razor# tech blog

I just read a really good article from the BlueSummit (blog.bluesummit.net, link) blog about an organization’s mission versus it’s vision. It breaks down the differences between the mission and vision and even goes as far as to explain the different levels of the organization down to personal plans.

I have often found myself in conversations with clients about the meaning and purpose of some of the most fundamental business terms — words like Mission, Vision, Strategy, and Values. It surprises me how often people on the same team have differing ideas about what these words mean, and how often I hear fuzzy thinking about these terms. The result can be significant mis-communication and mis-understandings about the direction of the organization. It is very hard to focus on what you cannot define.

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Mission: Enduring purpose. The fundamental reason for the organization’s existence beyond just making money. It is a direction, a general heading, a perpetual guiding star on the horizon. It does not change over time. It is generally abstract and can never be achieved, only pursued. For example, for NASA: “advancing man’s capability to explore the heavens”.

Vision: A picture of a desired future that supports the mission, or an image of the future we seek to create. It is a specific destination that is concrete and achievable. A good one engages people–it reaches out and grabs them in the gut. It should be tangible, energizing, highly focused. There can be many visions over time that support the mission. The time scale is usually around 1 to 5 years. For example: “a man on the moon by the end of the ’60s”.

As a commenter points out, the hierarchical image used on the website seems to be upside down, but I believe it’s position is relative to your point in the organization. If the leaders are thinking about the people and are “people focused” they will see every action of one of their employees as a building block that the company relies on to bring about the vision which supports the mission. If the leaders are more strategy oriented, they will see the mission as the foundation and the execute the mission is through employee actions. It appears to be two sides of the same coin once I thought about it more. (Image from blog.bluesummit.net)

I started wondering about the difference between the mission and vision when I was watching a lecture from my Principals and Practices in Fundraising class. The lecture was about Mission and Purpose and we were analyzing mission statements from various organizations.

The opinions about the Harvard University Shuttle Services Statement of Purpose were widely varied. Some students thought it should be only the first sentence, while others thought the rest of the statement was nessesary to further explain and clarify the mission.

My personal feeling is that although the mission statement could be shortened to the first sentence, if I was the CEO at that organization and read the one sentence version, I would think it sounds too boring. I would want my employees to be energized after reading our mission, and I would want prospective employees to want to work here after researching the company and reading it. The second second sentence, “Using a creative and flexible approach, we work to meet individual and group transportation needs…”, not only lets people know that the the way they provide safe, reliable and efficient bus and van services is by being creative and flexible thus describing the culture of the organization.

I think the main reason the people in the classroom that didn’t like the current mission statement is because it mixes in the organization’s mission, strategy, and values. Whether or not you feel that a mission statement can or should incorporate these values is probably a good predictor of whether or not you like this example.