Inspire a Shared Vision What Does Success Look Like?

What Does Success Look Like?
Objectives
Inspire a Shared Vision
• To help leaders envision the future and turn their visions into inspiring stories that they
can more easily share with others. To help leaders imagine project success not just in
terms of numbers and outputs but also in terms of how people are affected by the success.
• To provide leaders feedback on how others understand their vision.
Audience
Five to twenty-five leaders.
Time Required
35 to 45 minutes.
Materials and Equipment
• One blank white sheet of paper per person.
• Two blank sheets of lined paper per person.
• Colored markers.
• Pen or pencil for each participant.
• Tape of sticky tack to hang all the participant’s paper drawings on the walls.
• Five sticky notes for each participant.
Area Setup
Participants should sit at tables where they can write and draw. Wall space to hang participant’s
drawings and captions.
Process
1. Give each leader one blank sheet of paper, several colored markers, and two blank sheets
of lined paper. Remind participants to write neatly during the activity so that others can
read their handwriting.
2. Ask leaders to imagine a project that they just started working on or are about to start.
Give them 3 minutes to write on one sheet of lined paper what success looks like for this
project. What will have been done when the project is finished and declared a success?
Each participant should keep these notes for him-or herself.

3. Have each leader imagine he or she was to use a camera to take a snapshot of the most
successful moment of the project. Tell leaders to think about what and who is in the
picture; include at least one person in the picture. What are the people doing, saying or
feeling? When and where is this event happening?
4. Give leaders 10 minutes to draw pictures of the snapshots they imagined on the blank
sheets of paper. Remind everyone that the quality of drawing doesn’t matter at all; this is
just a different approach to help them explore their visions.
5. Have leaders take the second blank sheers of lined paper and write short captions for the
pictures. Tell them to briefly answer who, what, when, where, and why in their captions.
6. Designate the location of the “vision gallery” and ask participants to hang their vision
pictures around the room with their captions beneath.
7. Invite all participants to visit the “vision gallery.” Ask: “What did others include in their
visions that you might want to add to yours?” Ask each participant to leave a comment
written on a sticky note for each of the other five pictures. Suggest that the comment
relate to something unique or practical about the vision. Have them post their notes on the
lined caption page that is below each picture.
8. Leave the gallery up as long as you like. Sometimes participants like to explore the
gallery on another break. At the end of the session, have each artist take his or her
original vision, caption, and all the sticky comments.
9. Suggest that participants may want to review the sticky note comments and add to or edit
their visions based on the comments they received and/or what they noticed from looking
at the other visions.
10. Encourage leaders to later return to their project teams and take the opportunity to
describe what success looks like on the project using the pictures they drew, the captions,
and the comments as a guide. Tell them that they do not need to actually show anyone
the pictures, but they should go beyond describing just the numbers and logistical details
of a successful project. It should include how people are involved and what they are
saying and feeling. This can help all members of their teams feel more connected to their
visions and more likely to work to achieve them.
Source: The Leadership Challenge Activities Book, Wiley Publishing