The eight teams were successful because they went beyond shared interest in issues to creating an explicit shared vision for a specific outcome. The investments they made in creating a shared vision turned out in most cases to generate new relationships and attitudes about working together and opened communication among potential partners. According to the grantees, projects with an explicit and clear project purpose and a focused set of goals were easier to manage. In particular, participants noted that a shared vision effectively communicated to all members of the team and reinforced throughout the project helped them maintain the interest and focus of the project team. Native Plants found the group process of shared vision formation allowed for the creation of trust in the lead collaborators; through this process they demonstrated openness to the ideas of all partners.

Creating a shared vision within a geographically dispersed, multi-organizational team posed several challenges to the eight project teams. For example, Promise of Place noted the challenge of getting people who are not physically located in the same building to take the time to go through the process of creating a common vision, while Economic Development noted the challenge of finding common ground among the many partners with varied interests involved in the project. In general the grantees found that, while the team leader played a critical role in the vision creation process, - those projects where the leader saw his or her role as a facilitating the development of a shared vision rather than as the one responsible for developing the project vision by themselves were more effective. The participants noted that autocratic leadership, when exhibited, whether by the project lead or others, was a barrier to the vision creation process, as well as in other activities throughout the projects.

Visioning

Tips

• Build consensus among your project team on the project vision – do not assume everyone is thinking the same thing. Use exercises or facilitated sessions to explore perspectives and to work toward a shared vision. A variety of tools and techniques can be employed in this task.
• Building a shared vision takes time. Visions evolve as participants become more familiar with the general ideas and issues under discussion and more comfortable with each other. Allow enough time for this evolution to take place and encourage it.
• Select communication strategies that support the collaborative development of a vision statement. Often face-to-face contact is necessary in early vision creation meetings, with more virtual meetings possible as the group becomes more comfortable with the task and each other.
• Maintain open communication ensuring all participants are able to share their perspectives and ideas freely.