Recognising that each parliament faces its specific set of internal and external circumstances and operates within an environment that is unique, this chapter explains how a vision for the parliament and its functional areas that is based on the local parameters and ambitions can be formulated. This process, also known as “visioning”, should:

• begin with the parliament's fundamental values, mandates and responsibilities;
• encompass an assessment of the internal performance within the functional area of the parliament;
• encompass an assessment of the external environment the parliament operates in, including social, demographic, technological, political and legal factors;
• allow for prioritization and mediation by the leadership and key stakeholders as to what the focus of the vision and the strategic goals and objectives should be and;
• deliver a set of choices with which the vision statement can be formulated and the strategic goals and objectives per area can be set.

In Step 1 information was gathered on the fundamental values and functional areas, and SWOT analyses were conducted to evaluate the internal performance of parliament within each functional area as well as the external factors. All this information provides the necessary inputs for a “visioning management workshop” that is an essential tool for developing and formulating a shared vision for the parliament.

A successful vision is a shared vision

Within the strategic planning process, establishing a shared vision with strategic goals and objectives is an important milestone that should be concluded by a “formal review”,that will validate the commitments by all shareholders and ensure their buy-in.

The “visioning management workshop” should ideally be initiated and coordinated by the earlier mentioned committee that is to be responsible for facilitating the strategic planning process, ensuring the full participation of the parliamentary leadership and the key shareholders. It will be useful that all participating stakeholders are made aware of the visioning process, what is expected from each of them, and how they can contribute to the strategic planning process.

It is important that the workshop proceedings are well recorded and documented as it provides a unique opportunity to capture the views and opinions from the leadership and stakeholders on the vision and strategic goals and objectives.

The visioning workshop must produce a report, to be circulated for review among all the key stakeholders, that clearly expresses the vision statements, strategic goals and objectives as agreed upon during the workshop. Not having this final review could raise concerns and issues of non-cooperation or commitment throughout the remainder of the strategic planning process and implementation stages over the next three to five years.

The review process should be clear: sign off dates should be set, and ample opportunity provided to allow all stakeholders to seek clarifications and raise concerns. Having conducted the review, incorporating all the comments and feedback from different stakeholders the final vision, strategic goals and objectives should be signed off at the highest level – by the parliamentary leadership.

Preparing the Visioning Workshop Inputs

For the visioning workshop to be successful its facilitators need to prepare the following input documentation:

• Input 1: Fundamental Values, Mandates & Responsibilities of the Parliament
• Input 2: Functional areas of the Parliament
• Input 3: Strengths & Weaknesses (including by area)
• Input 4: Opportunities & Threats (including by area)

As mentioned before the inputs have already been gathered in Step 1, but may not yet be in workshop format i.e. summarized in fact sheets of maximum 1-2 pages. Inputs 1 and 2 should be prepared based on the desk research that was carried out in Step 1. Input 3 based on the Strengths and Weaknesses Analyses, and Input 4 based on the Opportunities & Threats analyses, all carried out during Step 1.

Formulating the Vision Statement

Vision for the Parliament

The stakeholders should discuss the four inputs and give their views during the discussions to get a clearer focus of the future direction of the parliament. As such the discussions at this stage must be focussed on the following question:

“Taking into account the presented strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, which parliamentary values, mandates and responsibilities have the highest priority and therefore need to be strengthened”?

The discussion should focus more on “what” needs to be strengthened, than on “how”. The “how” discussion will follow when setting strategic goals and objectives.

Vision for functional areas

Once what needs to be strengthened in terms of values is clear and has been agreed upon, mandates and responsibilities and the vision for the different functional areas need to be discussed. The focus by the political and administrative leadership should be on answering the question:

“Taking into account the vision statement for the entire parliament, where do functional areas need to be improved and strengthened and how urgently”?

Prioritizing, mediating and making choices

The resources for implementing the vision, strategic goals and objectives are not infinite, and prioritizing certain areas higher or lower will become an important aspect of the visioning workshop. The stakeholders, given their active participation during the workshop, will soon realize where they might receive more or less focus and resources over the next three to five years. Consequently, the workshop will require  negotiation, mediation, finding agreement among stakeholders, and making concessions and choices based on these priorities for the next three - five years. This also implies that when there are deadlocks, the presence and engagement of the highest leadership will be crucial to resolve conflicts. The outcome of this process will be a set of negotiated and mediated priorities for the parliament’s vision.

Format

From the set of “negotiated and mediated priorities for the functional areas” the vision statements should be formulated. They must describe an image of the parliament over the next three to five years and should inspire action, must be resolute, unambiguous and written in clear and concise language that is easily understood, especially by non-technical audiences. Each vision statement (one for the parliament as a whole and others per functional area)clear and brief (preferably no more than a half page.).

Defining Strategic Goals and Objectives

Once the vision statements for the specific areas in parliament have been formulated, the workshop can move to the next stage of “setting the strategic goals and objectives by functional area”. As mentioned the formulation of strategic goals and objectives should incorporate the input of the managers from the various areas, as they are most familiar with the daily needs and issues in providing services and processes.

Goals and Objectives

Step 1 – A description of  how the functional areas are organized in terms of services, processes and systems is provided through the process maps. Based on these process maps, and now with the knowledge of the vision, its priorities and available resources, the stakeholders from the different areas, departments, units, sections, etc., can “imagine the future” and formulate specific goals and objectives for better services, processes and systems. In doing this the central question in the discussions should be:

“How can the parliament, within the functional areas, achieve its vision, through a more effective and efficient organization and operation of processes and systems?”

Similar to the vision statement the strategic goals and objectives should be as clear and concise as possible, unambiguous, non-overlapping with other goals and objectives. One of their most important attributes is that they should be measurable to verify that they have been achieved.

• Developing a vision: strategic planning and the library media specialist, [Online] Available from:     http://books.google.nl/books?id=xlIo0A8YpBMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
• Developing Vision Statements [Online] Available from: http://www.performancesolutions.nc.gov/strategicPlanning/1developmvcv/docs/DevelopingVisionStatements.doc