MILESTONES:
STAGE 1: DECIDE TO SCALE UP
Milestone #5: Commit to a Motivating Shared Vision
Some things to think about:
"At its simplest level, a shared vision is the answer to the question, ‘What do we want to create?’ . . . [A] shared vision is a picture that everyone in the company [enterprise] carries in their heads and hearts."
(Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline)
Participants in the scale-up initiative have imagined and dreamed together about what a system of community schools can accomplish. Now, they need to commit to a broad vision of the system of community schools they will build together, and they must express that vision in easy-to-understand words. Much more than a writing exercise, the vision embraces the ideas and commitments that fuel creation of the scaled-up system. It provides the touchstone that the initiative must regularly revisit to make certain that it remains true to its mission while moving toward the results and indicators to be specified in Stage 3. To help you distill a powerful and motivating statement of purpose, refer to the talking points you developed earlier. Such a vision statement might reflect the following:
- The school system’s mission to educate all students successfully
- Community partners’ commitment to share accountability with the school system
- A scaled-up system of community schools as the building blocks of a community in which every child learns every day
With your vision carefully crafted, what was once an exploratory group is ready to emerge as a full-fledged initiative. Participants become partners. The practical details of how to implement the vision will be developed as the initiative continues its work in subsequent stages.