Vision Core · Vision Statement · Module
The statement
The articulation itself: a future state with a horizon attached, written so that someone outside the room could tell whether it had been reached.
The idea
How it works
A vision is a description of a state of affairs, not an aspiration about how the organisation will behave. “To be the most trusted partner in our field” describes an attitude; “every hospital in the country runs on this” describes a state someone could verify.
The horizon does most of the work. Without a date the vision is permanently in progress, which means nobody has to act on it this year and nobody ever has to admit it was not reached.
Working with it
In practice
- 01
Write a state, not an adjective
Describe what will be true, not what the organisation will be like. Adjectives cannot be reached.
- 02
Attach a horizon
A decade is the usual range. Without a date, the vision cannot be missed and therefore cannot be pursued.
- 03
Add the vivid description
What it looks like on the day it is reached. The description is what people can act on; the headline is what they can remember.
- 04
Check it against purpose
The vision should be recognisable as one way of pursuing the purpose, not as a separate ambition that happens to coexist with it.
One level in
The components of the statement
A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.
A vision with no date cannot be missed, which is exactly why nobody acts on it this year.
The other modules in vision statement
Reachability
Whether the vision is actually attainable, on what horizon, and what would have to become true first — the half that separates ambition from fantasy.
LearnWhat it rules out
The opportunities the vision makes it wrong to take — without which it cannot settle an argument, which is the only thing a vision is used for under pressure.
LearnProgress
Whether the organisation is closer than it was, established on evidence rather than on activity — because a decade-long vision is otherwise unexamined for a decade.
Learn