Crafting Vision, Purpose, and Value Statements
“We need to re-write our Vision, Mission, and Values statements so we can go after new funding sources.”
Two clients recently approached me around the same time to talk about the Vision, Mission, and Value statements for their organizations. There must’ve been something in the water, or maybe the planets were aligned. Either way, they have been deep, fascinating conversations. Here’s how we have worked through the process together.
Why bother?
Writing these statements is uncomfortable at best, and might make you want to throw your Roget’s Thesaurus out the window at worst. It’s basically a pre-requisite for forming a non-profit organization, but why?
I’ve worked at organizations that proudly displayed team values, and organizational purpose … that had absolutely no connection to the day-to-day reality of working there.
I’ve also worked with social enterprises and non-profits that are doing amazing work, but struggle to tell the story of their impact. Or they experience conflict, but can’t put their finger on what’s wrong and how to solve it.
I used to think these statements were utter bull pucky—to borrow a term my high school band teacher used often with us foolish students—but I’ve since come ‘round to see how they can be formative tools to guide organizational development and impact measurement.
A quick paradigm shift
Before we go any further, I would like to replace the word “mission.” This term—and honestly, the whole practice of strategy—comes out of military history. And while I deeply respect all those who have served, I want my work to come from a place of nonviolence and co-creation. Therefore, I recommend to each of my clients to use the word “purpose” instead. I’m not interested in helping people conquer more of the world; I’d much rather find creative ways to align on shared intentions and ways of working.
So purpose, it is.
Shared criteria for decision-making
The purpose, vision, and values statements don’t just look pretty on your website. They are powerful tools for shared storytelling and decision-making with everyone in your organization.
Purpose Statement
The purpose statement answers the key existential question, “Why does our organization exist?” To get more specific than simply saying , “to make money”, consider:
What your business does—do you collect clothing and redistribute it? Do you provide a consulting service? Consider your core business functions and models for providing value to your customers and employees.
What customers your business serves—are you targeting another organization? Individuals? Children and their families?
What makes your business unique—are you the first organization of your type in your city (E.g., the first traveling puppet theater in the Three Rivers area)? Or do you employ a particular population (E.g., people who have exited the justice system)?
Now think about whether you are solving problems or creating opportunities. Do you aim to reduce the amount of problem your customer is experiencing? Or perhaps prevent some issue from occurring to begin with? Or maybe increase the number of people who can put on their own puppet shows? I like to think of this with arrows: do you want it to go up, down, or turn another direction?
Vision Statement
The vision statement answers the directional question, “What does our organization aspire to do in the next 5-10 years?”
This is where you create a compelling image for what the future looks like as a result of your organization fulfilling its purpose. How will the world be a better place because of your traveling puppet show? How long do you anticipate it will take to achieve the change you identified when working on your purpose statement? Are there key milestones to plan around?
The vision statement is most powerful when it portrays a vision of the future that your customers, employees, and potential partners or funders are excited to be part of.
Values
Listing core values answers the behavioral question, “How will our organization make decisions and measure efforts?”
Values need to be specific, defining what you mean by them. “People” isn’t a value, for example. What is it about people? How will you use that to make decisions? What do you envision happening if your employees embodied the value of “people”—do you actually mean compassion? Or respect? What is the action you will observe? Another way to narrow it down is to think about what could go wrong—what would it look like it your organization was not behaving according to this value? Then consider its opposite.
In fact, every good value should have an opposite that is equally viable. This is a moment when you are taking a stand and making a choice, knowing that someone else could come to another conclusion. But they can create their own organization! For example, you could prioritize “collaboration”. A possible opposite would be “competition.” Neither is right or wrong, and both have their time and place, but what you choose will both reflect and shape your culture.
When you’re exploring potential values, focus on the norms you would like to establish for how you deliver your service, the level of quality, and how people relate to each other. Take your time with this conversation and be curious about the beliefs that drive actions and decisions.
Then what?
Crafting purpose, vision, and values statements that ring true for your organization will take some time and iterations. This is a tremendous opportunity to include all your employees in making the organization their own—which will increase adoption and culture change, because they had a hand in making it instead of having them foisted upon them.
With clear statements, you now have the structure to start building an impact measurement framework. Measuring impact is only possible when you’ve articulated the change you wish to see in the world, the ways in which you operate, and the observable markers of your culture.
When organizations put in the work to define and live out their purpose, vision, and values, they have new tools to engage in difficult, but productive conversations to address conflict, respond to changing market conditions, and evaluate whether their efforts meet the objectives.