3.2 What Is Vision?

Many reading this book have set visions within their companies. I know I have on numerous occasions and with numerous managers. Before I define what I believe a vision is, let me tell you what I believe a vision is not:

It is not a long winded treatise

It is not a statement that is difficult to understand

It is not a tool reserved only for senior managers

It is not something fixed in stone never to be changed

Instead, a vision is a clear picture of something that the firm wants to achieve. It is short and to the point, understandable by everyone. The easiest way to tell if a vision is incorrect is to ask a cross section of the employees to state it. If everyone can paint the same picture, then the vision has been set and communicated correctly. Otherwise the process of setting the vision needs to be reworked.

In Successfully Managing Change in Organizations: A Users Guide, I defined vision as follows;

Vision is an idealized picture of a future state, one that is integrated into the organization’s culture. It provides a stretch, yet it is achievable over an extended time period with a great deal of work and collective focus by the entire organization. Because it continually evolves, it is never fully achieved.

Let’s look more closely at this definition and discuss the component parts.

An Idealized Picture of a Future State =

Vision should be something that people can clearly see. When asked, all employees in the company should be able to describe the same end state – what their firm will look like when the vision is achieved. They may use different words, but the picture they paint needs to be the same.

Integrated into the Organization’s Culture =

The vision must be difficult, if not impossible, to alter so that personnel changes can not easily destroy what the collective members have created. Too often the vision is not sufficiently integrated into the company culture. In these cases, a change in management can easily alter or destroy what everyone has worked to achieve.

A Stretch, Yet Achievable

The vision needs to be something that the firm can achieve, but not easily. If it is too difficult, people will become frustrated and give up. If it is not a stretch, then it will be easily accomplished and will not have significant value.

Extended Time and a Great Deal of Work

A vision is not something that can be accomplished in a short period of time. It represents a major shift in how a firm does business. If a vision can be achieved overnight, then it is not sufficiently a stretch for the firm. On the other hand, a worthwhile vision, one that takes a lot of time and requires a major shift in the culture, will take a great deal of work.

Collective Focus by the Entire Organization

It is not enough if just one person, or even a few people, understand and are working to achieve the vision. Instead, the vision must be a collective effort for the entire organization. Only then can it not only succeed, but also be long lasting and beneficial.

Continually Evolving, Never Accomplished

Although the vision is set at the beginning, the organization continually evolves; the end-state is never accomplished. In fact, by the time that the initially described end state is reached, a new and evolved end state will have replaced the original.

At this point, a few examples are in order. In 1961 President John F. Kennedy said “It is my plan to put an American on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade.” While this was many years ago,

Kennedy created a vision for the United States that was succinct and extremely clear. It put into motion a process that not only put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, but evolved into the space program that was responsible for the Shuttle program, missions to the planets, and other NASA-related achievements. All of this in only 21 words!

Let us take one more example that is related to plant maintenance and reliability. Suppose we set a vision for our firm that states, “We will operate and maintain our plant assets in a manner similar to how we address the safety of our employees.” This vision again is very clear and concise. It is easy to remember and paints a very vivid picture of a new and different type of maintenance program. In Figure 3-2 we can examine how this vision fits the definition of vision stated above.

3.3 Why Is a Vision Required?

Without a vision, an organization has no destination or idealized future state. There is nothing to strive for and, quite often, the organization accepts the status quo as being the desired state that it seeks. In the world of maintenance and reliability, this view is acceptable if the status quo is based on a reliability-focused work culture. Although it is true that even in this culture there is always need for improvement, it certainly is better than an organization that believes the “break it fix it” mode is the work culture that it seeks. For companies without a vision of something better, there probably won’t be any dissatisfaction with the current state and, as a result, no growth.

The next question we need to ask, if we agree that a vision is a requirement for organizational growth and cultural change, is who creates the vision of the future? The answer to this question is that the vision is created by the leadership. For reasons that we shall discuss in greater detail in subsequent chapters, it is up to the leaders to set direction – both short term and long term – and then work with the organization to make it happen. A very important part of this effort is to establish the vision for the organization and support the change required to make it work.

The second part – how do we accomplish the vision? – is not as easy a question to answer as it may seem. If the organization believes that the status quo is where it wants to be, then a vision other than what is currently in place will be difficult. If the organization is dissatisfied with its current state, it is headed in the right direction. However, because its collective frame of reference is the same and it shares a common set of experiences, it may not make the choice that will optimize its position in the future. So what is the answer?

In order to achieve a breakthrough change, an organization needs external focus. This can be accomplished in two ways; companies usually resort to a combination of both. The first way is to bring in new leadership. This step does not mean that the current leadership is bad, rather that the current leadership is restricted by their organization’s culture. When outsiders are brought in to change a culture, they are often met by resistance. The strongest resistance usually comes from the incumbent leadership and role models of the old way or working. They are the ones with the greatest difficulty in seeing the need for the change.

The second way (which usually accompanies the first) is to utilize outside consultants. These individuals have a broad breath of experience. They have seen how companies that are experiencing similar problems have succeeded. In addition, they have seen how change can be accomplished in multiple industries and by employing many and varied methods. They also have experience facilitating change efforts – a very important ingredient for success. For more on how to effectively work with consultants, see my other text Successfully Managing Change in Organizations: A Users Guide . The answer that will enable an organization to create the vision it needs to be successful is to bring external influence into the mix.