This method helps you design the business vision and bold steps to achieve that vision. Your team will be able to clarify what supports your vision, what challenges your vision, and what opportunities are created in working toward your vision.
Why we like it
The 5 Bold Steps Vision canvas is a great way to create positive, future-oriented change in your organisation. It’s simple to share and easy to translate into concrete guidelines that decision makers need to get their jobs done.
It also helps to derive design criteria for business models and strategy by creating a frame of reference and boundaries for teams to work within.
LICENCE: Copyright, The Grove
How to use it
The 5 Bold Steps Vision Canvas works great in a creative environment. Print it out on A1 or A2 and use sticky notes to capture your ideas, or sketch out your thoughts freehand - whatever works best for your team. You can also use the Google Slides template to do the same on a big screen.
STEP BY STEP
1. THE VISION
A high-quality, practical, and inspiring vision for any organisation should have three key characteristics. Keep these in mind as you make your way through the canvas.
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it needs to state where the company wants to be in the near future (2–5 years);
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it must contain a level of inspiration and excitement (the rallying cry); and
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it must detail the bold steps by which to achieve the vision.
2. VISION STATEMENT
Describe what you want the future state of the company to be? - within 2 to 5 years? How are you going to help your customers? The vision should adhere to the principles of SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time limited. A vision that is vague and hard to quantify with an open-ended time frame will never be achieved.
It is often difficult to get the vision statement right up front - and in fact it is usually fluid in this process. Move onto the Themes and you can refine the vision statement later.
3. THEMES
What are the essential themes supporting your vision? These should be short phrases that when viewed together create a compelling picture of the desired direction and future state described in the vision statement. Describe each in a few words.
4. THEME PROOFS
This is where you add tangible structure to the vision themes. How will the themes tangibly show up in your company? How will they make the vision themes concrete, be visible in the operation of the company - to staff and to customers - and how will they inspire others?
5. CHECK YOUR VISION
With your themes and theme proofs now detailed, go back and check your vision statement. Are all three parts of the canvas aligned? Adjust it accordingly.
5. SUPPORTS & CHALLENGES
To maximise your chance of achieving your vision, you need to identify what can help and what will hinder you on your journey. What are the supports that will enable you to reach your future? What are the challenges that will become roadblocks in your path?
7. BOLD STEPS
A bold vision requires bold action to be taken if it is to become a reality. What are the bold steps you need to take in order to achieve your vision? What new initiatives are required? What change needs to be made? Consider the gap between where you are now and your future vision state. What must you prioritise to get there?
Like your vision statement, your bold steps should be SMART.
8. KEY VALUES
What are the crucial values that form the foundation for your vision and bold steps? How can you align those values to your brand values?
CHECKLIST
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Share the vision with key team members to see if it resonates with others. Get feedback on a scale of 1 to 10 to understand their level of confidence in the vision and bold steps.
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Are your bold steps truly bold? Do your bold steps leverage your supports and address your challenges?
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Is your vision aligned to your themes, proofs and bold steps?
NEXT STEPS
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Put the bold steps to work - get the business leadership involved to sign off on the vision and build out the bold steps into an action plan with a leader assigned to each bold step.
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Ensure alignment between your vision and your Brand Strategy.
