CLASS NOTES THE POWER OF VISION

Joel Barkers video on The Power of Vision serves to highlight the importance of vision in an organization
as well as in ones personal life. Consider that in order for employees to be productive, they must feel
that they have something significant which they must accomplish. !he power of vision enables them to
realize this. Barker mentions that dreams without action do not result in anything. "reams with action
can change the world.
Consider that an organizational #ision guides the $ission of the organization. !his should be used as the
foundation from which the "iagnostic $odel is applied. %ach of the four phases of the diagnostic model
&'ssess the %nvironment, (et )b*ectives, 'pply +uman ,esource 'ctivities and %valuate- must be
undertaken under the auspices of the )rganizational $ission and #ision.
Barker illustrates his theory citing the works of three scholars. /red 0ollack &The Image of The Future-,
Ben*amin (inger &The Future of the Role Image-, and #ictor /rankl &Mans Search for Meaning-.
+is first e1ample deals with countries. +e cites 0ollack who asks if countries first have a positive vision
then become successful or do they develop a vision only after they have reached success. +e concludes
that all countries that have become successful have initially developed a positive self2image.
Barker concludes that the same thing is true with children and supports his conclusions with some of
(ingers findings. +e tell the story of a successful businessman who presented a speech to a si1th grade
class in +arlem &0( 343-. !he businessman promises the si1th graders that they could go to college if
they want to 5 the businessman would establish a trust fund for them allowing them to meet the financial
burdens, which most of them could not accomplish themselves due to their financial situation. !he
important point of this story is that the businessman realized that they still would not be able to attend
college even if they had access to the promised money. 6n order to insure the success of the students,
the businessman did three things.
a.- +e helped the 7
th
graders establish a dream 5 to go to college
b.- +e defined the actions that they must perform in order to accomplish the dream 5 to study
hard and graduate from high school
c.- +e created a support structure that allowed them to do both. !he support structure consisted
of establishing a trust fund in a bank in the name of the 7
th
graders. $ore important, the
businessman involved the teachers, the parents, and the community by providing them, roles
to assume in order to help the students study and graduate from high school.
's a result a high percentage of students graduated and went on to college. !hink of employees in an
organization. "o they have a dream of what they could realistically accomplish8 're they aware of the
actions necessary to successfully reach &accomplish- that dream8 +as management created a support
structure allowing their success8 9nfortunately, in many organizations many employees are left to
flounder on their own with no clear idea of what is e1pected of them. )ften, they do not receive enough
support along the way, nor are they cognizant of the specific actions that are re:uired to obtain successful
results.
!hirdly, Barker tells the story of #ictor /rankl and his e1periences at 'uschwitz. ,eading from /rankls
book, Barker informs the listener that /rankl thought about three things.
a.- +ow will he survive
b.- +ow will he be able to use his skills to help others
c.- +ow he can learn something
!his third point of how he can learn something was paramount to his survival. +e said that of the
survivors all still had something significant yet to accomplish. !o /rankl, he pictured himself in front of a
large auditorium delivering a lecture on the psychology of the concentration camp. +e had a vision, thus
he was able to survive. 'sk yourself, do your employees have a vision, or are they *ust putting in time in
the organization8 +ow can they be productive if they are not provided with an opportunity to establish a
personal vision that is compatible with the organizational vision8 ;hy should they8
Barker states that within a #ision Community.
a.- !he vision is created by leaders
b.- !his vision is shared &communicated- to employees and shared<supported
c.- !he vision is comprehensive and detailed &how, what, when, where, why-, positive and inspiring, and
believed in by the employees
d.- %ach of the employees know their role in the overall mission and vision &where they fit-
Barker states that values are merely a way of measuring the correctness of the vision. 6t provides
direction to the vision and establishes a fit for each employee. !he employees values determine
whether or not the employee will but in to the mission and vision.
=astly, Barker tells a story of a boy throwing starfish into the ocean because of the receding tide. ;hen
asked why he is doing this, his reply is to save the starfishs life. ;hen ridiculed because of the
immense nature of the task and being able to make a difference, the boys reply was it made a difference
for that one &starfish-. Barker concludes with stating.
a.- ;e must all know our role and responsibility in the organizational mission &and vision-
b.- ;e must actively contribute to satisfying the mission<vision
c.- !hese individual actions would collectively improve organizational productivity and increase
morale