Essential Visioning : Overview and Comparative Analysis of Visioning Techniques

Please note that this essay is a work in progress. Also, it draws on and refers to ideas explained in the presentation, "Was it good for you? Subjective-Objective Dilemmas in Futures Studies."

Wendy L. Schultz
September 1996
Oxford, England

Introduction

What is a vision, and why should everybody have one? Most grandly, a vision articulates a preferred future, vividly enough to excite interest and inspire action, and with sufficient specificity for people to imagine living in the future described. Currently the term is in danger of becoming clichéd, hackneyed, and over-used to meaninglessness: in an age of transition, vision is desperately sought but seems so elusive that the seeking itself is often ridiculed.

On a simpler level, a vision is simply the answer to the question, "What do we want to create?" (Senge, p.xxxx ) The emphasis here lies on the verb "want:" a vision is a statement of desire that encapsulates our values, interests, and priorities. In this it differs from other scenarios of the future: scenarios answer the questions, "what might happen in the future? what might our actions create?" Scenarios of alternative futures offer an array of possibilities, some of which are more plausible, or probable, than others. Clem Bezold has suggested that "scenarios are futures for the head; visions are futures for the heart." That is, scenarios are most often used to forecast different directions of change, and as such contribute to contingency planning, where visions are used to motivate and inspire people.

Which provides one answer to the question, why should everybody have one? Because modern society abounds with people *using* visions: politicians, businesspeople, social change organizations, city planners, spiritual organizations -- the list is endless. Successfully selling a vision of the future can legitimate political action, accelerate consumer sales, increase volunteerism, garner support for urban projects, recruit true believers, and in a wide variety of arenas suspend critical evaluation and demonstrate all the strengths of ideology. Articulating one's preferred future takes work, and many people choose the easy road, adopting one of these pre-packaged visions. It is less risky, and in fact almost guarantees a community of fellow travellers -- safety in numbers. But those who take the time to create their own images of the future create for themselves both the lever with which to move the world, and the place to stand from which to exert that leverage: a clearly articulated, wholistic statement of values and ideals.

This is not to say that vision creation is merely the last line of defense for the free individual (although it may well be); it is also a powerful means to build active communities and dynamic teams. For those communities to be strong and the teams effective, however, the visioning must be jointly undertaken, with everyone participating fully. In the last few decades, many techniques to create jointly-held visions have arisen. While they have much in common, they do differ in their methods and applications.

The following paragraphs compare five different approaches to creating vision. I will admit up front that the first approach mentioned, the great leader theory, is offered as something of a straw man to provide a nadir against which readers may measure the worth and application of the other four. The next section briefly describes the five approaches, their optimal outcomes, and key elements; section three offers examples of how they might be used in different applications, and the final section discusses potential outcomes of visioning.

Approaches

Shazam! Eureka! Voila!
Visions of a better world, of an advanced society, of philanthropic change, have historically been in the hands of the elite: the Delphic oracles and other religious prophets; gifted artists, writers, and philosophers; and charismatic great leaders. The creation of vision was a mystery, an irreproducible art, composed of sudden insights, intuitions, and inspirations. Unfortunately, this method is not amenable to skills transfer, and society could only hope for the emergence of a visionary thinker at appropriately opportune moments.

Political science and governance studies in this century awoke slowly to a perception of vision as the heart of leadership. In discussing the relationship between leaders and followers, Burns laid the keystone for the argument in his description of "transformational" leaders (Burns, pp. xxxx). Burns influenced thinkers and researchers such as Bennis and Nanus, who focussed specifically on vision, and Tucker, who theorized vision as the "prescription" leaders offer in response to their insightful "diagnosis" of social ills. Others have documented and inventoried the occurrence of vision as the foundation of leadership throughout society.

Optimal outcomes, key elements:

The Learning Organization
Vision has become a very hot topic in the business and management literature. Among the best of the books focussed on vision and leadership in the economic arena is The Fifth Discipline, by Peter Senge. Senge proposes the creation of the "learning organization," which fosters in all its employees the "five disciplines" of personal mastery, shared vision, and the systems perspective. This perspective stresses dialogue, in the oldest and most noble sense of the word:

Futures Workshops

Alternative Futures

Imaging the Future

Critical Elements: the comparison.

Applications
Creating Followers
What is useful about the great leader [Shazam! Eureka! Voila!] approach? Visionary leaders are enormously inspiring, challenging, and fun people with whom to work. Also, with only one person in charge of the visioning, contradictions among visions within the community or organization do not arise.

There are drawbacks to visionary leaders, however. First, they are difficult to find. Many people fabricate images of what the future should be: finding that person who espouses a vision suitable to your community or organization, who offers truly creative insights into what *you* want to create, would be unlikely via the hunt and peck method. Secondly, visionary leaders also need charisma, persuasiveness, and some communications or media sophistication to disseminate their vision throughout the community in question. Finally, the great leader approach is very top-down. People involved are, in the last analysis, creating someone else's future.

Creating Personal Vision

Creating Organizational Vision

Creating Community Vision

Creating a Global Vision

Outcomes

creativity/group process skills/team building

Inspiration

Rapprochement

Commitment to Change

Ongoing Process

Heightened Leadership