Who needs vision Why do a vision workshop? statements? A Visioning .pdf · Once the collective...

Michael Sparks Winter, University 2007, Australian

National University, Canberra University

29 & 30 November 2007

Professor Michael Sparks

The Winter School

Tartu University



What is a vision workshop?� An interactive session where members of a focus

community come together with organisations to indicate

ideal future outcomes;

� A session in which organisations can seek clarification of

what the community wants and how the organisations can

help achieve it;

� An opportunity to examine the strengths and assets in the

community as well as the needs and gaps; and

� An opportunity to discuss potential partners who might

also help to achieve the community’s vision.



Why do a vision workshop?� To understand what the community wants or needs before

you develop a policy;

� To clearly communicate this community vision with

others;

� To see how the outcome that your organisation is working

toward fits in with the community vision;

� To determine other potential partners in achieving the

vision; and

� To give people a sense of ownership of the policy process.



Who needs vision

statements?� Local, provincial and national government policymakers;

� Organisations that exist to support or provide services to a specific community;

� Projects like healthy cities, healthy islands, healthy schools;

� NGOs and humanitarian organisations often have a vision statement as well as a mission statement (IUHPE, Red Cross and Red Crescent, etc. ); and

� Intergovernmental organisations (WHO, UN, World Bank, etc.)



How do you start?� Identify who should be invited to participate. Consider:

� Whole community;

� Those most affected by the policy;

� Political, religious, cultural leaders;

� Those with an interest in the policy area;

� Other organisations with an interest in the policy area;

� Non-Governmental Organisations or humanitarian organisations with a relevant interest in the policy area; and

� Other levels of government.



Next steps:� Draw up a list of those who should be invited;

� Determine an appropriate place that will be conducive to open discussion (neutral territory);

� Determine an appropriate time for the meeting giving consideration to the needs of those invited (may need to be after office hours or on a weekend!);

� Analyse any special needs that participants may have (travel, child care, disability access, etc);

� Analyse any communication issues that need to be addressed before issuing the invitation including language, form of invitation (mail/email/public notice/telephone), most effective means of communicating with the community.



Next steps (continued):� Send out the invitations with sufficient time for people to

be able to make arrangements to attend;

� Keep a record of who is attending and who has sent

apologies. Follow up those you haven’t heard from;

� Make sure the meeting place is ready and comfortable on

the day (supply water and food for the meeting); and

� Make sure that everything participants need to

communicate is in place (microphones, pen and paper,

white boards, butcher’s paper, interpreters, etc).



The Visioning process� May be as formal or informal as you like/need it to be;

� Usually led by one person (may be independent) using a

list of questions targeting a future vision;

� Input from participants may be spoken or written but must

be recorded in some way;

� Once the collective visions have been stated, there needs

to be discussion of what is realistic, what can be achieved

with present resources, partners who could be called on to

help, and what the community can expect from the

organisation leading the process.



The visioning process

(continued)

� It is very important to clarify any points that are not clear

so that everyone knows exactly what is being said;

� It is important to identify the role the community will

play in reaching this vision (assets, resources, actions);

� A smaller group may write up the results and send them

to all the participants;

� The group may be re-convened in future if necessary;



Example� A good example of a city in Australia that used visioning

to develop future plans and policies:

http://www.vincentvision2024.com.au/events.html



Policy implications of visions� Once the visioning workshop has been held, the policy

makers need to carefully analyse the vision that has been

developed and figure out:

� What they can and should do to help achieve the vision;

� Who they need to work with to achieve the vision;

� How they will link their policy development to the results of

the vision workshop;

� How they will report on policy progress in a way that

contributes to the fulfilment of the vision

� How to communicate and manage realistic expectations.



Vision workshop

demonstration� Small groups

� Agree on the type of organisation you will be representing

(can be real or imagined)

� Some in the group represent the organisation, others

represent the focus population/members that are being

served by the group – decide on the roles of members

� Distribute questions – one person in each group leads the

exercise and another reports back at the end.



Discussion� In what policy contexts do you think visioning workshops

would work best?

� When might they not work so well?

� What problems could hinder the process?

� What are your thoughts on the usefulness of visioning?



Final pieces of advice:� When developing a mission statement - encourage

positive dreams! Ask the community to imagine an ideal

outcome. Then work out what steps are necessary in

getting there.

� When developing your organisation’s policy response to

the vision statement – be as accurate as you can about

what your organisation can actually do – how it can

contribute to achieving the vision. Your organisation does

not have to achieve the vision all by itself!

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