Are clear and compelling mission and vision statements necessary for an organization (school, business, non-profit) to be highly successful? Why or why not?
26 comments:
Anonymous
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Vision and Mission statements that are actually bought into by the constituents of an organization/school can have a tremendous positive impact on the culture and outcomes of that organization/school. These documents help provide a clear & cohesive purpose for the existence of the organization/school and assist the leadership and stakeholders in making important decisions about how they will allocate resources; both human and fiscal. They also provide a framework from with which specific long term and short term goals and outcomes can be defined and then measured to show progress or slippage for the organization. In turn, the organization can use these outcomes to evaluate how well they continue to align themselves to their true original intentions.
A vision statement is an overarching picture of where the leader wants to take the school. It helps provide a framework within which you as a leader can direct your organization and make important day to day decisions that are not just ad hoc, but aligned to something greater. In turn, the mission statement outlines the broad plan of how the vision can be achieved.
An example vision statement may be, “Character Education to Impact a Generation of Learners.” Where the mission statement may be more along the lines of: “We believe in educating the whole child through the use of a diverse, differentiated set of instructional tools and strategies. We commit to creating a nurturing environment that will emphasize strong character education as well as the highest level of academic achievement for all learners.” Or, something like that…these things usually take focus groups and teams to develop. I just came up with this on the fly, but you get the idea.
The question can also be thought of in very simple terms. I often tell my students, “If you fail to plan, than you are planning to fail.” And, I know I’m making myself sound like a woman of clichés; however, here’s another I often use, “If you don’t have some kind of measure, map or direction, how will you know when you’ve arrived?”. A vision statement provides a direction and the mission statement provides a plan. To me, not having these two documents in place and alive in an organization (not just hanging on a wall), just cannot be good for business!
I have mixed feelings on this...... I do believe mission and vision statements (if clearly stated) work just as individual goals do. They should be designed to focus directions, intentions, and most importantly actions.
The other side of my thought is that some institutions come with missions that are assumed through recognition of the type of institution. For example, the mission of all schools are to educate. The mission of religious organizations are to share and teach their beliefs. Likewise the mission of retail stores is to sell their products.
You can argue that those institutions are still operating under a mission of some sort whether stated or assumed. I have worked at the same school for 6 years. The first 4 years I and I believe many others would agree that we operated under an assumed mission to educate and with success. On the other hand, my new principal made sure to make us all memorize the cute vision statement and the school has been struggling to keep it's head above water.
I say all of that to say I just don't know if the mission and vision statements truly drive the success of a company or if success is more connected to the ability to clearly state your steps to get there.
I believe the mission statement to be important. All decisions made by an organization should be made with an eye toward the mission. Would buying this program help us achieve what our mission is? Do we need more information in this area to be able to reach our mission? I'm not a big fan of vision statements in that they tend to contain unattainable intention statements...all students will be prepared for this and all students will achieve that. It won't happen because of the human factor we talked about in class the other night. We can't control for everything that happens in students' lives. Rebecca, the "cliche" you mentioned about failing to plan-plan to fail used to hang on Dean Smith's office door. It might be cliche, but is an excellent mantra for all educators!
This may sound cynical, but I do not believe an organization needs to have a formal mission or vision statement. I do believe that all members of an organization need to buy into the goals of the organization in order for it to be successful.
Perhaps the reason why I feel this way is because I have taught in several schools that I am sure had mission/vision statements, but I would have been hard pressed to tell what they were. However, I could readily tell what each school’s focus was. I also can think of other schools where the mission and vision statements were continually referred to, but they were ineffective. The statements sounded good, but we spent more time trying to fit positive change to the statements instead of letting the statements guide our change.
An organization will only be successful if all members truly buy into the goals of that organization. Mission and vision statements that truly represent those goals may help the organization be focused; however, I believe it is the members’ attitudes that determine how successful that organization will be.
I believe that clear and compelling mission and vision statements are necessary for an organization to be successful.
I agree with Rebecca, and I think we all would agree if we focused on the key words she wrote, "that are actually bought into by the constituents." This is the hard sell and I think that what Felicia wrote speaks to this. At her school, if the new principal had created a vision statement (perhaps in conjunction the school community?) that truly spoke to the constituent (i.e. Felicia, her colleagues, and the rest of the school family), that came across as something more than just a sound-bite, the school could find something to rally around. These statements must reflect, as Patty wrote, "the focus" and "goals" of the organization.
But Vision and Mission statements are just statements without an understanding by all constituents that the words will lead to actions. If these statements are written as a compact, a contract agreed to and acted upon as part of the day-to-day business of the organization, then the statements turn into doing. And that is the true power of the written and spoken word.
Mission and vision statements are not necessary for an organization to be successful. I specifically remember a faculty meeting three years ago where we spent two hours fine-tuning the wording of our vision statement. The staff was acting as education thesauruses. We would get to one education buzz word and exchange it for a more modern educational buzz word. I left the meeting thinking what a waste of time and how I will never use our vision statement to guide my classroom instruction.
I taught with this teacher, I’ll call her Ms. Nezbit, and it was well known that she was the best teacher in the school. Her students loved her, she got great results, and she gave advice or pointers to any staff member who asked. When faced with instructional or behavioral predicaments I began thinking “what would Ms. Nezbit do.” Using this line of thinking has helped me solve many problems. So when we got out of our vision statement faculty meeting, and I was done being annoyed, I asked myself “does Ms. Nezbit care about vision statements?” Within a week I had run into Ms. Nezbit and was pleased to find she got as little out of vision statements as I did.
Ultimately a school is about educating students. Nothing in any vision or mission statement, that I have read, has helped me teach science or math any better.
I believe it is very important for a school/organization to create mission, vision, and goals for the purpose of ensuring we are making decisions that will put us closer to achieving the desired goals.
Every single time I have sat in a planning meeting to discuss the Mission, Vision and Goals for the school; they were never realistic. They were not realistic because they wanted the statement to sound good. I believe that if we stop focusing on what will sound good for the visitors of our schools and focus on the specifics that will get the job done, our students will benefit from our work.
In order for Mission, Vision, and Goal statements to work they must be realistic and suitable for the population in which we serve. I think it is also important to note mission, vision, and goal statements should be accompanied with a 2, 4, and 6 year plan to ensure we are striving for excellence within our schools. Too often stakeholders create these statements for one year and the next year there is an entirely new administration and the process starts all over again. We cannot make positive change if we are changing leadership, missions, and visions every year. There has to be consistency in order for change to take place.
In short, we need strong leadership that brings all parties to the table to create a mission, vision, and goal(s) for the school that are realistic. I then believe that once those things are put in place they should be accompanied by a 2, 4, and 6 year forecast with the mission, vision, and goals in mind. I think then, the staff will have an understanding that it will take time to reach what we as stakeholders envision but we have a roadmap of how we are going to get there. From there, the decisions within the school building should be aligned with the goals and vision of the school.
While I do feel that a compelling mission and vision statement is necessary for any organization’s existence I do not believe that having one in any way guarantees highly successful results. Simply having a mission and vision is not the same as living the vision of an organization and as a result working collectively towards accomplishing its mission.
In many ways the development of a mission and vision statement has let executives off the hook for creating an organizational structure that ensures every person within the school, business or non-profit organization has the successes of each and every stakeholder in mind. We have seen many organizations boast catchy mission and vision statements while the core values of their leaders and employees differ so vastly from them that the organization will never be highly successful because no one truly believes in the goal set forth and therefore cares little about attaining it.
We talk so much about buying into a mission and a vision, yet very seldom are these missions and visions present in the halls of the same organizations that created them. It is important that each individual within an organization believe in the mission and vision of that entity enough to live it every single day. Only then will the business, school or non-profit be highly successful. To have one is not enough… It must also be lived!
I will start by answering the question with a resounding, YES!! My initial reactions to the posts thus far remind me that basically schools and organizations are an assorted bunch of individuals attempting to work collectively. We all have opinions, experiences, ideas, and methods that supposedly will get the job done exceptionally well. More often than not, teachers will take on more of a burden because they feel they do it better by themselves. There is no "I" in team, but it is amazing how many people find and rely on a "Me." As a leader of a school or business, it does not suit the organization as a whole if one part succeeds and multiple parts flounder. The word I am failing to hear in this discussion so far is community. To stay with cliches, "It takes a village to raise a child." It doesn't make much sense to me for a student to have an amazing learning experience with one teacher to only turn around the following year or class period and have a miserable one. That is the beauty of a vision and mission statement: it allows for continuity. However, I agree with Rebecca. For any vision to be successfully implemented it must be alive and allowed to breathe within all aspects of a school. Although communities are also an assorted bunch of people operating in close proximity, they possess culture. They ooze character from all facets within because of traditions and history. I agree with Gemini, schools should be treated with more respect as they are passed to new administrations: they are larger than any one person. Their history should be studied, and with careful critique new ideas introduced. Most importantly, the vision should be founded by the community.
I think that clear mission and vision statements provide a frame work for the goals the school sets out to attain. More importantly than stating these statements, the school has to work hard to actually display behaviors that are in alignment with vision and the mission at large. While I think these statements are important, I think they are more or less written goals that are visible to the public. The true heart of the school will show in school culture, community connections, student and teacher involvement, strong administrative support, and overall school function and school spirit. I think that while it is important to state our goals, it is more important to live by the principals that speak to those goals. In doing so, I believe change will occur and continue to improve if the expectation is that everyone involved in this school is a stakeholder in executing its mission and vision. Over the years I have seen many mission and vision statements. However, I do not remember one. What I remember are the interactions that I had with individuals that represented the organization/institution that made up my personal experience. I remember if I were greeted with excitement and respect for my role as a consumer. I can recall if the face of the organization or institution took out the time to welcome me and encourage me to return. I also remember how I was treated in the event that I had questions. These day to day interactions speak louder as what an institution stands for than what they write on their website and brochure. When I am principal, I want people to remember their interactions with my school as a pleasurable and unique experience. If they happen to come across my mission and vision statements then I want them to be able to identify the behaviors that they experienced at my school. Consequently, I want those behaviors to create an experience represent proof of what we stand for.
This is a tricky question because the need, or lack thereof, of a mission and vision statement for an organization to be highly successful really depends on the personality of the organization staff; see the various opinions above. All of my classmates make valid points in their own unique and credible ways from past experiences and exposure to mission and vision statements. In my opinion, I think that a clear and compelling mission and vision statement are necessary focal points for a school; however, I do not think they necessarily equate to highly successful organizations.
I think the power of the mission and vision statements come in when there is a need for a reformation of a school culture. If a school is high performing and has become stagnant in terms of “growth,” I feel that revamped mission and vision statements would allow the school to challenge itself to work on areas in need of improvement that may not be in the traditional frameworks of school ideology, or something the administration has potentially set aside for the time being in order to reach the academic goals of the school. The reciprocal of this is if there is a school that is in need of a turn around and structurally is in shambles, well defined, clearly written mission and vision statements could be the building foundations to get the school started in the right direction, if implemented properly given the school’s culture. I think Patty said it well in her post when she said that, “an organization will only be successful if all members truly buy into the goals of that organization.” Both cases mentioned above would be examples where mission and vision statements may not equate to “highly successful” schools, but would point the organization in the right direction while giving ownership to the staff to foster that change.
Words are just letters on a page unless given power by those who buy into the system and believe in the end goal. Until this happens, the mission and vision statements are just that, letters on a page.
My initial reaction to this question was OF COURSE! How in the world could an organization possibly unite its constituents in meeting a common goal if that goal was not clearly stated through something like a mission and/or vision statement?
Then I realized... I have no idea what our school's mission statement is. Or our vision... Then again, our school is NOT highly successful. Even if I (and the rest of my staff) knew our mission statement and vision, even if it were "clear and compelling," I don't if that would lead to our school being highly successful.
In order for a mission to be successful, every member of the operation must buy into the stated desired outcome in order for the mission to achieve true success. If even a small group of people don't buy in, it can be detrimental to the success of the whole.
Think about a road trip... I don't know many people who would gather up a handful of friends and just climb in the car to go for a 3 day joy ride. You would know where you're going and why you're going; you may even have a good idea of how you're going to get there... in other words, you have a mission and a vision before you step foot in the car. Now, what if you didn't choose your friends wisely. What if while all of the passengers are snoozing, the person at the wheel decides s/he doesn't want to go to California anymore, and veers up toward the Great Lakes... You could have had the greatest mission statement and vision ever - but without the buy in of all participants, you may never make it where you want to go.
All of that being said, I do think mission and vision statements are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in order to unite a team in working toward a common goal. I would even venture as far as to say that an organization may never be highly successful without one, BUT they most certainly don't guarantee success.
I'm torn between the two sides of this. On the one hand, mission and vision statements can be useful in serving as frameworks for short and long term goals for a school; Bill Ferriter's point about using the mission statement as the indicator as to whether or not a certain action should be taken or path followed is very valid and should be true in all schools who place any real value in their mission.
At the same time, having sat in several meetings trying to decide on a mission statement, etc., when the people involved in that process are just nailing it in, the statement is just another statement with no real meaning or impetus attached to it. Moreover, I have to admit that when it takes 4 or 5 hour+ long meetings to work out the wording on a mission statement, I have to wonder if the group's collective time and effort would not have been better spent tutoring or in some other way DOING something to enrich the education of our students instead of just talking about the statement we want to represent those actions.
Likewise, if one purpose of the mission statement is to help publicize the goals of the school to the rest of the community, schools as a whole could do a much better job of using terms and phrases that are more approachable and meaningful to non-educators. When we say "Every student excels in rigorous and relevant core curriculum" (as the NC BOE goal does), what does that really mean to a parent?
I would have said no if you asked me this question a few years ago, but now I know mission and vision statements are essential. These statements are the lifeblood of an organization. They provide the business or in our case, school with direction. Providing ompelling mission and vision statements is great way to summarize the core values and beliefs of a business. Company goals should be a reflection of the companies mission or vision statement. People without a vision perish and I think that is true for businesses that have little or no vision they fail because they have not established a purpose.
Clear and compelling mission and vision statements exist for highly successful organizations. However, the presence of these statements does not guarantee the success of an organization. So just because my school has a clear and compelling mission and vision statement does not mean that it will inherently be successful. I agree with the sentiment that buy-in and action of stakeholders is crucial to the success of the organization. However, if a stool needs at least three legs to stand, then I believe the third leg in this argument is in the process. Yes, you need the mission and vision statements to have a clear direction and shared purpose. Yes, you need the buy-in and action from the stakeholders to ensure that the statements become a living reality. You also need the continual conversations about the idealistic statements and the current reality of practice. The conversations and the process don’t have to be about making statements sound nice, it is about making idealistic statements real. How do we blend these lofty goals into what is actually happening day to day? What does the statement mean to each person? What are the pitfalls and the strengths? Where do we agree and disagree? How does each person experience this in his or her classrooms/cubicle/life? These discussions and explorations promote the collegial relationships necessary in a successful organization. The continuous conversation about balancing our ideals, goals, and realities helps create an atmosphere of growth and learning for the entire community. If any one of these “legs” are missing then the success is difficult to reach, but with all three legs we can reach the next level of success. As Barth states, "empowerment, recognition, satisfaction, and success come from being an active participant within a masterful group."
The important words to focus in on in the question posed are clear and compelling. Too often, organizations such as schools have mission and vision statements that are vague and meaningless documents. Five years ago, I had the opportunity to help open a new school. Our first order of business was to create a mission and vision statement that embodied our beliefs on the purpose of education and our role as a school. Sadly and honestly, I could not tell you our mission and vision statement if I had to. The task was completed as a check-list item for our SIP and then we moved on. Yes, you can find it on the school website. Yes, we would review it at the beginning of each school year. The mission and vision statements at this school were never the driving force behind decisions made or in establishing our school culture. While we had a mission and vision in theory and on paper, it was never put into practice and at times it felt as though we were the hamster on a wheel going round and round. Eight years ago at my first teaching job, the mission and vision statement were the driving force behind every decision made at our school. To this day I can still remember both statements. The mission was To Develop Leaders One Child at a Time. The vision statement was To Live, to Love, to Learn, To Leave a Legacy. Every day on the announcements the principal would say our school’s mission and vision statements and together we would repeat them. The mission and vision statements were clear, compelling, and crucial pieces of our school culture and community. Covey (2008) states in his book The Leader in Me, “The purpose of a mission statement is not a destination, but a reason to journey” (p. 169). The mission statement is the school’s purpose. Without a clear and active mission statement serving as a living and breathing document, what is the school’s purpose? What is the purpose of the principal? What is the purpose of the staff? What is the purpose of the students? The mission statement should not be words written down to fulfill a requirement, but the reason and purpose behind every decision and action made in the school. If the mission statement is the journey, then the vision is the destination (Covey, 2008, p. 171). The vision is critical when outlining specific goals or outcomes the school wants to accomplish within a given time frame. A Japanese proverb states, “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare”. Without a clear vision, what action can be made in accomplishing the mission? When the stakeholders involved can clearly see the vision for what it is and what it is not, the more focused they become in planning and management. It is important for the vision to be a short list of realistic goals rather than an eloquently written ramble of words. When the vision is a short list of realistic goals it serves it purpose of urgency and refrains from becoming a list of daydreams that may or may not occur. To conclude, yes, I believe it is necessary to have a clear and compelling mission and vision statement in order for a school to be highly successful. The important factor to remember is that both statements must be living and breathing documents that permeate beyond the written text and into the staff, students, and parents of a school community.
What I've gathered from reading the comments of others and reflecting on my own experiences is that there doesn't seem to be a direct relationship between the quality of mission and vision statements and the effectiveness of a school.
I think where they can make the most impact, however, is when they are used as a foundation for a school in dire need of a change, as Thomas alluded to. It is at that point, when morale is at its lowest and helplessness is at its highest, where folks are most likely to be open to a new direction--and a plan. The way things have been done can no longer exist.
Absent of a school hitting rock bottom, I just have a hard time believing that you'll ever get enough people to "buy in" to any mission or vision statement. To me, there is too much teacher and administrative turnover to believe otherwise. As others have stated, the leadership that is reflected in the building and the relationships between all stakeholders will ultimately carry more weight than anything posted on school letterhead.
I feel that ultimately the focus has to be on creating the culture of "Collegiality" that Ronald Barth describes. The reason is because with this kind of focus you're affecting teacher behaviors in the classroom: instructional practice and classroom management (mentioned in the article), for example. When we focus on teacher behaviors, as Dr. Graham said, we are actually having an impact on student achievement. Difficult and controversial decisions are going to befall every principal (and school), and mission and vision statements aren't going to make them any easier or have them accepted any quicker or with more popularly. As many have said, they're just words on paper (which most of us forget).
Absolutely, I believe that a mission statement, should obiviously, be able to provide a somewhat quantifiable result and that the vision is the means to an end. There should be continuous monitoring and or amending of, both entities to ensure that the objective remains current and relevant. For a mission statement to be effective, it needs to be poignant and succinct, in that it can be easily internalized by every stakeholder and that it may be easily recalled upon or referred to at any instance an issue or decision is presented. Through this internilization of an agreed upon and relevant mission statement, it becomes indoctrinated into the culture of the school. This will ensure that everything being done in the school is geared toward realizing the overall goal. Without this a productive synergistic group converging upon a set goal quickly becomes a hindered divergant entity that starts moving in any and every direction "personal" agendas take them. All be it, we know everything looks good on paper. To implement and be successful a good mission and vision needs a good navigator. The administrator(s) needs to be consistant in maintaining focus on what is expected. Which in turn lightens their load, in that reports will think about and ususally answer thier own questions or ideas before presenting them to you. They will come to realize that unless it directly pertains to the mission and vision then it most likely will not be considered. Again going back to what looks good on paper. You could have a school full of T.O.Y.'s(teachers of the Year) and yet have difficulty realizing a mission. A postive rapport amongst the stakeholders needs to be established, once this is in place then a positive, successful, collaborative, and genuine effort can be made to strive to achieve what the mission and vision is designed to do, and that is...provide the children of today everything they derserve from thier educators.
A good mission statement is a lot like a good objective, not to focus too much on "thinking like a teacher." On one hand, you've got to have a goal to shape the class—or the school; on the other hand, it's easy to get really focused on articulating lofty goals without considering how to realistically achieve them. In a few of the professional development sessions I have participated in, it seemed that the way we worded our objectives was more important than actually teaching the lesson. Sometimes, we were given a list of verbs like “synthesize,” or “evaluate,” or “collaborate” to help us get the language right as we crafted lofty objectives in alignment with our standard course of study. Here's the problem: If I write the most effective, measurable objective imaginable, but I never reference it during the class, and I don't take the time to make sure my students know what it means, then did it really serve any purpose other than to have something on the board for the administrator who might pop in?
I think that the points that Rozycki made probably resonate with a lot of educators. That's because most of us have had the experience of being “indoctrinated”--as he puts it—with pie in the sky mission statements that turn out to have little connection to the day to day management and decision making of the school. But Bill Ferriter makes a good point: if teachers see that mission statements are important, and that they drive day to day decision making at the school, teachers will be willing to buy into them, to internalize the values of the learning community.
The thing about mission statements is that they require commitment—more than just the commitment to sit down together in a work shop for a few hours to belabor semantics and syntax. A mission statement that is ambitious but measurable, and most importantly, one that is specific, is something that most educators can get behind.
Clear and compelling mission and vision statements can help an organization be successful. However, I don’t believe that they are absolutely necessary. I believe that for them to be successful those involved must take ownership of them. Ownership can be acquired by allowing those involved to create the statements or the staff will have to ascribe to statements already written.
I think it is important for the organization to examine their mission and vision statements and set a clear plan as to how the statements/goals will be accomplished. Many times organizations have these statements but no one is clear as to how they will achieve the overarching goals. With or without a mission or vision statement, an organization without a clear cut plan may have difficulties with success.
I believe that a clear and compelling mission and vision statement is a key component in the success of an organization like a school. Without vision, schools cannot fulfill the purpose for which they exist. In other words, the purpose of a school(known as its mission), is in some capacity to educate all children. However, it is vision that gives us a glimpse into how schools effectively carry out their mission of educating all children. Myles Munroe, one of my favorite inspirational authors, described vision as the following: it is future-focused, it empowers people to action, it is detailed, customized, distinctive, and reasonable, and it is the product of purpose(mission). A school's vision statement reveals what its framework is for the steps it will take to accomplish its goal and its mission. It kind of serves as a compass in that people can chart the trajectory of the school's path. Unfortunately, if a school's members are unclear about what the mission and vision is, then they are likely unclear about what they are working to accomplish. They will be working hard, sweating hard, but not really making any real progress because they have no idea what the direction of the school is. As a result, mission and vision statements are essential in schools because they allow school members to be connected to something bigger than themselves. It also makes what they do on a daily basis count!
I believe so. However, each person in the building needs to agree to it, and keep it in mind when making decisions that affect student achievement and the school environment. If you have a staff that is invested in the mission and vision, then I think things will fall into place. In addition, there must be someone in charge to help guide school decisions based on the mission and values. With this being said, I also think a strong leader can bypass the whole idea of a mission and vision. A mission and vision is a way to get everyone on board and work towards the same goal. A leader also has this same task. Creating a mission and vision can assist the leader; however, if he/she creates a collaborative and effective environment that promotes student achievement and a safe and productive learning environment, does a school really need a motto?
At the same time, what happens if that leader leaves like in one of the articles we read? In that case, I believe a mission and vision is important. Nonetheless, I think if you are going to have a mission and vision, each staff member should contribute, support it, and let it guide their decisions and/or instruction.
I feel that vision statements should provide a focus for an organization. They should guide and validate all decisions that are made. Having said that, most vision statements are too vague to be practical... or worse, most members of the organization are either not familiar with the vision statement or do not subscribe to it. Therefore, for a vision statement to become an integral part of a school, it needs to be devised so that all staff members easily understand what the mission is and actually adopt it despite potentially varying agenda
Clear and compelling mission and vision statements are essential components of a highly successful school or organization. It is a blueprint for who we are, and where we are going. Also, it helps us to organize our work, make decisions, and plan for the future. To be effective, it should be an action statement that is modeled and depicted in all aspects of the organization. The more the constituents of an organization ascribe to the mission and vision statements the more their actions will be aligned. In as much as a clear and compelling mission and vision statement can be a source of inspiration, a vague and unconvincing one can be a source of apathy.
Clear and compelling mission and vision statements can be highly motivating and serve as a useful guide if they are integrated in most aspects of a school, business, or nonprofit organization. When they are applied in practice, they can set a standard for everyone who is a part of the organization, and they can create a sense of ownership and belonging to members of the relevant community. Like the 6th grade teacher/blogger from our readings, members who are part of the creative process take pride in the vision and mission statements, and such statements that are truly used as guiding principles (i.e. they are enforced in practice)create a foundation for good work. Are mission and vision statements necessary to an organization to be successful? Probably not, but I would think that this depends on the type of organization. If a business has a goal of making money, I am sure they could make money by any means without a mission statement. In any organization you have people who are there just to do a job. They are not invested emotionally in the cause, if there is one, and they are simply fulfilling their duties. I think vision and mission statements are based on morals and values. If companies wanted to do more than make a profit, then indeed they would likely find use in creating vision and mission statements. Vision and mission statements can be key to sustainable organizations, especially in schools and nonprofit organizations that may not have big bucks. Members and professionals of these organizations may choose to stay with or join an organization whose mission they can get behind. Of course, if these values are not upheld in practice, it will likely not motivate anyone to stay.
26 comments:
Vision and Mission statements that are actually bought into by the constituents of an organization/school can have a tremendous positive impact on the culture and outcomes of that organization/school. These documents help provide a clear & cohesive purpose for the existence of the organization/school and assist the leadership and stakeholders in making important decisions about how they will allocate resources; both human and fiscal. They also provide a framework from with which specific long term and short term goals and outcomes can be defined and then measured to show progress or slippage for the organization. In turn, the organization can use these outcomes to evaluate how well they continue to align themselves to their true original intentions.
A vision statement is an overarching picture of where the leader wants to take the school. It helps provide a framework within which you as a leader can direct your organization and make important day to day decisions that are not just ad hoc, but aligned to something greater. In turn, the mission statement outlines the broad plan of how the vision can be achieved.
An example vision statement may be, “Character Education to Impact a Generation of Learners.” Where the mission statement may be more along the lines of: “We believe in educating the whole child through the use of a diverse, differentiated set of instructional tools and strategies. We commit to creating a nurturing environment that will emphasize strong character education as well as the highest level of academic achievement for all learners.” Or, something like that…these things usually take focus groups and teams to develop. I just came up with this on the fly, but you get the idea.
The question can also be thought of in very simple terms. I often tell my students, “If you fail to plan, than you are planning to fail.” And, I know I’m making myself sound like a woman of clichés; however, here’s another I often use, “If you don’t have some kind of measure, map or direction, how will you know when you’ve arrived?”. A vision statement provides a direction and the mission statement provides a plan. To me, not having these two documents in place and alive in an organization (not just hanging on a wall), just cannot be good for business!
I have mixed feelings on this......
I do believe mission and vision statements (if clearly stated) work just as individual goals do. They should be designed to focus directions, intentions, and most importantly actions.
The other side of my thought is that some institutions come with missions that are assumed through recognition of the type of institution. For example, the mission of all schools are to educate. The mission of religious organizations are to share and teach their beliefs. Likewise the mission of retail stores is to sell their products.
You can argue that those institutions are still operating under a mission of some sort whether stated or assumed. I have worked at the same school for 6 years. The first 4 years I and I believe many others would agree that we operated under an assumed mission to educate and with success. On the other hand, my new principal made sure to make us all memorize the cute vision statement and the school has been struggling to keep it's head above water.
I say all of that to say I just don't know if the mission and vision statements truly drive the success of a company or if success is more connected to the ability to clearly state your steps to get there.
I believe the mission statement to be important. All decisions made by an organization should be made with an eye toward the mission. Would buying this program help us achieve what our mission is? Do we need more information in this area to be able to reach our mission? I'm not a big fan of vision statements in that they tend to contain unattainable intention statements...all students will be prepared for this and all students will achieve that. It won't happen because of the human factor we talked about in class the other night. We can't control for everything that happens in students' lives. Rebecca, the "cliche" you mentioned about failing to plan-plan to fail used to hang on Dean Smith's office door. It might be cliche, but is an excellent mantra for all educators!
This may sound cynical, but I do not believe an organization needs to have a formal mission or vision statement. I do believe that all members of an organization need to buy into the goals of the organization in order for it to be successful.
Perhaps the reason why I feel this way is because I have taught in several schools that I am sure had mission/vision statements, but I would have been hard pressed to tell what they were. However, I could readily tell what each school’s focus was. I also can think of other schools where the mission and vision statements were continually referred to, but they were ineffective. The statements sounded good, but we spent more time trying to fit positive change to the statements instead of letting the statements guide our change.
An organization will only be successful if all members truly buy into the goals of that organization. Mission and vision statements that truly represent those goals may help the organization be focused; however, I believe it is the members’ attitudes that determine how successful that organization will be.
I believe that clear and compelling mission and vision statements are necessary for an organization to be successful.
I agree with Rebecca, and I think we all would agree if we focused on the key words she wrote, "that are actually bought into by the constituents." This is the hard sell and I think that what Felicia wrote speaks to this. At her school, if the new principal had created a vision statement (perhaps in conjunction the school community?) that truly spoke to the constituent (i.e. Felicia, her colleagues, and the rest of the school family), that came across as something more than just a sound-bite, the school could find something to rally around. These statements must reflect, as Patty wrote, "the focus" and "goals" of the organization.
But Vision and Mission statements are just statements without an understanding by all constituents that the words will lead to actions. If these statements are written as a compact, a contract agreed to and acted upon as part of the day-to-day business of the organization, then the statements turn into doing. And that is the true power of the written and spoken word.
Mission, Visions, Value & Change
Dare I say that pre-packaged corporate programs such as Professional Learning Communities© are at work to reshape the Mission, Visions, Values & Changes of Public Education…and not only in the positive ways that their inception occurred. By its simplest definition, Learning Communities are about bringing stakeholders together to seek and share knowledge, and then act on that knowledge in a way that benefits students. Disagreeing with the basis upon which PLC’s are based is a sure sign that the field of education may not be the right fit for you. However, when the notion of PLC’s seek to distract and alter the educational landscape, not stepping up to defend against is equally as bad.
My problem with PLC’s lies in the fact that this top-down educational movement comes at the expense of local control and common sense leadership. Instead of spending school resources on programs that the Principal deems necessary and effective for his/her students, time is wasted preparing mandatory Mission Statements that have to align themselves with the district & state missions. While alignment is not necessarily a horrible thing, when mission statements are developed at the State level, devoid of common sense, the trickle down nonsense finds its way into our schools and eats away at our resources. As Edward Rozycki stated in his article entitled Mission, Vision, & Delusion in Schooling, “The point here is not to ridicule visions or missions, but to suggest that they be tempered with a sense of proportion, a knowledge of resources available, and a cool elevation of the likelihood of success. Above all else, it is important to stop sacrificing the “Workable” to a pursuit of a “Vision of the Best.”
Mission and vision statements are not necessary for an organization to be successful. I specifically remember a faculty meeting three years ago where we spent two hours fine-tuning the wording of our vision statement. The staff was acting as education thesauruses. We would get to one education buzz word and exchange it for a more modern educational buzz word. I left the meeting thinking what a waste of time and how I will never use our vision statement to guide my classroom instruction.
I taught with this teacher, I’ll call her Ms. Nezbit, and it was well known that she was the best teacher in the school. Her students loved her, she got great results, and she gave advice or pointers to any staff member who asked. When faced with instructional or behavioral predicaments I began thinking “what would Ms. Nezbit do.” Using this line of thinking has helped me solve many problems. So when we got out of our vision statement faculty meeting, and I was done being annoyed, I asked myself “does Ms. Nezbit care about vision statements?” Within a week I had run into Ms. Nezbit and was pleased to find she got as little out of vision statements as I did.
Ultimately a school is about educating students. Nothing in any vision or mission statement, that I have read, has helped me teach science or math any better.
I believe it is very important for a school/organization to create mission, vision, and goals for the purpose of ensuring we are making decisions that will put us closer to achieving the desired goals.
Every single time I have sat in a planning meeting to discuss the Mission, Vision and Goals for the school; they were never realistic. They were not realistic because they wanted the statement to sound good. I believe that if we stop focusing on what will sound good for the visitors of our schools and focus on the specifics that will get the job done, our students will benefit from our work.
In order for Mission, Vision, and Goal statements to work they must be realistic and suitable for the population in which we serve. I think it is also important to note mission, vision, and goal statements should be accompanied with a 2, 4, and 6 year plan to ensure we are striving for excellence within our schools. Too often stakeholders create these statements for one year and the next year there is an entirely new administration and the process starts all over again. We cannot make positive change if we are changing leadership, missions, and visions every year. There has to be consistency in order for change to take place.
In short, we need strong leadership that brings all parties to the table to create a mission, vision, and goal(s) for the school that are realistic. I then believe that once those things are put in place they should be accompanied by a 2, 4, and 6 year forecast with the mission, vision, and goals in mind. I think then, the staff will have an understanding that it will take time to reach what we as stakeholders envision but we have a roadmap of how we are going to get there. From there, the decisions within the school building should be aligned with the goals and vision of the school.
While I do feel that a compelling mission and vision statement is necessary for any organization’s existence I do not believe that having one in any way guarantees highly successful results. Simply having a mission and vision is not the same as living the vision of an organization and as a result working collectively towards accomplishing its mission.
In many ways the development of a mission and vision statement has let executives off the hook for creating an organizational structure that ensures every person within the school, business or non-profit organization has the successes of each and every stakeholder in mind. We have seen many organizations boast catchy mission and vision statements while the core values of their leaders and employees differ so vastly from them that the organization will never be highly successful because no one truly believes in the goal set forth and therefore cares little about attaining it.
We talk so much about buying into a mission and a vision, yet very seldom are these missions and visions present in the halls of the same organizations that created them. It is important that each individual within an organization believe in the mission and vision of that entity enough to live it every single day. Only then will the business, school or non-profit be highly successful. To have one is not enough… It must also be lived!
I will start by answering the question with a resounding, YES!! My initial reactions to the posts thus far remind me that basically schools and organizations are an assorted bunch of individuals attempting to work collectively. We all have opinions, experiences, ideas, and methods that supposedly will get the job done exceptionally well. More often than not, teachers will take on more of a burden because they feel they do it better by themselves. There is no "I" in team, but it is amazing how many people find and rely on a "Me." As a leader of a school or business, it does not suit the organization as a whole if one part succeeds and multiple parts flounder. The word I am failing to hear in this discussion so far is community. To stay with cliches, "It takes a village to raise a child." It doesn't make much sense to me for a student to have an amazing learning experience with one teacher to only turn around the following year or class period and have a miserable one. That is the beauty of a vision and mission statement: it allows for continuity. However, I agree with Rebecca. For any vision to be successfully implemented it must be alive and allowed to breathe within all aspects of a school. Although communities are also an assorted bunch of people operating in close proximity, they possess culture. They ooze character from all facets within because of traditions and history. I agree with Gemini, schools should be treated with more respect as they are passed to new administrations: they are larger than any one person. Their history should be studied, and with careful critique new ideas introduced. Most importantly, the vision should be founded by the community.
I think that clear mission and vision statements provide a frame work for the goals the school sets out to attain. More importantly than stating these statements, the school has to work hard to actually display behaviors that are in alignment with vision and the mission at large. While I think these statements are important, I think they are more or less written goals that are visible to the public. The true heart of the school will show in school culture, community connections, student and teacher involvement, strong administrative support, and overall school function and school spirit. I think that while it is important to state our goals, it is more important to live by the principals that speak to those goals. In doing so, I believe change will occur and continue to improve if the expectation is that everyone involved in this school is a stakeholder in executing its mission and vision. Over the years I have seen many mission and vision statements. However, I do not remember one. What I remember are the interactions that I had with individuals that represented the organization/institution that made up my personal experience. I remember if I were greeted with excitement and respect for my role as a consumer. I can recall if the face of the organization or institution took out the time to welcome me and encourage me to return. I also remember how I was treated in the event that I had questions. These day to day interactions speak louder as what an institution stands for than what they write on their website and brochure. When I am principal, I want people to remember their interactions with my school as a pleasurable and unique experience. If they happen to come across my mission and vision statements then I want them to be able to identify the behaviors that they experienced at my school. Consequently, I want those behaviors to create an experience represent proof of what we stand for.
This is a tricky question because the need, or lack thereof, of a mission and vision statement for an organization to be highly successful really depends on the personality of the organization staff; see the various opinions above. All of my classmates make valid points in their own unique and credible ways from past experiences and exposure to mission and vision statements. In my opinion, I think that a clear and compelling mission and vision statement are necessary focal points for a school; however, I do not think they necessarily equate to highly successful organizations.
I think the power of the mission and vision statements come in when there is a need for a reformation of a school culture. If a school is high performing and has become stagnant in terms of “growth,” I feel that revamped mission and vision statements would allow the school to challenge itself to work on areas in need of improvement that may not be in the traditional frameworks of school ideology, or something the administration has potentially set aside for the time being in order to reach the academic goals of the school. The reciprocal of this is if there is a school that is in need of a turn around and structurally is in shambles, well defined, clearly written mission and vision statements could be the building foundations to get the school started in the right direction, if implemented properly given the school’s culture. I think Patty said it well in her post when she said that, “an organization will only be successful if all members truly buy into the goals of that organization.” Both cases mentioned above would be examples where mission and vision statements may not equate to “highly successful” schools, but would point the organization in the right direction while giving ownership to the staff to foster that change.
Words are just letters on a page unless given power by those who buy into the system and believe in the end goal. Until this happens, the mission and vision statements are just that, letters on a page.
My initial reaction to this question was OF COURSE! How in the world could an organization possibly unite its constituents in meeting a common goal if that goal was not clearly stated through something like a mission and/or vision statement?
Then I realized... I have no idea what our school's mission statement is. Or our vision... Then again, our school is NOT highly successful. Even if I (and the rest of my staff) knew our mission statement and vision, even if it were "clear and compelling," I don't if that would lead to our school being highly successful.
In order for a mission to be successful, every member of the operation must buy into the stated desired outcome in order for the mission to achieve true success. If even a small group of people don't buy in, it can be detrimental to the success of the whole.
Think about a road trip... I don't know many people who would gather up a handful of friends and just climb in the car to go for a 3 day joy ride. You would know where you're going and why you're going; you may even have a good idea of how you're going to get there... in other words, you have a mission and a vision before you step foot in the car. Now, what if you didn't choose your friends wisely. What if while all of the passengers are snoozing, the person at the wheel decides s/he doesn't want to go to California anymore, and veers up toward the Great Lakes... You could have had the greatest mission statement and vision ever - but without the buy in of all participants, you may never make it where you want to go.
All of that being said, I do think mission and vision statements are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in order to unite a team in working toward a common goal. I would even venture as far as to say that an organization may never be highly successful without one, BUT they most certainly don't guarantee success.
I'm torn between the two sides of this. On the one hand, mission and vision statements can be useful in serving as frameworks for short and long term goals for a school; Bill Ferriter's point about using the mission statement as the indicator as to whether or not a certain action should be taken or path followed is very valid and should be true in all schools who place any real value in their mission.
At the same time, having sat in several meetings trying to decide on a mission statement, etc., when the people involved in that process are just nailing it in, the statement is just another statement with no real meaning or impetus attached to it. Moreover, I have to admit that when it takes 4 or 5 hour+ long meetings to work out the wording on a mission statement, I have to wonder if the group's collective time and effort would not have been better spent tutoring or in some other way DOING something to enrich the education of our students instead of just talking about the statement we want to represent those actions.
Likewise, if one purpose of the mission statement is to help publicize the goals of the school to the rest of the community, schools as a whole could do a much better job of using terms and phrases that are more approachable and meaningful to non-educators. When we say "Every student excels in rigorous and relevant core curriculum" (as the NC BOE goal does), what does that really mean to a parent?
I would have said no if you asked me this question a few years ago, but now I know mission and vision statements are essential. These statements are the lifeblood of an organization. They provide the business or in our case, school with direction. Providing ompelling mission and vision statements is great way to summarize the core values and beliefs of a business. Company goals should be a reflection of the companies mission or vision statement. People without a vision perish and I think that is true for businesses that have little or no vision they fail because they have not established a purpose.
Clear and compelling mission and vision statements exist for highly successful organizations. However, the presence of these statements does not guarantee the success of an organization. So just because my school has a clear and compelling mission and vision statement does not mean that it will inherently be successful. I agree with the sentiment that buy-in and action of stakeholders is crucial to the success of the organization. However, if a stool needs at least three legs to stand, then I believe the third leg in this argument is in the process. Yes, you need the mission and vision statements to have a clear direction and shared purpose. Yes, you need the buy-in and action from the stakeholders to ensure that the statements become a living reality. You also need the continual conversations about the idealistic statements and the current reality of practice. The conversations and the process don’t have to be about making statements sound nice, it is about making idealistic statements real. How do we blend these lofty goals into what is actually happening day to day? What does the statement mean to each person? What are the pitfalls and the strengths? Where do we agree and disagree? How does each person experience this in his or her classrooms/cubicle/life? These discussions and explorations promote the collegial relationships necessary in a successful organization. The continuous conversation about balancing our ideals, goals, and realities helps create an atmosphere of growth and learning for the entire community. If any one of these “legs” are missing then the success is difficult to reach, but with all three legs we can reach the next level of success. As Barth states, "empowerment, recognition, satisfaction, and success come from being an active participant within a masterful group."
The important words to focus in on in the question posed are clear and compelling. Too often, organizations such as schools have mission and vision statements that are vague and meaningless documents. Five years ago, I had the opportunity to help open a new school. Our first order of business was to create a mission and vision statement that embodied our beliefs on the purpose of education and our role as a school. Sadly and honestly, I could not tell you our mission and vision statement if I had to. The task was completed as a check-list item for our SIP and then we moved on. Yes, you can find it on the school website. Yes, we would review it at the beginning of each school year. The mission and vision statements at this school were never the driving force behind decisions made or in establishing our school culture. While we had a mission and vision in theory and on paper, it was never put into practice and at times it felt as though we were the hamster on a wheel going round and round.
Eight years ago at my first teaching job, the mission and vision statement were the driving force behind every decision made at our school. To this day I can still remember both statements. The mission was To Develop Leaders One Child at a Time. The vision statement was To Live, to Love, to Learn, To Leave a Legacy. Every day on the announcements the principal would say our school’s mission and vision statements and together we would repeat them. The mission and vision statements were clear, compelling, and crucial pieces of our school culture and community. Covey (2008) states in his book The Leader in Me, “The purpose of a mission statement is not a destination, but a reason to journey” (p. 169). The mission statement is the school’s purpose. Without a clear and active mission statement serving as a living and breathing document, what is the school’s purpose? What is the purpose of the principal? What is the purpose of the staff? What is the purpose of the students? The mission statement should not be words written down to fulfill a requirement, but the reason and purpose behind every decision and action made in the school.
If the mission statement is the journey, then the vision is the destination (Covey, 2008, p. 171). The vision is critical when outlining specific goals or outcomes the school wants to accomplish within a given time frame. A Japanese proverb states, “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare”. Without a clear vision, what action can be made in accomplishing the mission? When the stakeholders involved can clearly see the vision for what it is and what it is not, the more focused they become in planning and management. It is important for the vision to be a short list of realistic goals rather than an eloquently written ramble of words. When the vision is a short list of realistic goals it serves it purpose of urgency and refrains from becoming a list of daydreams that may or may not occur.
To conclude, yes, I believe it is necessary to have a clear and compelling mission and vision statement in order for a school to be highly successful. The important factor to remember is that both statements must be living and breathing documents that permeate beyond the written text and into the staff, students, and parents of a school community.
What I've gathered from reading the comments of others and reflecting on my own experiences is that there doesn't seem to be a direct relationship between the quality of mission and vision statements and the effectiveness of a school.
I think where they can make the most impact, however, is when they are used as a foundation for a school in dire need of a change, as Thomas alluded to. It is at that point, when morale is at its lowest and helplessness is at its highest, where folks are most likely to be open to a new direction--and a plan. The way things have been done can no longer exist.
Absent of a school hitting rock bottom, I just have a hard time believing that you'll ever get enough people to "buy in" to any mission or vision statement. To me, there is too much teacher and administrative turnover to believe otherwise. As others have stated, the leadership that is reflected in the building and the relationships between all stakeholders will ultimately carry more weight than anything posted on school letterhead.
I feel that ultimately the focus has to be on creating the culture of "Collegiality" that Ronald Barth describes. The reason is because with this kind of focus you're affecting teacher behaviors in the classroom: instructional practice and classroom management (mentioned in the article), for example. When we focus on teacher behaviors, as Dr. Graham said, we are actually having an impact on student achievement. Difficult and controversial decisions are going to befall every principal (and school), and mission and vision statements aren't going to make them any easier or have them accepted any quicker or with more popularly. As many have said, they're just words on paper (which most of us forget).
Absolutely, I believe that a mission statement, should obiviously, be able to provide a somewhat quantifiable result and that the vision is the means to an end. There should be continuous monitoring and or amending of, both entities to ensure that the objective remains current and relevant. For a mission statement to be effective, it needs to be poignant and succinct, in that it can be easily internalized by every stakeholder and that it may be easily recalled upon or referred to at any instance an issue or decision is presented. Through this internilization of an agreed upon and relevant mission statement, it becomes indoctrinated into the culture of the school. This will ensure that everything being done in the school is geared toward realizing the overall goal. Without this a productive synergistic group converging upon a set goal quickly becomes a hindered divergant entity that starts moving in any and every direction "personal" agendas take them. All be it, we know everything looks good on paper. To implement and be successful a good mission and vision needs a good navigator. The administrator(s) needs to be consistant in maintaining focus on what is expected. Which in turn lightens their load, in that reports will think about and ususally answer thier own questions or ideas before presenting them to you. They will come to realize that unless it directly pertains to the mission and vision then it most likely will not be considered. Again going back to what looks good on paper. You could have a school full of T.O.Y.'s(teachers of the Year) and yet have difficulty realizing a mission. A postive rapport amongst the stakeholders needs to be established, once this is in place then a positive, successful, collaborative, and genuine effort can be made to strive to achieve what the mission and vision is designed to do, and that is...provide the children of today everything they derserve from thier educators.
A good mission statement is a lot like a good objective, not to focus too much on "thinking like a teacher." On one hand, you've got to have a goal to shape the class—or the school; on the other hand, it's easy to get really focused on articulating lofty goals without considering how to realistically achieve them. In a few of the professional development sessions I have participated in, it seemed that the way we worded our objectives was more important than actually teaching the lesson. Sometimes, we were given a list of verbs like “synthesize,” or “evaluate,” or “collaborate” to help us get the language right as we crafted lofty objectives in alignment with our standard course of study. Here's the problem: If I write the most effective, measurable objective imaginable, but I never reference it during the class, and I don't take the time to make sure my students know what it means, then did it really serve any purpose other than to have something on the board for the administrator who might pop in?
I think that the points that Rozycki made probably resonate with a lot of educators. That's because most of us have had the experience of being “indoctrinated”--as he puts it—with pie in the sky mission statements that turn out to have little connection to the day to day management and decision making of the school. But Bill Ferriter makes a good point: if teachers see that mission statements are important, and that they drive day to day decision making at the school, teachers will be willing to buy into them, to internalize the values of the learning community.
The thing about mission statements is that they require commitment—more than just the commitment to sit down together in a work shop for a few hours to belabor semantics and syntax. A mission statement that is ambitious but measurable, and most importantly, one that is specific, is something that most educators can get behind.
Clear and compelling mission and vision statements can help an organization be successful. However, I don’t believe that they are absolutely necessary. I believe that for them to be successful those involved must take ownership of them. Ownership can be acquired by allowing those involved to create the statements or the staff will have to ascribe to statements already written.
I think it is important for the organization to examine their mission and vision statements and set a clear plan as to how the statements/goals will be accomplished. Many times organizations have these statements but no one is clear as to how they will achieve the overarching goals. With or without a mission or vision statement, an organization without a clear cut plan may have difficulties with success.
I believe that a clear and compelling mission and vision statement is a key component in the success of an organization like a school.
Without vision, schools cannot fulfill the purpose for which they exist. In other words, the purpose of a school(known as its mission), is in some capacity to educate all children. However, it is vision that gives us a glimpse into how schools effectively carry out their mission of educating all children.
Myles Munroe, one of my favorite inspirational authors, described vision as the following: it is future-focused, it empowers people to action, it is detailed, customized, distinctive, and reasonable, and it is the product of purpose(mission).
A school's vision statement reveals what its framework is for the steps it will take to accomplish its goal and its mission. It kind of serves as a compass in that people can chart the trajectory of the school's path.
Unfortunately, if a school's members are unclear about what the mission and vision is, then they are likely unclear about what they are working to accomplish. They will be working hard, sweating hard, but not really making any real progress because they have no idea what the direction of the school is.
As a result, mission and vision statements are essential in schools because they allow school members to be connected to something bigger than themselves. It also makes what they do on a daily basis count!
I believe so. However, each person in the building needs to agree to it, and keep it in mind when making decisions that affect student achievement and the school environment. If you have a staff that is invested in the mission and vision, then I think things will fall into place. In addition, there must be someone in charge to help guide school decisions based on the mission and values. With this being said, I also think a strong leader can bypass the whole idea of a mission and vision. A mission and vision is a way to get everyone on board and work towards the same goal. A leader also has this same task. Creating a mission and vision can assist the leader; however, if he/she creates a collaborative and effective environment that promotes student achievement and a safe and productive learning environment, does a school really need a motto?
At the same time, what happens if that leader leaves like in one of the articles we read? In that case, I believe a mission and vision is important. Nonetheless, I think if you are going to have a mission and vision, each staff member should contribute, support it, and let it guide their decisions and/or instruction.
I feel that vision statements should provide a focus for an organization. They should guide and validate all decisions that are made. Having said that, most vision statements are too vague to be practical... or worse, most members of the organization are either not familiar with the vision statement or do not subscribe to it. Therefore, for a vision statement to become an integral part of a school, it needs to be devised so that all staff members easily understand what the mission is and actually adopt it despite potentially varying agenda
Clear and compelling mission and vision statements are essential components of a highly successful school or organization. It is a blueprint for who we are, and where we are going. Also, it helps us to organize our work, make decisions, and plan for the future. To be effective, it should be an action statement that is modeled and depicted in all aspects of the organization. The more the constituents of an organization ascribe to the mission and vision statements the more their actions will be aligned. In as much as a clear and compelling mission and vision statement can be a source of inspiration, a vague and unconvincing one can be a source of apathy.
Clear and compelling mission and vision statements can be highly motivating and serve as a useful guide if they are integrated in most aspects of a school, business, or nonprofit organization. When they are applied in practice, they can set a standard for everyone who is a part of the organization, and they can create a sense of ownership and belonging to members of the relevant community. Like the 6th grade teacher/blogger from our readings, members who are part of the creative process take pride in the vision and mission statements, and such statements that are truly used as guiding principles (i.e. they are enforced in practice)create a foundation for good work. Are mission and vision statements necessary to an organization to be successful? Probably not, but I would think that this depends on the type of organization. If a business has a goal of making money, I am sure they could make money by any means without a mission statement. In any organization you have people who are there just to do a job. They are not invested emotionally in the cause, if there is one, and they are simply fulfilling their duties. I think vision and mission statements are based on morals and values. If companies wanted to do more than make a profit, then indeed they would likely find use in creating vision and mission statements.
Vision and mission statements can be key to sustainable organizations, especially in schools and nonprofit organizations that may not have big bucks. Members and professionals of these organizations may choose to stay with or join an organization whose mission they can get behind. Of course, if these values are not upheld in practice, it will likely not motivate anyone to stay.
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