Another Tool for Shaping a Vision
Last time, we talked about the power of the “more of/less of” brainstorming exercise to shape a vision of your changed world. Once you’ve got an extensive list of actions and behaviors that the group wants to see more of or less of in post-change paradise, you’re ready to pull the next tool out of the box. This one is called the "15-word flip chart," and it’s incredibly powerful.
For this exercise, give everyone present (probably the key stakeholders who are going to help make the change happen) his or her very own piece of flip chart paper and a nice fat-tipped marker. With your “more of/less of” brainstorm posted prominently, ask everyone in the room to write a vision statement of 15 words or less. To make it a little easier, you can assume that every statement starts with the words, "We will," and not count those as part of the 15.
Why 15 words? Well, it’s admittedly an arbitrary number, and the reason for it is to provide some constraints. Out of limitations, I like to think, comes creativity. If you don’t have some parameters, some folks won’t know what to write and will be overwhelmed by the blank page. Others will write treatises and manifestos. You don’t want either. Give folks some quiet time to do this, without discussing. The point is for each person to come up with his or her own vision statement. Discussion comes later.
Once everyone has a 15-word flip chart completed, it’s time to turn them all into one statement that everyone can agree on and understand. Post the various papers on the wall so everyone can see. With a nice bright color, circle every word that occurs more than once. You can probably ignore articles (words like “a,” “an” and “the”), as well as conjunctions (like “and” and “but”), but circle everything else.
Your goal here is consensus. By starting with the words that occur more than once, you’re focusing on things on which at least two people in the room agree. From that point of concord, it’s easier to build agreement around the room. Put all those words on their own flip chart for the group to see and start working with those words to create a 15-word vision statement that everyone likes.
Once you’ve led your group through the 15-word flip chart and the more of/less of exercises, you’ll find you have a much sharper vision of your finish line, which will make it a lot easier to mobilize commitment throughout your organization to the change initiative. Leading people toward a finish line they can actually see is way easier than leading them through a dark, foggy night.
Eryc Eyl / Freelance Writer and Business Consultant
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