With any change, big or small, it’s natural that business leaders want to see progress and action as soon as possible. Spending time defining a vision for the change might seem like overkill, unnecessary or a downright waste of valuable time. However, in any programme, the vision statement is a crucial part of change that should not be glossed over or ignored.
The “why” is more motivational than the “what”
After “salary”, a “sense of purpose” was found to be the most important factor to millennials considering a new job, according to a recent survey by The World Economic Forum. Increasingly, our workforces are highly valuing the “why” behind what we do at work. The vision statement for your change is the “why” which will keep employees engaged even when human nature inevitably rejects the need to do things differently. Change is fundamentally difficult for most human being to process, and there will always be a tendency to slip back into old working habits. This is why the human element – cultural and behavioural change – is usually the most difficult for any business change. Understanding the drivers for the change, in a way that relates back to their interests, is a major help when trying to keep your stakeholders motivated. A good vision should set out the current state of the business and make the need for change clear.
What makes a good vision statement?
Engage hearts, not just minds
Just as with general company mission statements, “make a load of cash” isn’t a particularly inspiring goal for most employees who will not directly benefit from this outcome. Remember that your vision statement should appeal to a wide range of stakeholders, not just shareholders and senior managers. Ensure that your vision articulates something employees can get really passionate about. For example, perhaps the new chat tool will allow colleagues to interact more easily, perhaps the org restructure will allow greater collaboration between teams, leading to happier customers.
Describe the future state
Write in the future tense, and keep the vision focussed on the future state, rather than talking too much about the present and the gap between the two. A key purpose of the vision statement is to be motivational, so make sure that what you write is engaging and inspiring.
Make it verifiable, but not too rigid
You should depict clear advantages and your vision should be solid enough to judge whether or not it has been achieved, but avoid specific metrics or KPIs. Inevitably, as you develop the scope of your programme, you may find some things are out of scope or not possible, and you will refine your vision statement accordingly. You should avoid making changes to your vision statement mid-change, as this will be confusing to stakeholders. If you’re having to significantly alter your vision statement, then it might be worth considering if the change is still delivering the required value as outlined by the change drivers.
Make it memorable
After describing all sorts of things that need to go into your vision statement, I’m now going to advise you to keep it short and sweet… Try to use a headline statement that is memorable and encapsulates the vision, so that even if people don’t read or remember the whole statement, they will capture the essence.
How to use your vision statement
Now you have your vision statement, what do you actually do with it?
Programmatic alignment
Think of this as your guiding light. As with a project business case, you should be able to return to your vision not just at the end of the programme, but throughout, to ensure all projects within it are aligned with the overarching goal.
Making tough decisions
Whenever a risk or issue arises within projects and you are forced to make a tough decision, the vision should be a yardstick that you return to in order to ensure the programme will still achieve its goals, and to make sure that your decision is in keeping with the overall direction of the programme.
Inspirational communications
The vision should underpin all communications you send programme wide. It’s important to reiterate the “why” behind your change and to keep stakeholders aligned.
Measuring success
At the end of the programme, you should of course be able to return to your vision statement as a general benchmark of your success. Along with a more specific benefits register, your vision statement will be a key goal post that you can refer back to during the closing stages of a programme to measure how successful it was.
According to best practice, it should really be the Programme Sponsor who is responsible for documenting the vision and championing it throughout the organisation. Unfortunately, in many organisations it’s often those senior individuals who are the most nonchalant about developing a vision statement at all. As a Programme or Change manager, you may therefore need to work extra hard to articulate the benefits and necessity of developing a strong vision statement. Though it may not initially seem like a valuable activity, if you do your groundwork you will see the fruits later down the line.
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