Always start with the Vision. This is absolutely imperative, and so many change projects and initiatives, no matter the size or scale, fail because they haven’t started out with really describing what that end state looks like. Your vision should be a statement, an articulation in words which paints a compelling picture of the future, describing why change is needed and the value it will bring.
It’s crucial to help people understand why change is needed, motivate them, give them a sense of what the journey is like, talk about the value and the end state. It’s important because you can then hang all your change activity off that. Every time you talk about the program, you come back to the vision, and all your communications and key messaging come back to that vision.
Examples of Vision Statements:
The type of vision you need depends on your business context. If it was acquiring a new business, for example, you’d be focusing on what that new entity, the combined entity, would enable. If it was about culture and engagement, it would be about the future culture that you want for the business and why it’s crucial to the purpose of the business. If it was about digital and technological innovations, it would be about what future ways of working are going to look like.
It’s crucial to sell that destination. If you don’t have a clear view of that end-state destination, people just won’t go on the journey with you.
Vision Creation Workshop
How to Create a Vision:
So how do you create a vision? The best way to do it is to run a vision creation workshop. There’s lots of guidance on the particulars of how to do this within the Change Proud programme, but it depends on your program, the size and scale of your business, and who your stakeholders are. You want to have an immersive session, bringing the right people together – a mix of senior stakeholders, others involved in the project, not just senior leaders, but those who will be delivering and feeling the impact of the project.
Workshop Structure:
Think about the outcomes you’re trying to achieve. Whiteboard it, use post-its, and think about the language you want to use. What engages you when you think about the end state of the outcomes your change program is trying to achieve? Consider these four principles:
- Scope
- Value Proposition
- Audience
- Expected Results.
Workshop Questions:
Here are some recommended questions to help you structure the workshop: What’s the business scope? What’s changing in terms of products and services offered? What’s unique about the value proposition? Who are you targeting, and what does the vision tell them? What are the expected results and outcomes?