History of origin

Importance of the vision for the university and everyone involved

A motivating and inspiring vision can create great value for an organization. The "vision formation" was implemented with the help of the logical levels approach according to Dilts (1990) for a meaningful structure with an external coach, who was commissioned with the aim of "making the relevant visible". For the "Future of digital teaching at TU Dresden", we were initially able to work out numerous important aspects, some of which were previously unconscious, using a free map association. The model now makes it possible to look at aspects that would normally remain unconsidered during the change process (problem solving, goal formulation, etc.), which could potentially jeopardize the success of a change. At best, the levels are "coherent" with each other in relation to an organization and each one is clear in itself.

How a pyramid influenced our approach

In the next step, the "vision pyramid" (logical levels in pyramid form) provided a helpful tool for strategic planning and for a common direction within the university:By assigning the multitude of aspects (cards) to the respective levels, we looked at all levels from the very bottom, the observable environment (lowest level) to the top of the "pyramid" with the help of action-guiding questions. For change work, it is helpful to start at least at the next higher level of a level that is no longer functional, because each level organizes the function of the levels below it:

This work resulted in this digitized pyramid, which we refined and adapted as a team in Miro.  

Clustering and prioritization

Suitable clusters were created for related thoughts. All participants were then able to prioritize the clusters. In the clustering process, this sentence could already be crystallized from the top-level aspects:

Subdivision into goals and non-goals

In the next step, we then asked the participants the following questions based on the clusters and the corresponding prioritization:

• For this cluster, do we feel that we are in principle able to derive recommendations, define objectives? Yes/No (target/non-target)
• Is the cluster so attractive and attractive that interested parties can be found to define concrete goals for it?
• If yes, who? If no, should it still be included in the "special area" in the strategy with the note "important, but no one can say anything about it yet"?

A long list of goals and non-goals emerged. The "non-goals" were merely the result of the current prioritization process and are worth revisiting on a regular basis and including where necessary. With these new methods and a clear plan, we set about formulating the objectives outlined below. Various texts were produced in sub-working groups, which were sharpened in several iterations. They served as a template for the creation of objectives and the versions for the texts and subject areas.

Increasing accessibility via different access formats

In order to make the objectives even more tangible and bring them to life, and to incorporate both diversity aspects and accessibility, the subgroups developed different access formats: Videos, user stories or comics and much more.

Screenshots and descriptive texts can be found on the following subpages.

Source:Dilts, Robert (1993): Changing belief systems. NLP belief work. Junfermann, Paderborn (orig.: Changing Belief Systems with NLP. Cupertino/CA: Meta Publications 1990)