Is collective vision creation necessary?

Innovative ideas often come from enterprising and visionary individuals. In other words, vision creation is not always a collective process. However, there are benefits to collective vision creation:

• The differing perspectives of the problem, values, preferences, and knowledge of those involved are immediately included
• The joint process of formulating a vision and reflecting on it from the perspective of their practice influences the perception of the problems of those involved and their ideas about the future.

Collective vision creation therefore increases the chance that the vision will appeal to the stakeholders and that they will act on it.

 When should vision creation be a collective process?

Collective vision creation is the preferred method when various stakeholders depend on one another for the innovation.

 Identify the expectation

If you decide against a collective vision creation process, you should in any case identify the expectations and views of stakeholders since you may find that you have to adapt your vision or modify the expectations of others.

Start by investigating the views of people who are sympathetic to your ideas for an innovation. Use their reactions to strengthen your vision. At the same time, assess what part these people could play in a project based on that vision. When your vision and the plans for its implementation have been fleshed out in more detail and are sufficiently robust, you should approach less well-known and more critical people. The views of the latter, in particular, will give you an indication of factors that could cause the project to fail.