BY: ANNIE BEG, ICAD INTERN
An organizational vision articulates aspirations for the future. A vision is what an organization hopes will take shape if they are doing what they do well. In hopes of helping the University Recruitment Marketing Team create their unit’s Vision and Mission statements, Lori Britt and I sat down with the team to get a sense of who they are, as well as who they hope to be.
The facilitation process we designed for this session revolved around identifying the team’s core values and main roles within the University. Since we were asked to help them create their goals and visions for the future, I was confused as to why we had spent so much time fixating on who they are now. But, I trusted the process… and I’m glad I did.
The notion of identifying an organization’s present in order to formulate a hopeful, productive future is effective, necessary, and intentional. Through dialogue and honest reflections about the team’s current relationships, partnerships, and guiding principles, we were able to help them see overlaps in organizational values, gaps between goals and resources, and potential to contribute in a richer way to successful student recruitment at JMU. The biggest take away I had from this session was that you cannot see what an organization can be unless you see what they are.