Ever had that sinking feeling that the vision statement that you worked so hard on just doesn’t seem to make sense? Ever struggled with telling the difference between vision and mission? Every wrestled with explaining what you do without seeming too… corporate? Yeah, me too.
When I was prepping this article, I took a look at Wikipedia’s entry on Strategic Planning. They break down the planning process to three parts:
- Vision: Defines the desired or intended future state of an organization or enterprise in terms of its fundamental objective and/or strategic direction. Vision is a long term view, sometimes describing a view of how the organization would like the world in which it operates to be. For example a charity working with the poor might have a vision statement which read “A world without poverty”
- Mission: Defines the fundamental purpose of an organization or an enterprise, basically describing why it exists and what it does to achieve its Vision. A corporate Mission can last for many years, or for the life of the organization. It is not an objective with a timeline, but rather the overall goal that is accomplished over the years as objectives are achieved that are aligned with the corporate mission.
- Values: Beliefs that are shared among the stakeholders of an organization. Values drive an organization’s culture and priorities.
When I read this list I get a bit woozy in the head. I have a suspicion that you probably have the same sort of feeling. These definitions seem somewhat vague – particularly the definition of Vision. I have a hard time coming to terms with the “desired or intended future state of an organization.” It reeks of corporate-speak.
I would like to respectfully disagree with the idea that this is a good way to go about things. I think you can create vision, mission, and value statements without actually knowing what it is that you are doing. I also think that you can write down all these statements, and still be out of alignment.
Being out of alignment directly affects your ability to awaken followers. If you are internally inconsistent your stories don’t make sense. You start telling stories that conflict with eachother precicely because you are at conflict with yourself. This goes for individuals as well as organizations.
I think this is what most people struggle with. They get out of alignment of the very basic stuff of life. What do you believe? What is your purpose? What behaviors does that call for? What is your strategy to fulfill your purpose? Your plan? Your tactics? If you go through that, it really reveals why you are frustrated. If any of those are out of alignment, you won’t be a happy camper. You’ll feel uneasy at your roots.
So how do you get yourself aligned? This is one of the few times I’m going to suggest making a longer list. Ditch Vision, Mission, and Values. This works better:
Beliefs – what is it that you beleive in your bones? Is it that all people should have access to clean water? (Charity:Water) That we have a command to make disciples of Jesus? (the Church) All children should have a chance to be children? (Love146)
Purpose – what are you convinced you are made to do? It could be “End Poverty” or “Make Disciples” or “End the Child Sex Slave Trade.”
Behavior – what actions line up with your purpose? This could be “Do everything in my power to bring clean water to Africa” or “Demonstrate through speech and action what it means to follow Jesus” or “Aggresively pursue the freedom of children who are sexually abused.”
More importantly, do your behaviors reflect your beliefs? Is the manner in which you are doing things in alignment with what you say that you believe? Are you bringing bottled water to Africa and selling it? Are you going to give it away? Are you going to drill wells? Are you going to use government grants to make this happen? How does that line up with how Scripture talks about resources and private property? How do other people get included into the process of diggin wells? Does that lend itself to sustainability? Does this help in making disciples? It all connects.
Strategy – more specifically, what are you and your ministry about? “Drill wells in African villages that have no clean water supply” or “Create communities of people who are following Jesus togther (plant churches)” or “Reduce the risk of child abductions in high traffic areas and restore survivors.”
Plan – what are you going to do accomplish your strategy? “Find a place to drill a well, raise money, drill the well” or “Spend time with people, demonstrate what following Jesus means, invite them to join you” or “Teach children the dangers of sex slavery and exploitation, map and intersect child trafficing cooridors, bring slave traders to justice.”
Tactics – how exactly are you going to execute your plan? “Visit African villages, create a video to show people what you are attempting to do, hire a drilling company, build plumbing system, report back” or “Have an open dinner every Wednesday night and invite your friends who don’t know Jesus” or “Create an animation toolkit dealing with sexual abuse, dub it into multiple languages, distribute it to vulnerable communities.”
Each part builds on the next. You can’t talk about tactics until you have a plan. You can’t have a plan until you figure out your strategy. And so on up the line.
Even when all of this is fully developed it’s easy to get out of alignment. Once a month you need to check your behavior, strategy, plan and tactics against your belief and purpose. Are you still on track, being true to your purpose, is everything still in alignment? When it is, you can be confident that the stories that you are telling make sense and support each other.
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