The Process Arrow is a relatively simple visual template to map out the vision, goal and actual steps for a project and process. I use it on my own for planning purposes and with small or medium-size groups, including in my own entrepreneurial companies.
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How it works
The point of the Process Arrow is to separate the Big Vision from the Goal and the Actions.
Most people start with Actions. Instead you start be asking yourself or the group: why? What is the Big Vision? For me it is usually something about making the world a better place.
Now, you can’t get directly to the big vision. What is then the more short-term goal that can be achieved? I have once tried to get the fashion business in Denmark to collaborate instead of fighting each other.
And only after the Goal is defined can you start mapping how to get there.
Optionally you can also include certain opportunities and challenges.
Jazz it up
In order to change it a bit, I sometimes jazz it up by asking participants to describe the future goal in present tense. I tell them to think that we have now already achieved the goal and I ask them what is so great about having achieved this goal. This brings forward a lot of the hidden motivations for working on a project. “I think it is great that we got here because I have really learned something.”
And I then ask people to look back on the past: how did we get here? Even though the exercise is done in advance of the project I thus get people to talk about the future in past tense. “One thing we did, was that we helped each other.”
A few examples can be found here.