The other day, I signed an agreement to speak for the annual meeting of a large Home Care franchise organization. I’ve spoken for them several times in the past and I’m looking forward to being back.
One of the topics they asked me to present is “Visioneering Home Care.” This is a discussion about how leaders can craft a clear mental picture of what they want their Home Care business to look like in five years, and to develop action plans to get there.
I was going back through my slide deck on this subject, and describing for the client the objectives of this presentation. We talked about what their franchisees will be able to do as a result of this program. As I looked over the slides, they reminded me of some wonderful experiences leading Executive Strategy Retreatsfor some amazing organizations, and the powerful insights that came out of their Visioneering conversations.
Over the years, I’ve probably led 500 executive retreats for a wide range of healthcare organizations, including hospital systems, physician group practices, senior living communities, home health agencies, hospices, and Home Care companies. The past 25 years my focus has been on Home Care.
As I reflected on these gatherings of leaders around a common purpose, I recognized the seven elements of a highly effective Visioneering session:
Vision without Action is Hallucination
Several weeks ago I told you about the time I was leading a Home Care seminar in California, and talking about Vision. A young man in the audience stood up and said, “Remember, Vision without action is Hallucination”. The audience erupted in laughter. I told that story many times over the years. In another program, a young woman replied to the quote with another comment: “Yes, and Action without Vision is Chaos.”
Visioneering is a powerful process for getting your leadership team on the same page and creating alignment around direction, distinction, people, processes, and performance.
“If you can get all your leaders in the same room,
I can help you get them all on the same page.”
When I think about vision, I think about Walt Disney and his Imagineering. Walt had an unbelievable ability to see a clear mental picture of what he wanted to build, and to communicate his vision to those who needed to build it.
The other thing that I got from Walt Disney is the storyboarding technique. Storyboarding is a tool for making ideas visible, and stimulating creativity using large foam boards, index cards, and push pins. I learned storyboarding from Mike Vance, who worked for Walt Disney as Dean of Disney University.
Storyboarding is the tool that has enabled me to bring leadership teams together, ask strategic questions, and get them using their creativity and critical thinking to craft their vision for the future and their plan to get their. The power of storyboarding is that everyone in the room gets to participate, and everyone in the rooms gets their ideas heard and seen.
The result is a strategic plan that everyone shares ownership for, and a plan that has an increased likelihood of being implemented successfully. Everyone on the team is aligned around their vision, purpose, and strategies.
