Vision Statement · The statement · Component
The horizon
When the vision is expected to be reached, and why that date — because a vision with no date cannot be missed and therefore is not pursued.
The deliverable
What it is
Distance is the design problem. Too near and the vision is a plan that belongs in the Goal Core; too far and nobody has to act on it during their own tenure.
A decade is the conventional range and the conventional range is roughly right, because it is long enough to require a change in what the organisation is and short enough that current leadership will still be answerable.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The date
When the vision is expected to be reached.
3 attributes: Target · From now · Why this date
LearnThe tenure check
Whether the people setting the vision will still be there.
3 attributes: Expected tenure · Overlaps horizon · Interim markers
LearnThe arrival
What happens when the date comes.
3 attributes: If reached · If not reached · Review point
Learn
Name what happens if it is reached. Organisations are routinely unprepared for that, because they did not expect it.
The other components in the statement
The future state
What will be true when the vision is reached, in terms someone outside the organisation could verify.
LearnThe vivid description
What it looks and feels like on arrival — the half people can act on, as distinct from the headline they can remember.
Learn