Corrections_Today_July_August_2020_Vol.82_No.4

Bookshelf

Figure 2

describe what you see. Some of the questions which Hyatt indicates prompts vision are: What kind of teammates do you want to attract? How do they work? What do you do to attract top talent? And, why are prospective employees attracted to your company? Important considerations, but for corrections the next question might be the most important, what results do your products create? If you think for a moment of release offenders as our product and recidivism as our result, how does your vision assist in having better results. Next, how do we sell the vision and the results? Finally, what is the impact if we do not achieve the vision? Vision-like planning is not static. Sometimes it changes. Sometimes the finish line keeps moving. So how do you continue to work toward a clear vision? You admit you are not always clear and ask for feedback. One of my long-time mentors had a saying, “patient perseverance pays off.” In thinking about vision, you realize it is not a once and done. Vision is a process. But in talking about vision, the real measurement is, “does it inspire?” Do your staff get on board? Do they get inspired by what your destination is? There is a strong relationship between vision and strategy. Your vision is where you desire to end up and strategy is the plan of how to get there. It is

The Mission-Vision Differential

Mission

Vision

What

Where

Here

Out there

Now

Next

Brief

Robust

4) you make strategic missteps, again using Kodak and Fuji Film as examples – Kodak tanked and Fuji flourished; 5) you waste money, time and talent — for me this is perhaps the most important; and 6) because of the lack of focus there are premature exits. In reading, I thought about the wasting of talent. There’s no question institutional corrections especially, have had a difficult time retaining staff. One of the things research has showed us is our workforce is interested in being engaged, and who better to engage someone than a leader who has a compelling vision. Aristotle, thousands of years ago, indicated that the soul never thinks without a mental image. The direction a leader formulates for an agency has this mental image of the finish line. Of course, a good leader always moves the finish line further. Many leaders and agencies get stuck in mission; who are we? Who do we serve?

What problem do we solve? And what transformation do we deliver? There’s nothing wrong with this, but as is said many times in the book, mission is now and vision is next (see Figure 2). Your vision is where you desire to end up and strategy

is the plan of how to get there. It is this interplay which makes vision not ethereal but practical.

So how does one figure out what their personal vision or a departmental or agency vision might be. Hyatt says you have to get away from the day to day and clear your head. You have to believe the best is yet to come. You imagine what tomorrow is and are able to

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