Are We Aiming at the Same Target? The Power of a Shared Vision in Service Delivery

Imagine a group of archers standing in a field. They all raise their bows and fire—confident and committed. But instead of aiming at a single target, they’re each shooting at different ones: some clearly defined, some blurry, some just vague directions. The result? A lot of effort, a lot of arrows in the air, but little to no impact.

This is the reality of service delivery in many remote communities in Australia, where essential services like water and energy depend on a complex web of stakeholders. Each group or stakeholder comes with their own remit, funding structures, intended outcomes and timelines. While each is acting with purpose, the absence of a shared vision means those purposes often diverge.

The Challenge: Misaligned Intentions in a Crowded Field

 In remote communities, service delivery isn't simply a matter of technical capability. It's a coordination of delivery objectives, funding programs, context, and logistical realities. Different stakeholders may also define service delivery in different ways.

Add to that the challenge of limited funding and capacity constraints, and efforts can quickly become reactive, fragmented, or even duplicative—confusing and frustrating for communities and providers. 

The Solution: Establishing a Shared Vision of Success

 The first step toward more effective service delivery is aligning on what we’re all aiming for, with a focus on outcomes over metrics. This means collaboratively defining what “good” service delivery looks like, in a way that’s meaningful across technical, social, and governance aspects. A shared vision serves several critical purposes:

• Transparency: Clearly articulating what is and isn’t possible and why, helps manage expectations—not just among stakeholders, but with communities. Importantly, while objectives may not be immediately achievable, a shared vision helps illuminate what is needed for them to be so, and what more achievable intermediary steps can be.
• Accountability: When roles and goals are defined, it becomes easier to track progress and clarify who is responsible for what. This helps ensure things aren't missed and what is needed for those roles can be clearly plotted out, be it human, social, natural, or financial resources. 
• Coordination: With everyone aiming at the same outcome, efforts and incentives can be aligned, gaps identified early, and resources planned. 
• Trust and Engagement: Community residents are more likely to engage meaningfully when they have a clear role and can see how the actions, and constraints of others, relate to them.

The Bushlight Experience: What Alignment Looks Like in Practice

 From 2002 to 2013, the #Bushlight Project, delivered by the The Centre for Appropriate Technology Limited (CfAT) , showed what can be achieved when stakeholders align around outcomes rather than rigid metrics.

Bushlight approached the delivery of energy services to over 150 Homeland communities across Central and Northern Australia from a holistic perspective, seeking to understand and address the factors needed for residents to reliably access the energy services they need. This required defining not only what those energy services were and how the power systems that supplied them needed to function, but also what governance structures and operational roles and responsibilities were needed to ensure systems continued to provide these services on an ongoing basis. There were clear roles and responsibilities for residents, Homeland support agencies, technical services providers and funding agencies, as well as training and capacity building to enable the various stakeholders to fulfil their roles.

By starting with engagement as a means of building not just trust but also two-way understanding of needs, Bushlight was able to establish:

• Standardised planning and delivery frameworks,
• Appropriate and sustainable technology,
• Ongoing engagement with community residents, and
• Flexibility to adapt to local contexts.

It wasn’t about shooting at any old target. It was about building a process to better define the target, then deliberately aiming for it.

Moving Forward: Align, Then Aim

The metaphor of archers aiming at different targets reminds us that misalignment isn’t just inefficient—it can be counterproductive. The point isn't to decide which stakeholder has the best aim or the best target. It's about agreeing on the target together, then designing the processes—data collection, community engagement, service standards—to aim accurately and consistently over time.

At its core, coordinated service delivery isn’t just about fixing systems—it’s about building relationships, defining success together, and working with shared purpose.

When stakeholders align around a common vision, every arrow counts.