The Power of Vision Making [Part 1] — How to Create a Vision that Shapes the Future of Your Organization and Team

1-1. Definition of Vision

A vision is a depiction of the future that answers the question, “How do we want to be in the future?” It serves as a guide when we feel uncertain about our direction or the purpose of our activities—when we start questioning “Where are we headed?” or “Why are we doing this?”—signaling the need for a clear vision.

Vision is often confused with mission (purpose) and values (core principles). Clarifying the differences makes it easier to understand their respective roles. A simple summary of the three concepts is shown in the table below.

In other words, a vision is a future-oriented declaration that shows “where we are headed” and serves as a foundation to unify the actions of an organization or individual.

1-2. Historical Context and the Importance of Vision

Why is vision considered so important today? There are three major factors behind this trend.

Factor 1: An Era of Uncertainty (VUCA Era)

In a time of rapid change where there is no single “correct” answer, lacking a long-term vision can leave organizations swayed by short-term gains and reactive decision-making.

Factor 2: Expansion of Social Responsibility

Amid the rise of SDGs and ESG investing, companies are increasingly expected to pursue not only profit but also social significance. A vision reflects this stance and communicates it externally and internally.

Factor 3: Diversification of Employee Values

Particularly among younger generations, factors such as “purpose” and “meaning in work” are valued alongside salary and stability. Companies with a clear vision are more likely to attract talented individuals who align with their purpose.

We have outlined the background and representative factors that make a vision necessary. Considering recent events—such as the COVID-19 pandemic, rapid changes in work styles and lifestyles, and the accelerated development of IT technologies including AI—we realize that the present reality is something unimaginable even five or ten years ago.

In such a time with no clear answers, a vision serves as a “compass” that allows organizations to navigate confidently through the vast, turbulent seas of uncertainty. Wouldn’t it be far too risky to sail these unpredictable waters without a compass?

A vision serves as a compass for the future. Once we understand its necessity, let’s look at four key benefits that can be gained by creating a vision.

First, a vision is by no means an abstract “word game.” Concretely, the representative benefits it brings to organizations and individuals are as follows.

① Fosters Organizational Cohesion

When an organization has a shared goal and vision, each member can make decisions by asking themselves, “Does my choice bring us closer to this vision?” Aligning values and objectives reduces ambiguous job boundaries and inter-departmental friction, making collaboration smoother. Naturally, a sense of unity among employees also increases.

For example, imagine a vision to “create a housing platform that supports the independence of senior citizens.” Under this vision, the sales team prioritizes collaboration with medical institutions, while developers focus on designing safety features that help residents maintain independence. This ensures consistent actions across departments within the organization.

② Strengthens Recruitment and Talent Development

A clear vision communicates what the organization truly values, attracting people who resonate with its mission and principles. This improves culture fit, reduces hiring mismatches, and helps secure employees who are likely to contribute to the organization in the long term.

For instance, a company with a vision to “redesign sustainable food distribution to promote a more environmentally friendly food culture” will attract applicants who are not only interested in food distribution but also passionate about environmental issues, simplifying the process of assessing value alignment during interviews.

③ Enhances Social Credibility

Stakeholders such as customers, investors, municipalities, and business partners evaluate an organization based on “what it aims to achieve.” A long-term, consistent vision serves as a measure of stable management, helping to build trust and credibility. Continuously communicating the vision externally through blogs, social media, and other channels further strengthens this trust.

For example, an organization with a vision to “eliminate regional educational disparities” that regularly shares results and collaborates with local communities may more easily receive government grants or proposals for joint projects.

④ Promotes Innovation

A vision defines the “desired future state,” clarifying questions that go beyond existing frameworks. Exploring solutions to these questions—essentially bridging the gap between reality and the envisioned future—often leads to new technologies, business models, and processes, fostering innovation.

For example, a vision to “achieve zero urban waste” can lead not only to waste reduction strategies but also to innovations such as product designs for recycling and subscription-based waste collection services, creating entirely new services and products.

3-1. Vision Making in Companies and Organizations

“Vision making” is not simply a declaration made unilaterally by executives; it is a process in which the entire organization co-creates its future. Both top-down and bottom-up approaches are necessary.

• The Role of Top-Down

Executives and leaders are responsible for outlining the general direction of the organization and presenting a story for the future. Without this guidance, the organization may become fragmented and lose sight of its destination.

• The Role of Bottom-Up

While the top-down role is essential, if the challenges and values experienced by members in their daily work are not reflected, the vision becomes a mere “empty declaration.” Each employee needs to actively contribute their ideas, and by refining the vision based on shared understanding and empathy, it becomes a living vision that truly belongs to the organization.

• The Meaning of Co-Creating the Future

An organizational vision is not a “prediction” based on the past. It is an act of “creating” a future that does not yet exist in the present. Therefore, it is essential for each member to actively engage with the future they want to create.

3-2. Five Barriers to Vision Making in Organizations and Teams

We have introduced the roles of executives and employees in vision making within companies and organizations, but in practice, many barriers arise on the ground. Here are five common barriers faced by organizations that attempted vision making but struggled to implement it successfully.

① Being Anchored in the Past

When formulating a vision, there is a psychological barrier to thinking based on past achievements or successful experiences. Like individuals, organizations find comfort in familiar methods and past successes. This often leads to considering the future merely as an extension of the past.

Basing decisions solely on past results or evidence can restrict the possibilities of an unseen future. To create a true vision, it is necessary to temporarily set aside past experiences and established values and focus on imagining the future from a fresh perspective.

② Failing to Address the Core

Even when holding “vision workshops,” discussions often remain limited to collecting keywords, without diving into the core questions. For example, participants may list words like “innovation,” “challenge,” and “sustainability” on a whiteboard in response to questions such as “What does being ‘ourselves’ mean?” However, there is often little discussion about how these words connect to the organization’s purpose or uniqueness, resulting in superficial organization.

Vision making involves facing a vast and complex amount of information. It can become difficult to interpret and analyze. What is important is not to oversimplify or ignore uncomfortable truths. Instead, face your organization as it truly is.

③ Silos Creating Gaps Between Management and the Field

A common barrier when disseminating a formulated vision to stakeholders and employees is siloed management. Even a carefully crafted vision may fail to reach across departments, leaving it unrecognized and unimplemented in organizational activities. This can result in fragmented perspectives—for example, sales focusing on “revenue growth,” development on “technical improvement,” and administration on “efficiency”—making it unclear where the organization as a whole is headed.

Another frequent issue is the gap between executives and frontline employees. Even if leaders present a future vision, it may be perceived as “theoretical” if it lacks realism for the staff. A vision must be understandable and resonate with employees as well.

④ Lack of Human Touch

Numerical goals like “achieve XX billion in sales by 2030” are concrete and clear, but they do not constitute a vision because they lack social meaning and a future that employees can genuinely empathize with.

Such cases often arise in management overly focused on short-term results or shareholder accountability. A truly embedded vision is broader and more holistic. Moreover, it is a living concept that employees can relate to, contribute to, and refine collectively, even through differing opinions or concerns. The vision is the future the organization truly wants to create; numerical targets are merely milestones in achieving that vision.

⑤ Treated as Someone Else’s Problem

No matter how grand the vision, if employees think, “This is just something management decided,” it becomes a “paper vision” with no real impact. It is critical to engage employees so that they want to take ownership. This requires careful and persistent efforts from the earliest stages of vision formulation to ignite interest and commitment in every individual. Changing employees’ mindset is not easy to achieve.

How can employees be engaged to see the vision as something that affects them personally? This is a consistent challenge throughout the entire process of creating a vision.

Once you understand the typical challenges and obstacles that arise when creating a vision for an organization or team, there are some key points to keep in mind. In other words, these are the essential mindsets. If you ignore these when formulating a vision, you risk encountering the same barriers described in the previous section.

① Maintain a Long-Term Perspective

It is important to think about where the organization wants to be five or ten years from now, rather than being fixated on short-term profits or immediate results. This perspective matters because when daily operational challenges dominate attention, organizations often reduce their vision to simply next year’s targets. By keeping a long-term perspective, you can frame the organization’s purpose and role in society on a broader scale.

② Balance Future-Oriented and Reality-Oriented Thinking

Having ideals and dreams is important, but it is equally essential to avoid creating a vision that is entirely unrealistic or unattainable. Always keep both “future-oriented” and “reality-oriented” perspectives in mind. If a vision leans too far into the unrealistic, employees may find it difficult to relate and feel, “We can’t follow this!” Work backward from the desired future or dream to create a roadmap toward realization, and translate it into concrete actions that are visible and actionable.

③ Empathy and Participation

A common pitfall in organizations is when top management unilaterally sets the vision. If stakeholders such as employees or customers are not engaged, the vision can be perceived as “someone else’s problem” and fail to take root. A vision only functions when it is empathized with and embraced.

For a vision to translate into day-to-day operations, it must be “personalized” by employees. Therefore, from the creation stage, it is important to adopt a co-creative approach. This can include conducting internal workshops or dialogue sessions to gather employees’ honest opinions. Such attentive engagement is often the difference between a successful, living vision and one that fails to resonate.

④ Flexibility and a Willingness to Update

In today’s

⑤ Consider Your Connection to Society

Adopt a perspective that links your organization not only to profit and growth but also to solving societal issues and contributing to a sustainable society. Customers and investors value companies as “needed by society,” and younger employees and consumers are often sensitive to a company’s purpose and social significance. Reconsider which societal challenges your organization can address, and recognize that contributing to society and creating social value is as important as pursuing organizational profit.

Above all, it is crucial not to let your vision become “just words.” In the [Part 2], we will introduce a practical checklist to ensure the vision stays actionable. For now, use the five points outlined above as a mindset and consistently refer back to them when implementing your vision.

In this [Part 1] of the article, we explained what a vision is, why it is important, the benefits it provides, and the challenges and mindset required when creating one.

In the next [Part 2], we will explore more practical aspects, including the necessary elements for creating a vision, specific steps for drafting a vision, and tools such as vision maps.

References:
・*How to Create a Vision in an Era Without Correct Answers* by Naoka Misawa
・*Let’s Start by Thinking from the Basics: Vision Making!* by Kagenori Nagao, Globis