Shared Vision and Goals

Some systems thinkers suggest the act of collectively defining a shared vision for the work is one of the most important steps in a community change effort (Lynn et al., 2018; Kania & Kramer, 2011). A shared vision describes what success would look like, and for whom. It serves as a guide for the change effort and allows diverse stakeholders to see how their work or priorities fit with bringing about this new reality.

Shared Vision and Goals involves putting the following elements in place over time (Foster-Fishman et al., 2018):
SV Main final use 1.jpg Why is this important? A Shared Vision supports local change by bringing stakeholders together to clarify WHAT changes we want to see in the community and HOW these changes will come about. Community change efforts are often more successful when they adopt and pursue a shared vision because it provides the direction for local efforts, inspires individuals to get engaged, and aligns the energies of diverse individuals and organizations (Kania & Kramer, 2011; Martin, 2014).

Continue the conversation about creating a shared vision by watching and sharing these videos:

Effective shared visions are more than vague goal statements (e.g., improved health), which can create ambiguity around how to bring about change and delay action (Dearing, 2008).

Instead, effective shared visions describe:

·         WHAT changes are desired in the community

·         INEQUITIES related to these goals

·         WHY these goals are not yet in place

·         HOW desired changes can come about

Shared Visions are driven by diverse perspectives across the community, including individuals experiencing local inequities (Foster-Fishman & Watson, in press). Engaging diverse stakeholders in the shared visioning process can increase their critical consciousness about local conditions (Fear et al,, 2006). This in turn can help them discover their own role and value within the change effort and become more motivated to take action (Wolff, et al., 2017).

They also promote systems change by promoting shared outcomes to guide the work, triggering the design of multiple strategies to address systemic root causes getting in the way of local goals, and motivate people and organizations for collective action.

Successful change efforts use the shared visioning process to help stakeholders and organizations:
- gain a shared understanding of the needs (e.g., social determinants of health) within the community (Turner et al., 2012)
- understand how to support the change efforts in their everyday work (Foster-Fishman, 2009)
- believe they can collectively bring about the goals and changes described in the shared vision (Holt et al., 2007)
Tools to Support Creating a Shared Vision

Design and Launch a Shared Visioning Process

Consider how a shared visioning process could support your local change efforts. For example, some communities use a shared visioning process to launch a new initiative, while others use the process to refocus an existing effort. Many communities also use the process to authentically engage new types of perspectives in the work.

Once you have identified what you want a shared visioning process to accomplish for your effort, design a specific process to fit the needs and opportunities within your community context. Note there are many different ways to design a shared visioning process. The following tools can help you design a shared visioning process for your community.

Video: How to Develop a Shared Vision
Source: ABLe Change

Example Shared Visioning Process
Example facilitation guide for engaging stakeholders in a shared visioning process.
Source: ABLe Change

Developing and Communicating a Vision
Tips and resources for how to develop and communicate a shared vision with the community. 
Source: Community Tool Box

Embed Equity into the Shared Visioning Process

An effective shared visioning process explores and prioritizes current local inequities to target for change. One way to do this is by helping stakeholders explore data on local inequities related to their shared goals and outcomes. These inequities can then be prioritized as part of the shared visioning process.

Use the following tools to locate and summarize data on local inequities to use within your shared visioning process.

Defining Targeted Problems and Inequities
Planning guide to help define specific outcomes related to your shared vision and gather local data on inequities related to these outcomes.
Source: ABLe Change

Finding Data on Local Inequities
Planning guide to help locate disaggregated data on your targeted outcomes.
Source: ABLe Change

Inequity Synthesis Template
Template to summarize data on local inequities so it is easy for stakeholders to understand and use within a shared visioning process. 
Source: ABLe Change

Once the shared vision is adopted, effective change efforts empower stakeholders to champion the goals within the vision across the community. This includes actions such as:
- talking with colleagues about how they can support the shared vision goals (Washington, 2011)
- advocating for the shared vision goals with local organizations, community leaders, and elected officials
Communities can use a variety of communication strategies and social marketing approaches to champion the shared vision. These strategies and approaches can help answer the following types of questions community stakeholders’ need answered before they commit to take action:
- What is this change?
- Why is this important?
- Why does this matter to me?
- What do I need to do?
Tools to Champion Shared Vision Goals

Talk with Others about the Shared Vision

Use the following tools to help partners within your initiative talk about the shared vision with individuals and organizations across the community. This includes describing the shared vision goals and how they were identified, getting people’s feedback, and helping individuals and organizations identify their role in promoting the vision.

Example Shared Vision Talking Points
Example talking points you can use to tell people about the Shared Vision, and how they can get involved in supporting local efforts to pursue the vision.
Source: ABLe Change

Developing and Communicating a Vision
Tips and resources for how to develop and communicate a shared vision with the community.
Source: Community Tool Box

Example Shared Vision Visual
An example of how a Shared Vision could be turned into a visual.
Source: ABLe Change

Develop Skills to Talk about Equity

Effective shared visions often include goals related to promoting health equity. However, initiative partners can often find these topics difficult to talk about effectively with different audiences. Use the following resources to support partners in talking about the shared health equity goals with individuals and organizations across your community.

Communicating Information about Community Health and Development Issues
Tips and resources for how to communicate the importance of addressing health equity with various audiences.
Source: Community Tool Box

As a result of stakeholders championing the shared vision across the community, local organizations and groups begin to integrate the shared vision into their own efforts.

For example, organizations can embed a shared vision into their work by:
- making the shared vision goals a priority for their work (e.g., adding into their strategic plans or mission statements)
- ensuring staff understand and support the need to address social determinants of health, improve population health, and reduce health disparities (Holt et al., 2007)
- becoming more active in local change efforts to pursue the shared vision
Tools to Embed Shared Vision Across Community

Help Organizations Explore Opportunities to Embed Vision

Promoting Adoption of the Initiative's Mission and Objectives
Tips and recommendations for how to encourage local organizations and stakeholders to adopt the shared vision.
Source: Community Tool Box

A critical part of creating a shared value for health equity is promoting community-wide buy-in around the shared vision, goals, and values related to equity in health and wellbeing. This involves helping individuals see the value of focusing on health equity and assuring they understand how community conditions (social determinants of health) influence equity and well-being.

Public will for the shared vision and social determinant of health focus includes:
- The general public becoming more aware of the importance of improving community conditions (e.g., social determinants of health, system barriers) to enhance health outcomes. (Foster-Fishman & Watson, in press)
- The general public becoming more supportive of local efforts to improve community conditions and reduce health disparities. (Hargreaves, 2017)
- Local news and social media messages becoming more aligned with the shared vision goals. (FSG Guide)
Tools to Build Public Will for Shared Vision

Build Awareness and a Call to Action

Many initiatives build public will for the shared vision by using strategic communication and organizing techniques to shift public perception and generate support. Use the following tools to help utilize these strategies for building public will in your community.

Building Public Will
Describes a five phase communication approach for building public will and promoting sustainable change.
Source: Metropolitan Group

Gaining Public Support for Addressing Community Health and Development Issues
Tips and recommendations for how to gain public support for addressing community conditions impacting health.
Source: Community Tool Box

A New Way to Talk about Social Determinants of Health
Practical tips and recommendations for how to talk about the social determinants of health with diverse audiences.
Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Unnatural Causes Video Series
Links to hundreds of articles, websites, video clips, charts, data sets, interviews, transcripts, and educational and outreach materials on how social and community conditions impact health equity.
Source: Public Broadcasting Service

Leading a Community Dialogue on Building a Healthy Community
Resources on how to facilitate community dialogue about issues related to addressing social determinants of health and promoting health equity.
Source: Community Tool Box

"You don't have to live here." Why housing messages are backfiring and 10 things we can do about it.
Resources on how to use new research and evidence-based messaging recommendations to advance a strong affordable housing and community development agenda.
Source: Frameworks Instittue and Enterprise

Michigan CHIR Learning Community

Tools for Action

Tools in Shared Vision will help you:

Effective Convening Tools Will Help you:

Engaged Diverse Partners Tools Will Help You:

Aligned Systems Tools Will Help You:

Adaptive Learning and Improvement Processes Tools Will Help You:

Equity Pursuits Tools Will Help You:

Shared Vision and Goals

Design and Launch a Shared Visioning Process

Embed Equity into the Shared Visioning Process

Talk with Others about the Shared Vision

Develop Skills to Talk about Equity

Help Organizations Explore Opportunities to Embed Vision

Build Awareness and a Call to Action