Mission, Values, Vision: Part 1
Listen to the five-minute Mission, Values, Vision: Part 1 audio program from Coach’s Corner.
In today’s post I’m kicking off a series on three keys to leading an organization. Any guesses of what three key things help define an organization and lead to it’s effectiveness?
Mission, Values, and Vision.
Every organization, whether Christian or not, gains by clarifying three key things:
- Mission, or the reason the organization exists in the first place.
- Values, or the characteristics that help define how the organization operates.
- Vision, or a picture of a future reality that best combines the mission and values.
By the way, this is a great thing to do as an individual too. Reflect on 1) why you exist and why God created you, 2) what values are unique to you, and 3) where you are headed in the future.
I’ve talked about what that individual journey looks like in other posts, but in today’s post and the three to follow I’ll apply these three things to a corporate or organizational journey.
Organizations that have spent the time and effort to define mission, values, and vision do a better job in some key areas of leadership:
- Hiring people, firing people, and developing people
- Making short-term and long-term decisions on what to do next
- Designing systems and structures that support the organization’s work
It’s the leader’s job to ensure that these characteristics are clarified and continually communicated.
I have found that mission, values, and vision are often unspoken and are often determined by the founder, either the founding pastor in the case of churches or the founding owner in the case of business.
Often the founder hasn’t even clarified to him- or herself what the mission, values, and vision of the organization are, but the employees begin to figure it out by the nonverbal, or sometimes very verbal, feedback they get.
It can become a game of “you’re getting warmer … you’re getting colder.” And those that don’t get warmer quickly enough get real cold, outside the organization.
It’s much better to spend the time clarifying in words and concepts why the organization exists (mission), what the rules of engagement are (values), and where the organization is headed (vision). This way, the entire team can make better decisions, can make fewer blunders from not understanding the direction, and can have better results and a better life.
You see sports teams do this really well:
- Why do we exist? To play football in the NFL.
- What are our rules of engagement? Be more aggressive than any other team, or work harder, or be faster, or be the best at passing, or dominate by running. Each team and each coach chooses different values, though all teams appreciate almost all the values of the other teams.
- Where are we headed? To go from a dismal record to a winning record this year, then win the division next year, then the Super Bowl the following year, or whatever the vision may be.
My experience is that these three characteristics are rarely well-defined in organizations. Over time the mission, or reason for existing in the first place, has become fuzzy. It might seem like people are just doing what they do because it’s always been done that way. Maybe values were clear in the early days when the founder saw everybody every day, but over time they have eroded and now anything goes.
Left to their own devices these things will become less clear. It’s the leader’s job to ensure that mission, values, and vision don’t become fuzzy. Jack Welch at GE said that casting vision was his most important and challenging job. A leader must continually remind the team who they are and where they’re going.
People love this clarity, at least those who align with it well. Those who don’t wouldn’t even consider being on the team. Some of you might think that’s a bad thing, but think about it. Wouldn’t you prefer that people who won’t fit on your team not even show interest and waste your time and money? Especially if they get on your team and you realize after six months that they don’t fit?
In my next post we’ll talk more about mission, values and vision and how leaders can ensure these are clarified and communicated. I hope you’ll join me.
Until then I pray that you experience God’s rich blessings.
Post by Rodger.
Image by Macromagrini.
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