Creating sustainable futures/CSF103/Developing/What is a vision

Humans are inherently strategic at the individual level, and regularly work towards a personal vision of the future. A vision, in this sense, is a picture of the future that you want to bring about. At the personal level this might be the sort of place you want to live, gaining your ideal job, or imagining your ideal garden.

At the organisational level, a vision is a powerful way of explaining the future that the organisation is working towards. For example, on 25th May 1961 President John F. Kennedy announced that before the end of the decade the USA would send a man safely to the moon. In 1969, that goal was achieved. As another example, the original Microsoft vision developed by Bill Gates and Paul Allen was “a computer on every desk and in every home”.

In the sustainability context, sustainability pioneer Interface has its framed its vision alongside its Mission Zero commitment, “To be the first company that, by its deeds, shows the entire industrial world what sustainability is in all its dimensions: People, process, product, place and profits — by 2020 — and in doing so we will become restorative through the power of influence.” This vision inspired the people at Interface since 1995 and helped shaped the company’s achievements that make it one of the most respected and recognised sustainability leaders in the world. Recently the vision has been refreshed and stretched further into the future to go beyond ‘zero’ towards having a net positive and restorative impact. The new vision is called Climate Take Back and envisions a world where business is a force for good that delivers solutions to the big social and environmental challenges of our time.

Interface's Mission Zero commitment
In the sustainability context, sustainability pioneer Interface has framed its vision alongside its Mission Zero commitment,

This vision has inspired the people at Interface since 1995 and helped shaped the company’s achievements that make it one of the most respected and recognised sustainability leaders in the world.

An organisational vision provides the frame for a strategic planning process, and should reflect what real success looks like within the systems that the organisation operates. The vision then begs the question, what goals do we need to achieve in order to bring this vision into reality? In turn these strategic goals inform action planning, and what ultimately gets done.