vision statement

[paul i'anson]

We are a call centre looking to become a contact centre and would like some suggestions or help with a vision statement for after sales and customer support.

[Mark Brannan]

I helped create the Vision statement here at our organization. I believe you need to start from a values based perspective - meaning what are the values of the organization and Senior Management (cause if you don't use their value system you won't get executive level buy in).

After you have a sense of what values to base the overall vision on, pull together a team of about 6 staff members to help. Set up a weekly/bi-weekly meeting to review progress. Ask them to do some research on other organizations Vision statements - look at format, content, value.

Then make a rough decision on what type of format you want - either one line, one paragraph, or categories (like Employee, Customer, Company). Then begin with rough content, like what means the most to them in each category. Just keep narrowing down the content until you reach a certain point. Then decide if you want collaboration - if so, take it to the masses and get feedback (this can be a bit of a laborious process, but gets involvement by everyone). Continue fine tuning for a finished product.

You will not be able to put everything that is a value for everyone, but find what is common and compromise on some of the rest.

Personally I think this makes the best Vision. Then be sure you have measures in place to use it - and show that it is being used on a daily basis so it doesn't become the piece of paper in the drawer.