“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

— Albert Einstein

If you are an organizational leader, chances are you participate in some form of strategic planning to align your work to the larger organizational vision, purpose, and goals so you and your team know how you add value and can feel great about your contributions.  Research tells us that when people feel that their work makes a difference, they give their strongest discretionary effort and commitment to great work.  Is that true for you, too?

Creating a vision board can be a fun and creative way to discover and bring your personal vision to your awareness – the first step to alignment. And it’s an engaging activity for teams to find common ground and mutual purpose.

This exercise is meant to be fun and expansive. It is not about creating the perfect vision or getting every detail of what you want. Make sure to give yourself and your team plenty of time to create your vision board.  Here’s the process my clients and I use, which usually takes about 3 hours once everyone is actively engaged.

Ahead of time:

1. Arrange a working space where people can move around, share materials, and have enough room to lay their poster board and images nearby.
2. Gather material (you can invite your team to gather their own):
   • Plenty of magazines that that vary in focus (fashion, business, travel, food, money, home, your trade or industry publications and/or magazines your ultimate client groups read).
   • Enough scissors, glue sticks and a poster boards for everyone. Frames for the vision boards are a nice touch too.

During the event:

3. Take a few minutes to set the intention of creating a vision board that if forward-focused, supports your dreams and will help you feel excited, joyful and alive. Your focus is on the future rather than what you’re working on now or have already accomplished.
4. Spend a couple of hours going through magazines and cutting out words and images that call out to you. Do not question or judge what you’re drawn to – you don’t really have to know why you’re drawn to it. Sometimes you just “know”. Watch for inspiration in these 6 areas:

5. When you’re ready, glue your images, photos, phrases on the poster board according to the six sections. Allow at least 90 minutes           to assemble your board.

6. Share what’s there and look for common inspiration, sources of joy, and ways to support one another! Pay attention to ways you               align to mutual goals and to the organization’s direction.

Hang your board(s) where you will see it frequently. Make a commitment to regularly spend time looking and feeling the power of what you want to accomplish. Remember: the more details you notice and the more deeply you allow yourself to feel and connect to your vision, the more likely you are to attract that vision into your life.

By the way, this is a GREAT activity to do with your family!