vision to follow.
You may be reading this and thinking to yourself that it’s not that simple. How do I actually do this? That is where a coach comes in to the picture. A coach can help you cast a vision in all or one area of your life. They work with you to draw out your passions, your values, and you skills to help you craft a vision for various areas of life. What is important to remember is that a vision is invaluable in achieving great things. Your mission and goals often come out of the vision, are shaped by it, and driven by it. But it is not unchangeable. You may get to a certain point and find a new vision emerging. This is great news because it means your growing and often times your vision is expanding. You may find it starting fairly simply as planning a family vacation. Then with some research, you may find that Disney World is running a special on rooms at your favorite resort, and it might go from a family vacation to a dream family vacation at the Contemporary Resort. It has happened.
