Vision and Strategic Planning

Vision and Strategic Planning

Vision is seeing where or what you will become in future and #Strategic planning is devising how to get there. Because no one can accurately predict the future, what you have control over is the strategy. As a result, most people and organisations default to devising strategy without clarity on vision. 

Vision has to do with future outcomes, desires and where you see yourself, it is usually positive, bigger and better. Most struggle to cast a vision first, because it is difficult to see the future, where the present is an alternate reality to what is desired. But casting the vision is a must, or else the direction of travel cannot be clearly defined.

The biblical text states, "without vision my people perish". #Vision should always precede strategy, you have to decide where you want to go, why you want to go, before you can determine how to get there.

The phrase "cast a vision" is about projecting into the future. This often requires hope and faith that there will be longetivity and realisation of positive outcomes. The application of faith is to propel you not to predict the future, but to put maximum effort into the decisions and actions of today, based on the positive outcomes that you seek for tomorrow. 

Because of the nature of vision, communicating it to others can be difficult. You are asking them to see the picture you see, so they can follow the path you lead. As a result of this difficulty, most leaders skip communicating the vision and go straight into communicating the strategy. What to realise is, if people can't see, they can't follow. However, if people can see the same picture you see, they will very often not only follow your path, but also make suggestions for the path to follow. They also tend to devise their own path to that destination. In effect in organisations, that is what generates Interpreneurs. They not only see a future for the organisation but can see and find their own future from the vision cast.

Most organisations spend money going on meetings and retreats to discuss strategic planning, where they have not clearly defined or refined the vision. Consequently, what is in place is a myopic narrow view, that has not considered outcomes holistically or not factored in the bigger picture. 

The key therefore is to invest first and foremost in clarifying the vision (desired destination) and then articulating the vision. Once this is done, recognise those who buy into and see the vision this is your A-team. Together you can then devise and commit to a strategy (direction of travel) to get you to the vision. 

Here are some thought provoking quotes:

"Vision is the art of seeing what is impossible to others" - Jonathan Swift

"In order to carry out a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision" - Dalai Lama

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality - Warren G Bennis

“Strategic planning is necessary precisely because we cannot forecast. . . . Strategic planning does not deal with future decisions. It deals with the futurity of present decisions. Decisions exist only in the present. The question that faces the strategic decision-maker is not what his organization should do tomorrow. It is: ‘What do we have to do today to be ready for an uncertain tomorrow?’” Peter Drucker. 

However beautiful the strategy you should occasionally look at and review the results - Winston Churchill

Patience Ogunbona