Learning to Dream

I need to dream. I refer both to dreams experienced during sleep, and the yearnings of the future. I want to address the latter.

I have spent over 30 years helping organizations create a sense of their future and then to create plans that reach for that future. I learned that client groups have a difficult time creating an image of their organization’s future. They tend to be in tune with current problems and the need to solve them; however, focusing too much in that thinking zone obscures long-term issues of great importance.

To improve group focus I asked these simple questions:

·         If everything were working properly in the organization what would your organization be 

       doing?

       ·         What would be happening in your industry or marketplace?
       ·         Describe your organization in 15 or 20 years; what would it look like?
       ·         What measurements of success would be applied to your organization? What achievements or
              numerical guideposts would be then current?

This is really an imaging exercise. The key is forcing our minds to press forward far enough into the future to allow us freedom to dream. We can’t make that future come to life immediately, but we can work towards it with a series of tactics, strategies and measureable actions. Those are the details needed to make the dream come true; for now it is merely important to play with the ideas that we hope will describe our organization’s success far into the future.

We can’t get to where we want to go without first identifying the destination.

The same is true for a society as it works with its institutions of culture, leadership and government. It deals first with what is immediately with us. Today’s tasks describe what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. What is our purpose or mission? Why is this important for us to commit energy, time and other scare resources to it?

This is really the bones of an organization’s Mission Statement. It needs to be perfected so we clearly understand what we are about. But it also needs to be fluid in order to adjust to changing needs and environments.

The long-term results of our mission successfully performed should yield to the dream of where we want to go long into the future. And that is the objective of strategic, long-range planning.

Some quick images would be helpful here.

• Railroads lost sight they were in the business of moving freight and people; they viewed themselves as being in the ‘railroad business;’ that wasn’t enough. Highways, trucks, shipping and air transport diluted the role and need for railroads.
• Auto manufactures believe they are in the car business. Actually they are in the business of personal transport both local and long distance. User options include size, economy, luxury, safety and utility. Merely making cars will cause manufacturers to lose out on important changes the future will bring. But will they adapt quickly enough to save themselves?
• Oil companies see themselves as producers of oil and derivative products. If they fail to see themselves as energy producers they will lose hold of their industrial might.

Mission and Vision coupled enable vital planning advancements. This is true in companies and governments, as well as non-profit agencies. Even churches.

Units of government would benefit from these efforts. The smaller entities for sure. What is their purpose or mission? How well are they meeting the mission? What needs to be fixed so the unit functions more fully to meet the needs of the mission? What long-term dream should we be working toward? How adaptable to change will it be?

Larger units of government will encounter political problems. Think of state legislatures and Congress! They can barely agree on the time of day to have a meeting let alone the priorities which are most important for them to attend to. How refreshing would it be if the State of Illinois established a priority list of key issues in need of attention, then set out the process to manage them appropriately in that priority order? Extend the same to Congress. The mind reels at the possibility of our representatives actually sitting down to work constructively on an issue and arrive at a working consensus.

It all begins with constructive dreaming. What’s your dream? What dreams should we ask our elected officials to be committed to? Dare we ask?

October 27, 2011