Missions and Visions

I’ve been thinking about “missions” and “visions” lately. Because I am a facilitator, these words have a great deal of meaning for me… specific meaning, not at all vague or nebulous. But I travel in circles where the words “mission” and “vision” are used imprecisely, often interchangeably, and I always struggle to follow the conversation when that happens. Getting people in alignment and pulling together in the same direction requires dialogue… which means listening to each other. It also means understanding words the same way.

A “mission” is what someone or some organization exists to do. It is the reason for being, the unique calling or purpose. A “mission statement” is an effort to succinctly and clearly express the mission. The function of a mission statement is to develop and grow common purpose among people internally and to clearly communicate who and what you are to an external audience. The best mission statement I ever saw was “We sell boxes.” It is pretty clear what that organization exists to do.

A “vision,” on the other hand, is a picture of how the community will be at some point in the future (five years, ten years) if the person or organization is working diligently to achieve their mission. It expresses a high-level outcome from which long-term or short-term goals can be crafted. First-class vision statements are truly visual, allowing everyone on the team or interested outsiders to see what you intend to create. If your mission is to sell boxes, a good vision statement might be “Everyone in our community who needs a box buys it from us.”

Too often people get involved in an effort to write a mission statement or a vision statement, usually because someone else is enthusiastic about it, and the conversation bogs down in the quicksand of confusion. What are we doing? How can this possibly matter? What’s the difference between mission and vision? When can I get back to work? People suffer their way through such conversations, acquiesce on points that matter to them just to be done already, and sign off on a draft of something they aren’t really crazy about.

This is how missions and visions get a bad rap.

But it is the process that is at fault. Those who suggest that a group should work together on their mission or vision are correct. Such statements add a great deal of value – when they are used as tools for team-building, focusing resources where they are most needed, and communicating to external parties. It’s the “why” part that crosses up a leader who calls a meeting to write a statement. People need to know what the point is. Being clear up front is part of a good process.

Another element of a healthy statement-writing process is separating brainstorming, which is throwing out ideas in a safe, non-judgmental atmosphere, from decision-making, which is when people evaluate each other’s ideas and begin to focus on the ones with the most promise for group agreement. A good facilitator can help the process along by getting all views out on the table and then guiding the group through a series of simple steps designed to drive consensus. The best facilitators are truly neutral. They don’t have a stake in the outcome.

Most statement-writing processes end after an hour when someone offers to “wordsmith” the existing ideas and send a draft around for comment and approval. The seeming-efficiency of this approach is tempting… but in my opinion it is a mistake. The only way to group alignment is through the dialogue… listening to each other and making sure everyone understands each word the same way. That means taking the time to finish the statement while everyone is together and focused on the mission or vision of the organization. Let people go back to their desks, and you’ll lose them, so tell them in advance that the meeting will take two hours and that discussion will be limited to the topic at hand.

Time spent writing an excellent mission or vision statement is a high-yield investment. When the chips are down and hard decisions must be made, there is no substitute for group agreement about what the organization exists to do and what the ultimate outcomes should be. Put the time in, use a proper process, and let magic happen!