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Three invisible pillars:

Vision, Sense, Plan

1. Vision

When nobody knows where we are going, everyone sets off with their own map. What is your organisation’s GPS?

Eastman Kodak Company was for many years the undisputed giant of photography. And yet, as digital cameras gained ground, Kodak held its course on film[1].
They had the technology. They had the brains. They had no clear course.
Kodak wanted to “do everything”, and above all, to hold on to what had made its name.
The result: a giant with no direction. A blurred vision, and a brutal fall.

Our analysis with the Resonance Model

Vision is a projection of the future, a clear image, and a rallying scenario. It gives the organisation a stable, readable, shared course.

Without Vision, efforts lose their coherence, decisions contradict each other, collective momentum frays. The most common mistake we have observed for years is that leadership teams confuse vision with objectives. And for good reason: vision is an emotional element, and leadership teams seldom listen to words of that kind. The task of leaders is to give a clear vision of where they are taking their teams, and that vision has to be irresistible as well. For it to be irresistible, it has to hold, for each person, a project in which they recognise themselves.

Question for a leadership team: Have we said where we are taking our teams, and have we shown them their place in this vision?

2. Sense

A recurring source of stress and anxiety in French companies: the lack of sense

If Vision sets a course, Sense gives each person a reason to follow it. Another word for motivation, the eternal question of every company.

In 2000, Starbucks launched on the Australian market[2]. 84 coffee shops opened in under two years. A hit? Far from it.
Customers did not understand the promise.
Local teams were lost: an American culture laid over a deep-rooted coffee culture.
Australians preferred their espresso from the café round the corner. Starbucks coffee held no cultural or emotional meaning.

Our analysis with the Resonance Model

Sense is the strategic direction, and the meaning each person gives to their role, and the path the organisation follows.
Sense is what connects tasks to values.

When Sense is missing, teams wear themselves out carrying out actions they no longer understand. The common mistake we observe in organisations that notice anxiety and demotivation in their teams is to ask how to “explain” the strategy to the teams to stimulate engagement, instead of asking which values and aspirations meet the motivations of their people. To put it in plain words: does what we do make sense to our teams, and are they proud of it?

Question for a leadership team: Have we checked that the sense we give to our project is understood, and that it motivates every member of our teams?

3. Plan

When the plan is unclear, or lacks credibility, teams find excellent reasons to do nothing

An invisible plan is a non-existent plan for those who have to act.

In 2002, Hewlett-Packard merged with Compaq. A historic deal, meant to create a tech giant.
On the ground[3], though: little coordination, no clear operational plan to bring the two cultures together.
Employees did not know how to work together. The result? Internal resistance, falling performance, and a merger seen as a strategic failure.

Our analysis with the Resonance Model

Plan is the sequence of stages, the structuring of actions, the order that makes the Vision achievable.

Without a Plan, everything stays theoretical. Vision provided the what and the where, Sense added the why. Once the excitement of joining a fine project has passed, teams now look at the how.
With a Plan that is too rigid, poorly shared, unclear or under-resourced, tensions appear and cooperation seizes up. That is when a culture of waiting is born. We are waiting for the resources we were promised! Followed by a culture of defeat: They never gave us the resources!

Question for a leadership team: Have we mapped out the stages of the project in a credible way? Have we provided the resources and clarified the methods so that our teams feel “equipped”?

The domino effect of systemic misalignment

In the MRS® model, Vision, Sense and Plan are interdependent. Their interaction creates either clarity or dissonance.

Configuration	What happens in the organisation	Day-to-day impact
Vision without Plan ❌	We have fine ideas, and the way to carry them out is unclear.	A team that talks in meetings and makes no progress.
Sense without Vision ❌	We have motivation, and no motivating project.	Plenty of debates going round in circles for lack of a course.
Plan without Sense ❌	We execute well, and we no longer know why.	No more creativity or proactivity.
Vision + Sense + Plan ✅	We know where we are going, why we are going there and how we will get there.	A crew that is aligned, motivated and coordinated.

When a single component is missing, the energy is there, and it is misdirected, lost or draining.

Now imagine two components missing…

MRS® diagnostic grid: Vision, Sense, Plan

Component	Central question	Signs of resonance (positive)	Signs of dissonance (negative)
Vision	Do we know where we are going?	Clear, shared course; easy to project oneself	Strategic blur; scattered efforts; loss of course
Sense	Why are we doing this?	Lasting motivation; sense of usefulness; perceived coherence	Demotivation; disengagement; moral fatigue
Plan	How are we going to go about it?	Coordinated actions; clear roles; room to adapt	Confusion; overload; duplicated work; tensions in teams

In a few words:

Vision, Sense, Plan. Three simple words. Three essential pillars. Three systemic levers.

Worked on together, they turn an ordinary organisation into a resonant organisation.
Ignored, they turn the most sincere efforts into collective exhaustion.

It is so self-evident that it feels like pushing at open doors.

And you, do you want to see what lies behind these doors?

Sources of the cases mentioned

[1] Kodak – the missing Vision
« Kodak’s downfall wasn’t about technology, it was about vision. »
Kodak’s Downfall Wasn’t About Technology, Harvard Business Review, 2016
The rise and fall of Kodak, Cambridge University

[2] Starbucks in Australia – no shared Sense
« Starbucks failed to consider how Australians actually like their coffee culture. »
Why Starbucks failed in Australia, Business Insider, 2018

[3] HP/Compaq – a failing strategic Plan
« HP-Compaq failed to deliver the synergies due to poor execution planning. »
13 Notorious Examples of Strategic Planning Failure, AchieveIt, 2021