The Hillside Garden Society
existed for the purpose of enhance the beauty of the town park and nurture an
appreciation of flower gardening. The society was highly respected for the role
they played in presenting the Hillside Township as a most desirable place to
live. With great pride, the society
announced that over a three year period, it would be introducing four unique
and cutting edge flower gardens. Mollie
O’Connell, a newcomer, along with small group of misguided gardeners thought it
would be great fun to surprise everyone by planting stalks of corn and
watermelon plants whose vines entangled the garden and burst forth among the
blooming flowers at the most inopportune moment. This led to a scathing article
in the Hillside Gazette decrying this abomination and calling into question
whether the city should retract its arrangement with the Garden Society.
Letters to the editor called it confusing, disappointing, and embarrassing. The
society was placed on probation while Mollie O’Connell and company had their
memberships revoked.
The devastating downfall of the Hillside Garden Society illustrates
what can occur when an organization loses its way. Vegetables and fruit have no
place in a garden whose purpose is to celebrate flora.
Impactful mission and vision statements can be the determining
factor between excellence and mediocrity.
This applies to both the business and non-profit worlds. Each statement is essential and serves an
important purpose.
WHY DOES IT EVEN
MATTER? My Uncle William once told me “To thine own self be true.” If you
don’t know who you are (aka Mission), you are less likely to figure out where
you are going and the best way to get there (aka Vision.) Members of Hillside Garden Society knew who
they were; unfortunately, some of them lost sight of the fact that the vision
always has to support the mission.
So…WHAT ACTUALLY DEFINES
A MISSION AND A VISION?
MISSION VISION
Sums up the organization’s reason for being by answering:
·
What do we do?
·
Why are we doing this?
·
Who are we doing this for?
·
How do we go about doing it?
|
Addresses the
direction and aspirations by focusing on:
·
What do we want to
become?
·
What will we be doing
over the next few years to serve our mission to the fullest?
·
What key outcomes are
we seeking to achieve.
|
Embedded with passion and purpose
|
Inspirational and strives to rally the troops
|
Length can vary between several sentences and a paragraph. If it is a longer statement, use devices
such as acronyms to help people remember the core message.
|
Usually limited to a few key statements
|
Serves as the “elevator speech” when explaining who you are and what
makes you unique
|
Vision outcomes should be measurable.
|
The mission is like the 100,000 car maintenance. Missions should reviewed, reaffirmed, and
revised (if needed) every 8-10 years
|
The vision statement is the regularly schedule oil change. Visions are designed to cover a shorter
timeframe (3-4 years)
|
Old school thinking (in Millennial Speak- fifteen years ago)
presumed that the mission statement was a staid and formal definition of the
organization’s purpose while the vision was the inspiring call to action. The mission was created with the head and the
vision was created with the heart.
 |
| President Kennedy's plan to land a man on the moon within the decade is an example of what vision is all about. |
But that’s not a Buick anymore! In reality, both mission and
vision statements should be crafted to inspire and motivate the
organization. The mission is why people
join your enterprise; the vision is why people stay.
While vision statements change more frequently, in order to
stay relevant and vibrant, MISSION
STATEMENTS ALSO HAVE TO EVOLVE. When
Girl Scouts of America formed over a century ago, its mission spoke of training
girls “to take their rightful places in
life first as good women, then as good citizens, mothers, and wives.” Now the mission addresses building courage and confidence while
building a better world.
My Uncle Socrates was fond of saying, “Know Thyself.” To
know thyself, an organization has to be in alignment with its purpose. It will constantly monitor its decisions,
strategies, and choice of personnel in order to reflect the mission….which is
why corn had no business mixing with lilies in Hillside Park.
This all leads to one more question…WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH EXCELLENCE? I’ve spoken to a number
of young entrepreneurs who share that the number one challenge they have is
finding employees that are as passionate about the business as they are. They need people who aren’t just there to
collect a paycheck. The solution lies in
creating a vibrant staff culture in which the mission and vision are firmly
engrained into the team’s DNA.
A watermelon in a flower garden is just one example of what
happens when the players are not all on board.
If you go into a restaurant where the food is excellent but the service
is bad and the employees are bickering, it is likely that you won’t go back. In
contrast, Southwest Airlines is an example of what happens when employees
completely buy into the airline and what it is trying to achieve. Despite the hassles associated with boarding
a Southwest plane, customers know they are getting a good price and love how
much fun the service attendants have doing their jobs. Missions and visions serve
as the engine; people are the fuel that makes them run. THAT IS WHY IT MATTERS.
It behooves every organization to devote time to a
structured process designed to ensure that its mission and vision statements
resonate in people’s hearts AND minds.
Organizations of excellence will live by those words and make certain
that whatever happens is in keeping with its mission.
Epilogue: The Hillside
Garden Society recommitted themselves to the mission and clearly defined how
their vision would be achieved. They
took special care to orient members as to what they were setting out to
accomplish and why. Two years later, their gardens had become the envy of the
northwest corner of their state. I should know. I visited recently. It was
lovely and there was not a cornstalk in sight.
