You are asked to help a group develop a vision. Some people in the group think this is too touchy-feely, but they go ahead "because these days one has to have one." There are many skeptics in the room. People don’t see how a vision can pull them out of a current rut.

As a facilitator you need to prime the pump. If you don’t, and the group is not ready for the task, it will produce something that is a vision only in name. A powerful vision expresses longings. Not superficial wants, or needs, or wishes, but something much stronger than that. Peter Senge writes about vision "It is, rather, a force in people’s hearts, a force of impressive power."(Senge, 1990:206) Getting to these longings, liberating this powerful force requires the creation of a safe space, where people don’t have to worry about looking silly. This is of course important for any facilitated event, but it has a particular significance for creating a vision, excatly because it is an expression of something very deep and very powerful.

Vision is essentially about hope that a transformation is possible. The Dutch futurist Fred Polak noted that in every instance of a flowering culture there had been a positive image of the future at work: without a vision, the culture died. History is full of examples of once vibrant cultures that withered away and finally disappeared. A current example of vision at work is embodied in Neslon Mandela. He writes in his auto-biography: "I never lost hope that this grand transformation would occur. Not only because of the great heroes I have already cited, but because of the courage of the ordinary men and women of my country. I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there was mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." (Mandela, 1996:749)

The creation of a vision, whether it is a personal or an organizational one, is not an intellectual or an analytical process. As such it seems out of place in an environment where such processes are the preferred, maybe even the only acceptable ones. Creating the vision is about tapping into our deepest desires, our longings for a better, a gentler, a safer world, for being with those we love, and caring for those who cannot care for themselves. These longings are far more likely to come to the surface when we worship, when we are with our family, our best friends, than when we are at work. The split between home and work life has confined talking about these matters to only one part of our life: our private life. For many people, especially those at the higher rungs of the corporate ladder, this is also the place where they spent relatively little time.

But even if visioning would have been an intellectual exercise, there is another obstacle. Many of us have learned, over time, that we should not want things too badly. Either because that may seem greedy, or because we are afraid that we can’t get what we want anyway. Or because others told us that we shouldn’t be wanting things. If a vision is seen as something we would want, then we are running up against years of conditioning, which makes it hard, if not impossible to do.

Peter Senge and his colleagues describe several simple exercises, essentially a series of questions, to help people get beyond the superficial, and often materialistic desires (Senge et al., 1994: 201-211) and discover what their deep longings are. Once this is experienced at a personal level, the visioning exercise of a group becomes more meaningful. Essentially these questions probe what’s behind our desire for a bigger house, a faster car, more money, by asking what such a thing would give us once we have it. Quickly the material wishes make place for such things as love, respect, safety, security, making a difference. When we enter those depths, a profound psychological shift takes place. In a group, the effect can be awesome.

The work of Peter Senge, Robert Fritz, among others, has done a great deal to popularize the notion of vision in the corporate world. Vision is no longer associated with religious phenomena and worship. Most places I go now either have a vision or are in the process of "doing" one. Some of these so-called visions are actually mission statements, repeating in more lofty terms what the organization had been doing all along. Other vision statements are attempts at creating an inspiring picture of a desired future. Some clearly galvanize people. And some clearly don’t.

One of my great joys in working is to help groups of people create images of a future they collectively want to create. I follow the process developed by the Institute for Cultural Affairs, described in the book "Winning through Participation." (Spencer, 1989:98-100). Over the years I have elaborated and extended my introductions to the visioning exercise, because few people could relate, at a gut level, to the notion of a vision, especially of an organizational vision. At the personal level I have found that few people are actually guided by a vision when life’s decisions are taken, except for one professional group: doctors. I know many doctors who, at an early age, knew that they were going to be doctor. This vision was maintained despite obstacles, and ultimately used to overcome these obstacles. And that is exactly the function of a powerful vision.

Priming the pump: get in at the personal level.

The power of a compelling vision

The solution is the creation of a vision. Fritz calls this "setting up creative tension." Rather than going back and forth between our contradictory, and mutually exclusive desires, we start thinking about a point in the future and imagining ourselves as we would like to be then. For example, continuing the smoking example, I may see myself as a healthy old grandmother, at age 80, able to walk without help, climb stairs without wheezing, play with my grandchildren. The stronger the image, the better. I need to climb into that picture as it were, and get myself excited about becoming that person. And then I need to return to the present, and look "current reality," as Fritz calls it, straight in the eye. If I am now a smoker, and with all the information I have about smoking and its relation to my desired future, what conclusion should I draw? I am now setting up a creative tension that can only be released in one way. The rubber band stretched from where I am now to where I want to be in the future, is pulling me towards my desired future. Each time I feel like smoking, I need to "climb" back into that vision. If it is strong enough, compelling enough, it will pull me through the rough spots. If you don’t think this is possible, think of Nelson Mandela.

Articulating a personal vision

(2) Reflecting on the answer to the first question (was it hard to do? Why?);

(3) Describing the result in the present tense using categories such as self-image (the kind of person I am in this desired future state, tangible aspects, home, health, relationships, work, personal pursuits, community, life purpose, etc.;

(4) Expanding and clarifying the vision, by asking such questions as: "If I could have it now, would I take it? Assuming I have it now, what does it bring me?"

I usually give people a copy of the questions, and as much colored paper as they want, and a handful of crayons or markers. I ask them to find a quiet spot, read the questions and begin to doodle, as images begin to appear. For some people this is easy for others, especially those with strong analytical minds, this is hard. I ask them to really try. And if they still can’t do it, I tell them to go to bed, and see in the morning if there were any clues in their dreams that night. There are always some people who cannot do it (yet).

Finally I conduct a focused conversation about the assignment and ask those who want to share their images with the rest of the group. Rather to my surprise, people are usually anxious to show their pictures. The pictures have a lot in common: suns, houses/shelter, family, nature, a sense of fulfillment and peace, a better world...etc.

Now the group is better prepared for the collective exercise of creating a shared vision.

References:

Mandela, N. R. A Long Way to Freedom. London: Abacus, 1996:749

Senge, Peter M. The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday, 1990

Senge, P., A. Kleiner, C. Roberts, R. Ross, B. Smith. "Drawing Forth Personal Vision" from The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, New York, NY: Doubleday, 1994 201-211.

Spencer, Laura J. Winning through participation. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1989.

The Presenter