Let’s talk about making it happen.
When we’re working on complex problems there are a lot of unknowns and uncertainty.
While we need to embrace the ambiguity, we need enough certainty in the way we approach finding the answers to get clarity. This means having enough structure to guide us and sustain momentum without it being rigid and getting in the way of progress.
I think of this as “freedom through structure”.
Before we get into the actions of creating your 10-year vision and 3-year picture… some key recommendations:
Keep Moving
Something I regularly see working with people on leadership, design, and innovation programs is the tendency to pause or stop when there’s a barrier – especially when something expected has been delayed. I observe this behaviour in myself too.
This is the time I remind myself and the people I’m working with… don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.
It’s critical to keep moving with the things you can do rather than fixating on what you can’t.
Planning Tools
It’s easy to get distracted hunting for the perfect planning tool. There are a lot of tools out there, and most of them do something well, but it’s unlikely any of them will meet all of your needs. It can be very easy to trial one tool after another, trying to find the perfect one. I’ve done it plenty of times myself, and it’s a massive distraction.
I recommend working with the simplest tool you have for now, even if that’s just pen and paper, Word, or Docs. As things mature, you might want to look at more tools, but the primary focus is getting into a sustainable rhythm and way of working.
See Your Future
Something that really helps make your future feel real is to visualise the future you’re working towards.
Part of that is being honest with yourself about what you want – getting clear on your driving why – a purpose you really care about, and that will motivate you.
Your clear and powerful driving why that gives you meaning will help you persevere and keep moving forward when you’re facing obstacles and barriers. For this reason, it’s critical to the process of making it happen.
Our purpose and theory of change are key to this process. These evolve and iterate over time, but start with what you have now… and as you progress, continue reflecting and refining.
“You don’t need eyes to see, you need vision.”
Reverence by Faithless (Maxi Jazz)
Your 10-Year Vision
Visualising something 10 years from now can be challenging. It can feel like an abstract and distant future with too many unknowns. I find it helps to start by contextualising my vision with some things I know and some trends I anticipate.
With systems change, we often talk about a seven-to-10-year time horizon for the impacts that we’re working towards to really manifest. Be bold and optimistic when visualising this future.
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”
Bill Gates
Take Action: Your 10-Year Vision
Let’s start your 10-year vision. Start with what comes to you and loop back to iterate it as you think about it more.
Start by adding 10 to today’s year. It’s 20__.
What does your life look like?
- How old will you be?
- How old will members of your family and friends be?
- Where might you be living?
- What types of things might be going on?
- Add some layers of depth to it
What does the world look like?
- What are the trends you’re seeing, and where do you anticipate it to be in 10 years?
- What are the effects of climate change?
- What are the social conditions? Think more broadly than the specific things you’re focused on, and include the broader system trends
What does your organisation look like?
- How are you spending your time?
- How many people are in your team?
- What’s the culture of your organisation like? What does it feel like to work there?
- What are the moving parts of your organisation?
- What social and environmental impacts are you contributing to? How do you know?
- What do your customers say about you?
- What do your financials look like?
Your 3-Year Picture
Now that you’ve got some detail and context for your 10-year vision, it will be easier to break that down and form a picture of where you want to be three years from now.
This would be a major stepping stone to getting some key pieces in place on the journey to your 10-year vision. Working back from that 10-year vision, what would you need to have in place within three years?
Again, it can still feel like an abstract future with a lot of unknowns. Let’s go through the same process to contextualise your three-year picture. If going from 10 to three years feels like too much of a jump, feel free to add a five-year picture too.
Take Action: Your 3-Year Picture
Let’s start your three-year picture. Start with what comes to you and loop back to iterate it as you think about it more.
Start by adding 3 to today’s year. It’s 20__.
What does your life look like?
- How old will you be?
- How old will members of your family and friends be?
- Where might you be living?
- What types of things might be going on?
- Add some layers of depth to it
What does the world look like?
- What are the trends you’re seeing, and where do you anticipate it to be in three years?
- What are the effects of climate change?
- What are the social conditions? Think more broadly than the specific things you’re focused on, and include the broader system trends
What does your organisation look like?
- How are you spending your time?
- How many people are in your team?
- What’s the culture of your organisation like? What does it feel like to work there?
- What are the moving parts of your organisation?
- What social and environmental impacts are you contributing to? How do you know?
- What do your customers say about you?
- What do your financials look like?
Seeing your future and making it happens means getting into your rhythm of prioritising, planning, reviewing, and building momentum so you can move forward with confidence.
Having clarity on the direction we’re moving is a start but we also need to build the workflow and habits for success. More on that in my next post…
Solve Problems That Matter
This is an excerpt from my book Solve Problems That Matter, where I go into a lot more detail on all of the things I’ve covered in this post… and plenty more.
It’s a playbook with actions and worksheets to help you take a human-centred design and living systems approach to design, build, and launch your idea. Ideas that customers love, make money, and do great things for people and our planet… all while increasing wellbeing.
Let’s Collaborate
We specialise in coaching, training, and working alongside leaders.
A key way we do this is by designing and delivering action learning experiences with masterclasses, workshops, innovation sprints, and leadership, design thinking & innovation programs.
These sessions build personal, team, and organisational capability to solve problems that matter with more:
- 🌿 Confidence to navigate complexity and solve problems that matter for your teams, customers, shareholders – and build momentum with more certainty and less risk while increasing your wellbeing
- ❤️ Clarity to empathically engage your stakeholders, make better decisions, and collaborate to create solutions that your teams and customers love, make money, and do great things for people and our planet
- 🎯 Purpose that drives progress on your goals and creates meaningful value that you’re proud of for all stakeholders – and build the relationships, workflows, rhythms, and habits for success
Ready to have fun collaborating to solve problems that matter?
