Inspiring a Vision
Note: This article is updated at How To Inspire a Vision.
One of my mentees was looking for ways to grow her prowess in “Inspiring a Vision.”
Here are some of the ways I shared with her so far:
- Future Picture - One of the best ways that the military uses to create a shared vision rapidly and communicate it down the line is “Future Picture” (See How To Paint a Future Picture.)
The key with vision is, when possible –
- Draw your vision – make it a simple picture
- Use metaphors – metaphors are the fastest way to share an idea
- Paint the story - what’s the current state, what’s the future state
- Paint the ecosystem – who are the players in the system, what are the levers, what are the inputs/outputs
- Paint the story over time … how does time change the vision … and chunk up the vision into 6 month, 1 year, 3 year, five year
And, a powerful tool we use at Microsoft is a Vision / Scope document.