Vision (Blackboard)

1. What is vision and why it is important to an organization and the success or failure of its leader.
An organization cannot grow, maintain effectiveness, attend to it's mission, or provide an exciting atmosphere for employees to work in without vision and the implementation of vision. Vision is the ability to evolve and change with the pace and ahead of the pace of it's consumers, audience, partners, recipients, etc. It is the anticipation of what is needed next, of what will improve services or innovate a better product. A leader succeeds who has vision for his/her field/organziation. A leader with vision motivates employees/partners to work harder to implement the ideas/changes that are presented. A leader with vision inspires confidence, excitement, solidarity, and committment from employees/partners.
2. Develop a short Vision Statement for your organization or area of the organization. If your organization already has one, pretend as if it does not and you have been tasked with developing one. What do you feel the vision should be? In developing your vision, you should ask your self the five questions listed in Part II: Developing the Vision.
The vision for a BHA/CSB needs to primarily consider both the needs of the community as a whole and the needs of it's individual members. The value of a BHA/CSB to the community is the provision of mental health, substance abuse, mental retardation, and crisis services to the indigent. The role of a BHA/CSB is often as a middle-man or mediater between the individuals it serves and the larger community in which the individual resides and works. The larger community may not want to or is able to provide the safe housing, adequate employment, or appropriate health care that indigent consumers need. The BHA/CSB plays many roles (services provider, lobbyist, politician, researcher) in navigating stigma, lack of funding, lack of resources, lack of jobs, lack of transportation, violence in the communities, poor educational opportunities, and poor health care in the efforts to serve the needs of it's consumers. A BHA/CSB must have a strong sense of the needs of it's individual consumers and the needs of the larger community along with the vision to anticipate and implement the future needs of both.