A Glimpse into the Future

To Vision or Not to Vision in Change Management

The moment I set up the schedule, I knew it wouldn’t work. It was far too ambitious, too static, too complex. But there was the deadline. The aspired date to which all should be accomplished.

Admittedly, it could have worked. If, and only if, people had actually been willing to prioritise the project.

I was leading this change project that meant to synthesize two departments into one. The change was big. It involved hundreds of people across various timezones and multiple departments. It changed workflows, processes, tools, responsibilities. And I assure you: I did have it all in my hands. Perfectly structured. I had the logic and the experience to know it would work.

Why, then, did I not meet the deadline? Why did it take so much longer, so much more effort, to complete what seemed obvious when we first started?

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The Invisible Engine: Why Your Change Needs a Founding Myth

During my studies, I learned that nations were started from a story. In fact, Benedict Anderson is known for his definition of a nation as an 'imagined community' - held together not just by borders, but by ideas that create identity. If even our nations, those entities on which we rely for resources, structures, education, from which we craft our history, identity, being, if even these are based on simple imagination, what then are the organisations we work in? True facts? Stable, unchanging communities? I dare say no. Organisations are based on stories, just like nations. Company departments are no different.

In my role as Change Manager, I did not make this connection right away. Sadly so. Why? Because it was far too late, when I realised that my clear processes were competing with the "old stories" living in the employees' minds: Just another change. More of the same. Different names, same problems.

I was filling the gap with my own energy and expertise, persuading people one by one that things were going to be better. That we were addressing the very problems they had been struggling with for years. It wasn’t enough. They couldn’t picture it. What they saw was chaos. Insecurity. Their heads spit out uninspiring words:

“restructuring departments", “direct assignment”, "QA process”, “MT rollout”

This must have been scary to many. They got lost in the scope and the meaning: What does it entail? Who will have to leave? How will that impact their work?

What if, instead of explaining the mechanics, I had given them a beautiful image that reflected a future reality they would actually aspire to?

Picture this:

We are creating a world where bridges are made of words. Technology serves as the foundation. Human intuition sparks the peak. Our streamlined processes will enable global flow and empower you to become true designers of cultural connectivity.

That is the difference between a task and a "founding myth" for a team. One is a chore; the other is a community moving towards a shared value. When you lack that vision, you aren't just missing a motto - you are leaving your team alone with their outdated narratives.

A framing like the example above might have shifted anxiety about the change into a tangible future outlook. This is what Johannes Schmid describes as well when writing that visions are glimpses into the future that help tackle inert fears.

Make your vision a desire - and take off to a new future

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How Does It Work - Drafting Visions That Actually Stick

Would you like to start drafting your vision right away? Good. You might wonder, though, what this vision should look and sound like. How should it be phrased? Here are some key points.

According to Thomas Lauer, a vision should be discernible and individual, motivating to employees, ethically correct, formulated in clear, understandable language and both realisable and flexible.

Several other authors who have dealt with visions ascribe a big portion of success to the way a vision carries emotion through pictures, including Kotter, who defines the vision as “a picture of the future” which is step 3 in his 8-phased change model. Why is it so important that a vision creates an image? Schmid explains this with our way of communicating. He says that imagery is the more succesful form of communication because we can remember it longer and connect it with personal emotion. Creating visions as images is therefore a very effective means to communicate across departments and share information in the long-term.

Whether created in a small circle or co-creatively by a larger group, remember to use your vision as a statement that 

• motivates your employees 

• using clear language, 

• generates images while 

• highlighting a pathway to the future 

• that is desirable and attainable, if ambitious.

Finding precise and concise words to do all this, is far from easy. You might craft your vision for weeks and months. If you do, don’t get lost in the process. Be bold. Go out with it, even if unfinished. Refine it as you go. A vision is a lived document of the culture and goal you wish to create for your company.

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Reality Check - What’s In It For Me?

Let’s go back to our example vision for the change I was leading. It is just that, by the way. An example. Probably imperfect. Does it sound illusionary? Yes. It makes us dream. Big. But you know what? That is exactly what a vision should do. A change will be messy. The vision will carry you through that messiness.

The danger here is if the envisioned picture will never become even closely achievable. If the perceived reality is so far from the promise on paper, no one will take it seriously. That will make your vision die. And with it, your change.

What, then, should we do?

Create a vision. And mean it. Stick by it. A carefully crafted vision, will not just motivate employees but leadership as well. It will remind everyone involved of the task ahead. In our example, the vision changes wording from “restructuring departments” or “changing processes” to something bigger. It serves as a northstar to remind us that, if succesful, the change will:

• create synergy

• empower employees to become true builders of their envisioned future

• create cultural connectivity

• use technology to foster human intuition rather than to neglect it

If the vision becomes the lighthouse for leadership to be measured against, they will be able to forge the path in clear steps which employees can vividly envision and live up to every day. The change will not be a monster anymore that threathens their way of work. It will be the spirit that motivates to keep moving.

Change without a vision is like a child without a name: it exists, but it has no identity, no place to belong.

A vision, however, that doesn’t create change, is like bringing up a child contrary to the meaning of its name: A "Faith" within a family of sceptics or a "Peace" in a culture of conflict. The name will lose relevance as the vision will lose momentum. It will be written on a wall and never realised.

Give the child a name and live by it.

Create a vision for your change. And then hold yourself responsible for its realisation. Don’t stop in the middle. Don’t start tomorrow. Start today. Start now. This is how a strong and resilient culture is built.

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References: This article draws on insights by Thomas Lauer, John Kotter, and Johannes Schmid