Vision Activities

Establishing a process to revisit the vision provides an important future opportunity to readjust the vision to meet evolving priorities of the community. The final transition for any vision is the approval and adoption of a process to continually advance and maintain the relevance of the vision. An update process should establish a clear understanding of the responsibility, timeline, and scope for refreshing the vision. Vision update processes are often adopted as part of the final vision products, with the support and recognition of project partners.

Refine implementation strategy – Judging progress through commitment tracking and performance measurement provides direct feedback into reassessment of implementation priorities and strategies. Monitored commitments may be fulfilled and retired, or reassessed and prioritized, depending on the status of implementation.

Example: Tualatin Tomorrow’s Vision Implementation Committee established a structured framework and stakeholder-based partnership to move the vision forward.

Refresh partnerships – Providing motivation to act on a vision, sometimes decades after development, requires that partners are continually reengaged in vision implementation efforts. Strategies to accomplish this include recognition of achievements, collaboration on specific objectives, updates to a component of the vision, and other outreach methods to maintain strong community partnerships.

Example: Since 1997, Envision Coastal Alabama has convened partners to implement the region’s vision, including launching new strategic programs that recognize and communicate partner contributions.

Identify new opportunities – Ongoing environmental scanning and strategy development may help identify new opportunities for the convening organization or for the partnerships developed during the visioning process.

Example: Envision Central’s Texas completed a five year Vision Progress Assessment to understand changes since the regional vision was completed.

The research report for the Vision Guide contains extensive information about reaching stakeholders and tools that support stakeholder engagement. See Linking Community Visioning and Highway Capacity Planning in the PlanWorks Library Reports.