How to communicate your vision



Contributing Writer
Illustration: Loud Speaker Credit: Jayanta Behera


Communicating a vision is problematic because it has to be easy to grasp by others, yet it has to have a depth to it. A vision expressed in fifty words should have, in its background, a full-blown vision of however many words it takes to express it. A vision is both an abstract and a full-length paper.

I think people struggle to communicate their visions because they become enmeshed in the details of the “paper.” They become so excited about their vision that they share every single detail, many of which are of no interest to their listeners. Their listeners then stop listening because they have been given too much information.

The secret to communicating a vision? I think it comes to seven steps.

  1. Write the full-length version of your vision. Try to cover every facet, tangent, and angle possible.
  2. Organize your vision. The organization is up to you, but you can think in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You also may organize your vision by action items and time lines.
  3. Write a summary of each area included in your vision. The length of a summary varies, but it’s usually at least a paragraph but no more than half to three-quarters of a page.
  4. Turn each summary into an outline.
  5. Examine each point in the outlines and choose the most important points from each.
  6. Use the most important points to create a new outline. These points will become your primary speaking and talking points when you share your vision with others.
  7. Remember that your points will differ from audience to audience. You may need to alter your outline depending on who is in your audience.

You can begin with the outline and work the other direction. It depends on how you like to organize your thoughts. The goal, however, is to help you see your vision in its entirety and to understand what points are necessary to sharing your vision with others.

How do you communicate your vision?

Photo Credit

Erin Feldman

Erin Feldman

CEO/Founder at Write Right

Erin Feldman is the founder of Write Right. She is a copywriter and editor. She helps people tell their stories.

Erin Feldman

@erinmfeldman

Erin Feldman

Erin Feldman

Erin Feldman

  • http://barrettrossie.com/ Barrett Rossie

    Erin, I think people should distinguish between two types of vision. One, a vision for themselves. Two, a vision for the people they serve. The first is handy for internal uses such as motivation and planning, the second for marketing. People run into some trouble when they mix these things up.

    You’ve outlined a great way to organize and refine a vision. I bet a lot of people (cough, cough, me, cough, cough…) can benefit from your approach.

  • http://www.cendrinemarrouat.com Cendrine Marrouat

    Interesting article, Erin. You make great points.

    I like to tell people that they need to work on three different messages:

    1) Mission statement
    2) Elevator pitch
    3) Slogan

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