module 3: shaping a clear vision & igniting creative thinking
When the environment around you is unpredictable and volatile, it’s difficult to see the way ahead. Yet paradoxically, creating a clear vision is even more vital. It gives people a North Star, a direction to follow and a common purpose to unite around. As you move towards this vision, you can expect the unexpected. That’s why developing the your creative agility (and that of your team) is essential, so that you can quickly come up with fresh and innovative ideas to solve the new challenges you face.
In this module we’ll explore how to shape a compelling vision, one that inspires and aligns people. And we’ll dive into some highly practical ways you can boost creative thinking to solve problems with better ideas – faster. And it all started with a clear and compelling vision.
On September 12, 1962, a warm and sunny day, President Kennedy delivered a speech that would change the course of history. In it he said, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win too.”
Seven years later on July 20, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step on the moon. When you look at the technology that got them there on Apollo 11, (especially compared to what we have today,) it’s astounding. No wonder this mission is considered one of the greatest accomplishments in history.
So what makes makes a vision compelling?
- it sets a clear direction
- it focuses on what’s most important
- it creates a North Star that people can follow
- it inspires both hearts and minds
- it unites people around a common purpose
- it creates a sense of control
- it focuses people’s energy, time, and actions
- it makes implementation more effective
- it means people are less impacted by external factors
Think about someone who shared a compelling vision that united people and aligned them around achieving a common cause. Google the exact words they used in their speech.
- How did they communicate this vision?
- What makes their vision so compelling?
- What can you learn from them?
- How can you apply their technique to a current project?
The 3 Horizons is a model developed by McKinsey consultants Mehrdad Baghai, Stephen Coley, and David White many years ago.
It provides a structure for assessing potential opportunities for growth without neglecting the performance in the present.
HORIZON 1: CORE
In Horizon 1 the focus is on the core business that generates revenue stability. The strategy is to defend and nurture these core activities and find ways to extend them incrementally.
HORIZON 2: EMERGING
In Horizon 2 the focus is on building the concepts that will bring new growth and revenue opportunities in the medium term. These will eventually move into Horizon 1 once established.
HORIZON 3: EMBRYONIC
In Horizon 3 the focus is on longer-term opportunities and bigger visions that could provide new growth and revenues further down the line. Some of Horizon 3 ideas will move into Horizon 2 to be developed and implemented.
What’s important about the 3 Horizons model is that:
- For maximum impact, you should manage all 3 Horizons concurrently, allocating an appropriate amount of time to work on each horizon every week. For example, 70% in Horizon 1, 25% in Horizon 2, and 5% in Horizon 3)
- Over time, Horizon 3 concepts will feed Horizon 2, which will in turn bring new growth to Horizon 1.
- Some people start with Horizon 1 and “chunk up” to Horizon 3. Other people start with Horizon 3 and then “chunk down” to Horizon 1.
- What’s important is that there is clear alignment along the 3 Horizons so that what you are doing today in Horizon 1 is creating the pathway to reach Horizon 3.
TESLA:
As a case study let’s consider Tesla. In 2019, Tesla ranked as the world’s best-selling plug-in and battery electric car manufacturer after only 11 years in the market. In 2020, the company surpassed the 1 million mark of electric cars produced.
Tesla’s long-term strategic goal was to create affordable mass-market electric vehicles. Tesla’s goal was to start with a premium sports car aimed at early adopters and then moving into more mainstream vehicles, including sedans and affordable compacts.
Tesla’s technology strategy focuses on pure-electric propulsion technology and transferring other approaches from the technology industry to transportation, such as online software updates.
Unlike other automakers, Tesla does not use individual large battery cells, but thousands of small, cylindrical, lithium-ion commodity cells like those used in consumer electronics.
All Tesla cars are shipped with sensors and software to support Autopilot to enable full self-driving in the future.
Activity:
Based on this short overview have a go at mapping out Horizon 2 and Horizon 3 for Tesla cars.
ELON MUSK:
In 2001, Musk conceived “Mars Oasis,” an idea to land a miniature experimental greenhouse on Mars containing food crops in an attempt to reawaken public interest in space exploration. He set up SpaceX to start building the rockets that would make this dream happen.
The journey to creating Mars Oasis will be challenging. The trip will take between 6-9 months, and what’s carried on the spacecraft will need to be small and light. Once on Mars, the greenhouse will need to be built with the right conditions to grow plants. Where possible it would make sense to use materials on Mars to do this.
Read more about the perilous journey to Mars here
Activity:
Elon Musk’s dream is to build a greenhouse on Mars and ultimately make it habitable for humans to live there.
Using this perspective, map out Horizon 2 and Horizon 3 for Tesla cars.
Self-Reflection:
- What changed?
- What are your key learnings about the 3 Horizons
As you shape your 3 Horizons, it’s easy to stick with what you know. But one of the benefits of being in an environment that is uncertain and unpredictable is that it forces you to think past the familiar and consider multiple possibilities.
But because your brain gets lazy you need to trigger it out of complacency in order to diverge your thinking and make new and fresh connections.
To help you really create a clear vision especially of Horizon 3, work through the five elements of The I.D.E.A.S. Habit.
Read the I.D.E.A.S. Habit Article
Download the I.D.E.A.S. Habit PDF
IMAGINE:
Fast-forward into your future Horizon 3 and imagine the ideal scenario:
- What is happening around you?
- How are you feeling?
- What are people saying?
- Who is there with you?
- What is making you successful?
- What results are you getting?
DISRUPT:
Further expand on this vision by:
- Looking at what other companies are doing.
- Exploring future trends.
- Researching start-ups who are more agile & innovative
EMPATHIZE:
As you fast-forward into the future, step into the shoes of your key stakeholders:
- How do your customers feel about your offering?
- How is it meeting their needs and wants?
- How are your suppliers supporting you?
- How are you engaging the hearts and minds of your people?
ASK:
Develop your ideas and vision further with some probing questions:
- Ask 5 Whys to define the real problem you’re solving – for you, the customer and the business
- Explore multiple possibilities by asking “How might we achieve this vision?
- Ask “What if?” question like, “What if we were hugely successful? “What if the market changed completely?” “What if new competitors came into the market?”
SHAPE:
Finally review all of your ideas and insights for your Horizon 3 future vision and explore:
- What ideas could you combine together?
- What would be the simplest solution?
- What could you eliminate?
- What could you magnify? Minimize?
- What could you prototype and test?
By this point you will have expanded your ideal vision, added more substance to your ideas, and discovered new options you hadn’t thought of before.
Once you have shaped your clear vision it’s important to be able to communicate it in a way that inspires others, gives them clear direction, and motivates them to align their actions to achieve it.
To bring your vision alive, here are some techniques you can use.
Slogan:
Create a short catchy slogan (eg. “Back to the moon: this time to stay”)
Future News Report:
Write a media article or press release from the future that talks about your success, the results, and how you were able to achieve them.
Vision Board:
Create a collage of pictures that visually represents your vision. It can include practical outcomes, feelings, abstract representations, and words. It’s also great to get your team involved where everyone contributes images. You can use images from magazines, or cut-and-paste images from google into a PowerPoint slide.
HASHTAGS:
A very effective way in this digital age is to express your vision in the form of hashtags. For example #stayathome #protectthenhs #savelives.
Please write about your thoughts and insights to the following questions. You’ll find these in your Module 3 Learning Journal in MS Teams.
- What were your 3 biggest takeaways from this module?
- How can you use a clear vision to inspire and align your team?
- What are some ways that you can improve creative thinking in your team?
Complete the following actions and then review your experience and key learnings in your Personal Tracker.
Creating a Clear Vision:
Take one project you’re working on that will be very important to your future growth.
1. Map out the 3 Horizons for this project.
2. Then use some of the techniques from the I.D.E.A.S. Habit to further embellish your vision for each Horizon
3. Finalize your 3 Horizons.
4. Then focusing on Horizon 3, find a way to communicate this vision in a way that is clear, inspiring, and unifying using a slogan, or hashtags, or a vision board, or a future news report.
Here is the presentation we used in the live webinar for Module 3:
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