Innovative Leadership has developed a powerful community visioning process that allows a community to create an inspiring vision for the future. In this three hour session, a large community group works on the following elements:

• Importance of a community vision
• Assessing community values and culture against attributes of successful communities
• Creating future vision statement embracing economic future and community lifestyle and experience
• Identifying key strategic actions
• Forming community action teams to tackle identified action areas

These events are high energy, dynamic and inspiring for community members. Between 30 and 60% of people in attendance sign up for action teams and start work toward implementing the key actions. Participants often report the visioning session is an 'adrenaline shot' or a catalyst for the community.

Innovative Leadership has now run community visioning sessions with hundreds of communities and counties across North America – including the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and Great Lakes Regions. These community visioning sessions have been a powerful catalyst for community mobilization and new collaborative actions.

The power of a community vision

Many communities have groups of committed people (service groups, organisations, etc), however, within a community those groups can often be unfocused. Successful communities create an alignment of the groups that work collaboratively towards a common unifying vision for the whole community. This unleashes amazing passion, vitality and action in a community.

Copyright © Innovative Leadership Australia, David Beurle, 2005