The Power of a Vision

 

Those of you who read this article from time to time know I am always harping on the need for a Constancy of Purpose statement (Mission, Vision, Values and some Measures). I recently was talking to a person who can attest to the clout that an exciting vision statement can have.

 

Julia Sollenberger is the director of the Edward G. Miner Library at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She and her staff wrote the following vision statement for their library.

 

We have a clean, secure, friendly, comfortable facility that embraces both latest technologies and natural elements. Skylights and outdoor seating enhance the bright, open, spacious, and user-friendly layout. The prevailing feeling is contemporary and energetic, and the welcoming aroma of coffee permeates the air. Our customers can choose their preferred study environment -- interactive areas that encourage collaboration, communication, and group learning; or quiet study spaces that are serene, warm, and comfortable.

 

Our staff enjoy their work, take pride in their professionalism and expertise, and lead in introducing cutting-edge computer technologies to URMC. Staff workspace is uncluttered, spacious, and flexible, comfortably accommodating individual or interactive group work. We greet customers warmly and treat them with courtesy and respect, whether their presence is real or virtual.

 

We provide the information our users need -- whenever and wherever they need it  to teach, learn, conduct research, and provide patient care. Extensive online resources are easy to locate on our reliable, accurate, and intuitive web site, and linking software allows customers to easily move from resource to resource. The libraries and HSLT-supported classrooms and computer labs are completely wireless.

 

Patients, their families, and members of the public find comprehensive consumer health and friendly, knowledgeable staff in our latest branch library- The Strong Health Knowledge Center located in the hospitals lobby. As part of the health care team, we provide digital consumer health information via bedside computers to patients who have been admitted to the hospital, to help them with their health care decision- making.

 

Director Sollenberger said she has a Dean who is not particularly communicative, but she wanted to share and discuss the Constancy of Purpose with him. So she made an appointment and laid the Constancy of Purpose in front of him and ask him to read it. He read it and was quiet for a very long time. She couldnt figure out what was going on. Finally he said, You cant do that! She responded, What cant we do? He said, You cant have outdoor seating, all you have is narrow sidewalks around your building. She said, But we have a roof. She said all of a sudden he got animated and excited about the possibility of a spiral staircase going up through some skylights onto a landscaped seating area on the roof.

 

The vision was so vivid and exciting that he promised her that he would put the library improvement projects at the top of fund-raising priorities for the Medical Center. So now it is just a matter of time until a donor or donors also want to make the vision come true.

 

Writing a vision statement is not a trivial matter. It takes some time and thought. If it is going to be a truly shared vision statement  the best kind, you must involve all the folks who will help make it come true. Most of the elements in the Minor Librarys vision statement have not yet happened. But by writing down the dream, they are one big step closer to making it a reality.

 

If you don’t have a vision for your organization, be it large or small, you are missing an exciting opportunity. Remember the quote from Proverbs, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”