Vision

Where there is no vision, the people perish. Proverbs

The vision should enable people to imagine what the organization will be like in the future - not a strategy of how to get there. It should emanate from the senior management committee or the chief executive who should provide a vision which is realistic, achievable, demanding, but above all, inspirational! The vision enables the organization to make the right decisions on major issues. There should also be some means of knowing when the vision has been achieved - when does it become ‘international’ or ‘the best’?  The vision should be unique to the organization, not a bland general statement.  A vision should be:

What the organization aims to become or be like in the future -  The Anglican Church's vision of: 'a unified international Church with a strong centralized authority'.

Beyond the immediate grasp - If it can be achieved in one step then it's not far-sighted enough. The Countryside Alliance's vision of: 'the countryside to have a sustainable rural management, to treat animals with respect, encourage heritage, and to manage the sensible development of recreational facilities for all’, will not be achieved in one simple step.

Clear enough to be understood immediately - Ethiopia’s: 'three meals a day for every family’.

Believable and attainable - The UK government’s vision of the 1980’s as: ‘the UK to be first choice for inward investment into Europe’  (a reasonable goal, but which if it stated ‘the world’ instead of just ‘Europe’, would be unrealistic).

Without words which really don’t mean much -  'The best', 'quality', 'excellent' can mean anything.  Instead of  'the best insurance company with a quality service', its better to say 'a company with the most loyal employees and customer base in the industry'.

Attractive for all participants - An international charity's vision: 'To be the hub of an international electronic network linking our donors, beneficiaries, partners, volunteers and field workers - for the benefit of all'    >>>