Mission (Purpose)



Vision, Goals & Strategies

Winter 2004

“You must give birth to your images

They are the future waiting to be born.

Fear not the strangeness you feel.

The future must enter you

Long before it happens.

Just wait for the birth,

For the hour of new clarity.”

—Rainer Maria Rilke

Preparing for Vision, Goals & Strategies 3

Mission (Purpose) 4

What Mission Is 4

What Mission Is NOT 4

What Mission Does 5

Characteristics of Effective Missions 5

Examples 6

Core Values 7

What Core Values Are 7

Testing for Core Values 7

Examples of Organizational Core Values 8

Examples of Value Statements for the Profession of OD 8

Examples of Personal Core Values 10

Vision 11

What Vision Is 11

What Vision Is Not 11

What Vision Does 11

Characteristics of Effective Vision 12

Examples of Organizational and Personal Vision Statements 12

Merck 12

Sony 12

Martin Luther King, Jr. 13

Declaration of Independence 13

Individual (Unknown; see Jones, pp.75-76) 13

Strategic Goals & Priorities 14

What Goals Are 14

What Goals Do 14

Characteristics of Effective Goals 14

Developing Your Professional Mission, Core Values, Vision and Goals 16

Discovering Your Professional Mission 16

Discovering Your Professional Core Values 17

Creating Your Professional Vision 17

Developing Professional Learning Goals 18

Role of Mission/Vision Coach 18

Why Is Vision So Important? 19

Vision and Personal Mastery 19

Vision and Change Management 19

Vision & Organizational Effectiveness 20

Vision and Leadership 21

Charismatic Leadership 21

Motivational Effect of Charismatic Leadership/Vision on Followers 21

Preparing for Vision, Goals & Strategies

This course is divided into three parts. The first afternoon will be spent on beginning the development of Personal Mastery (Senge). This will involve work in beginning to clarify your own sense of vision, mission, core values, and goals. Much of the second day will focus on processes of developing vision, mission, core values and goals in organizations and on strategic thinking. By the afternoon of Day 2, we will turn to your MTP change projects—ways of thinking how you can “connect the dots” by linking your change project to strategic directions in the department or organization with which you are working.

In the remaining time you have this morning, please prepare by doing the following things:

§ Read the attached handouts we will be using during the class

§ As you read the handout and the required readings, attend to your emotional responses. What ideas or concepts excite or attract you? How do these support your current perspective or worldview? What ideas or concepts do you find difficult to understand or accept? How do these challenge your current perspective or worldview?

§ Begin thinking about your FOO with respect to personal mastery. In particular, how do your FOO issues/patterns support you in developing personal mastery? How might they get in your way – or create emotional tension rather than creative tension? What do you need to do to support your on-going development of personal mastery? For more on personal mastery, see the attached handout and reference the required reading by Peter Senge (chapter on Personal Mastery).

§ Begin thinking about some of the questions in the last four pages of the handout entitled “Developing Your Professional Mission, Core Values, Vision and Goals.” While the handout highlights professional vision, broaden your thinking to include your whole life. What is your purpose on the planet? What is the unique contribution you make to the world, the profession, your communities? Think about you learning plan – how your learning goals and action plan will help you to advance your mission/vision.

§ If you have time, review some of the readings. In particular, we will be referencing the chapters on Personal Mastery and Shared Vision in Senge, Chapter 11 in Collins and Porras, and much of part 2 in Nanus.

We are looking forward to seeing you later this afternoon, and hope this helps you to create a good mindset for approaching the curriculum.

Mission (Purpose)[1]

What Mission Is

At an individual level, mission is about obtaining a sense of your unique purpose—your fundamental reason for being. Discovering your mission is about finding your passion—what it is that most excites or angers you. It is about finding your action—how you will act upon your passion. And finally, it is about finding discovering whom it is you are here to help. A mission captures your soul and your highest aspirations. Developing a sense of mission requires a high level of self-knowledge. It is like the North Star—it guides you as you navigate your life, but is not a destination you ultimately reach. A mission should encompass all of the many dimensions of your life. Professional mission is a subset of life purpose—not a substitute. It is about what you bring to your profession—what you hope to contribute through your practice—the difference you hope to make. At an organizational level, is part of the core ideology of the organization, part of the “...self identity that remains consistent through time and transcends product/market life cycles, technological breakthroughs, management fads, and individual leaders (Collins & Porras, 1997, p. 221). It reflects the organization’s fundamental reason for existence, the difference it makes in the world, what it is that would be lost if the organization ceased to exist.

What Mission Is NOT

First, mission does not confuse means and ends. Organizationally, mission is not about profitability. Profit is like oxygen or water—without them, we would die—but they are not the point of living. Likewise, mission is not a description of your current job, role, projects or to do lists; organizationally, it is not about specific goals, strategy, product lines and market segments. Neither is it a description of key competencies or skill sets. To get at the true purpose of an organization, Collins & Porras (1997) suggest the “five whys” inquiry. If the organization’s purpose is considered to make a specific product or pursue a given strategy, ask why that is important; when the answer comes back, again ask “why is that important?” Repeating this inquiry at least five times will deepen the organization’s sense of the difference it makes in the world. The same method can be used to deepen your sense of personal purpose—if the initial answer is “getting a promotion,” ask why that is important to you, and repeat the inquiry five times. Third, mission is not a quick fix or an exercise in “menu” selection from other mission statements you like. The process of developing a personal, professional or organizational mission requires fundamental inquiry into who and what we really are, what we stand for, our fundamental reason for being. This requires introspection; organizationally, it requires individuals to get in touch with their deepest sense of what they see as vital about the organization in the world and to engage in processes of dialogue. Further, the process of developing mission involves dialogue for the purpose of creating a shared mental model (Senge, 1990); there is no such thing as “it is just semantics” because you are intervening in the client’s social construction of reality. Finally, mission is not a short-term proposition; it is an enduring part of the fundamental “personality” or “character” of the organization.

What Mission Does

Mission functions in several different ways to influence healthy systems:

§ Creates internal clarity/alignment/authenticity. Aligns vocation & avocation.

§ Life-giving (Victor Frankl)

§ Harness which drives purposeful action.

§ Sword to cut away that which is peripheral—provides decision making clarity

§ Organizationally, preserves the core.

Characteristics of Effective Missions

A mission statement is effective if:

§ It is expansive enough to apply to multiple dimensions of life.

§ Does not confuse means and ends.

§ It is authentic—not based on shoulds or comparisons.

§ It is inspiring and devoid of trite language (e.g., “we are here to serve customers”—serve them how? Why is this important?)

§ No more than one sentence long.

§ Can be easily understood by a child.

§ Can be recited from memory in about a minute—explained in 3-5

Examples

For each of the mission statements below, place a checkmark by those you think are the best and most effective examples of core mission or purpose.

| |“To create, nurture, and maintain an environment of growth, challenge and unlimited potential for all those around me.” |

| |“To make people happy.” |

| |“To strengthen the social fabric by continually democratizing home ownership.” |

| |“To inhale every sunrise and to look under every rock for the joy life has to offer.” |

| |“To maximize shareholder wealth.” |

| |“To discover and magnify ideas, action, exemplars and possibilities for creating a caring, just and sustainable global |

| |community.” |

| |“To preserve and improve human life.” |

| |“To be a role model and a tool for social change.” |

| |“To achieve focused growth and a position of market leadership in our industry.” |

| |“Living, leading and learning with integrity.” |

| |“To discover the sheer joy that comes from the advancement, application and innovation of technology that benefits the general |

| |public.” |

1. Unknown; 2. Disney; 3. Fannie 8ae; 4. Unknown person who works at a cancer care center; 5. Unknown; 6. Pam Johnson’s—written 11/97; 7. Merck Pharmaceuticals; 9. Lost Arrow Corporation; 9. Unknown; 10. LIOS; 11. Sony

Core Values[2]

What Core Values Are

Organizationally, core values are “...the organization’s essential and enduring tenets—a small set of general guiding principles; not to be confused with specific cultural or operating practices; not to be compromised for financial gain or short-term expediency” (Collins & Porras, 1997). Core values are a small set of values fundamental to the way we believe we must behave as we go about fulfilling our life’s purpose. There are many worthwhile values. Values are core if you would act upon them even if it proved disadvantageous to you in some way if you did so. They are enduring and non-negotiable; they are largely independent of the current environment, competitive requirements, or fads of any stripe. It is important to push with relentless honesty for what is truly core. If you have more that 5-6, chances are good you are not getting down to essentials. You may be confusing core values (which do not change) with operating practices, cultural norms, or strategies (which can and should change).

Testing for Core Values

With respect to each core value you believe you have, ask the following questions about each to clarify what it means to you and the extent to which it is truly “core.”

§ What do these mean? What, specifically, are you expecting from yourself—even in bad times?

§ How would your life be different if these values were prominent and practiced?

§ What core values do you bring to your work or your professional practice? Are these so fundamental that you would keep them regardless of whether or not they were rewarded?

§ If the circumstances changed and you were penalized for holding this core value, would you still keep it?

§ What would you say if asked to describe to your children and/or other loved ones the core values you stand for in your work, in your life—values you hope your children would hold as adults?

§ Can you envision these core values being as valid for you 10, 20, 30, or 40 years from now as they are today?

§ For creation of organizational core values: Would you hold these core values even if they became a competitive disadvantage at some point in the future?

§ For creation of organizational core values: If you were going to start a new organization tomorrow in a different line of work, what core values would you build into your new organization regardless of the industry?

Examples of Organizational Core Values

3M: Innovation: “Thou shalt not kill a new product idea.”

Absolute integrity

Respect for individual initiative and personal growth.

Tolerance for honest mistakes

Product quality and reliability

Merck: Honesty and integrity

Corporate social responsibility

Science-based innovation, not imitation

Unequivocal excellence in all aspects of the company

Profit, but profit from work that benefits humanity

Disney: No cynicism allowed

Fanatical attention to consistency and detail

Continuous progress via creativity, dreams and imagination

Fanatical control and preservation of Disney’s “magic” image

Examples of Value Statements for the Profession of OD[3]

In 1969, Bob Tannenbaum, a professor at UCLA, and Shel Davis, director of OD at TRW, articulated their views about the values of OD. In doing so, they positioned the values in relation to the values that had been held previously.

§ Away from a view of people as essentially bad toward a view of people as basically good.

§ Away from avoidance of negative evaluation of individuals toward confirming them as human beings.

§ Away from a view of individuals as fixed toward seeing them as being in process.

§ Away from resisting and fearing individual differences toward accepting and utilizing them.

§ Away from utilizing an individual primarily with reference to his or her job description toward viewing an individual as a whole person.

§ Away from walling off the expression of feelings toward making possible both appropriate expression and effective use.

§ Away from maskmanship and game playing toward authentic behavior.

§ Away from use of status for maintaining power and personal prestige toward use of status for organizationally relevant purposes.

§ Away from distrusting people toward trusting them.

§ Away from avoiding facing others with relevant data toward making appropriate confrontation.

§ Away from a view of process work as being unproductive effort toward seeing it as essential to effective task accomplishment.

§ Away from a primary emphasis on competition toward a much greater emphasis on collaboration.

Similarly, and also in 1969, Warren Bennis developed a set of “normative goals” for OD which reflected a significant value stance:

§ Improvement in interpersonal competence

§ A shift in values so that human factors and feelings come to be considered legitimate

§ Development of increased understanding between and within working groups in order to reduce tensions.

§ Development of more effective “team management,” that is, the capacity for functional groups to work more competently.

§ Development of better methods of conflict resolution. Rather than the usual bureaucratic methods that rely mainly on suppression, compromise, and unprincipled power, more rational and open methods of conflict resolution are sought.

§ Development of organic rather than mechanical systems. This is a strong reaction against the idea of organizations as mechanisms which managers “work on,” like pushing buttons.

In 1992, a values survey[4] was given to 1000 OD practitioners who were asked to answer questions about the values they believed are associated with OD work today and values they think should be associated with OD today. The top five responses in both categories are shown below:

|Values Currently Associated with OD Work |Values that Should Be Associated with OD |

|Increasing effectiveness and efficiency |Empowering employees to act |

|Creating openness in communication |Creating openness in communication |

|Empowering employees to act |Facilitating ownership of process and outcome |

|Enhancing productivity |Promoting a culture of collaboration |

|Promoting organizational participation |Promoting inquiry and continuous learning. |

Examples of Personal Core Values

I could not find examples of core values by other people, so I offer a few of my own. Please know that I had to reflect on these as part of putting together this material for you...and are offered to you in a spirit of trust. Trust is required first of all because they are MY values, and I do not believe they necessarily need to be yours; second because they are a work in progress and may or may not reflect the best example of a core value as defined here (I’m also not sure I have them all); and finally, because I know that while my intent is good, I sometimes fall short in acting on these values. For better or worse, here are some of my own values.

§ Personal and systemic integrity, with focus on what it means to be integral, to integrate, and to act with integrity at all levels of system.

§ Authenticity

§ Enacting the stance of curiosity and learning in all my relationships; living the dance between being a learner and leading learning; exemplifying the stance of life-long learning.

§ Social justice

§ Ecological integrity and sustainable systems development

Vision[5]

What Vision Is

Vision is a compelling and vivid description of the ideal or desired future state. It consists of two components: a vision level Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal (BHAG) and vivid description of what it will be like when the goal is achieved (Collins & Porras, 1994, 1997). An organizational BHAG should be 10 - 30 years into the future; an individual BHAG should be 3-10 years into the future. It should not be a certainty that the BHAG will be achieved—maybe only a 50% chance of success—but you have to believe that it can be done anyway with incredible effort and some luck. Vivid description is “a vibrant, engaging, and specific description of what it will be like to achieve the BHAG. Think of it as translating the vision from words into pictures, of creating an image that people can carry around in their heads...[it] is essential for making...the BHAG tangible in people’s minds” (p. 233). This requires developing the eye of the artist.

What Vision Is Not

First, vision is not stated as a negative—what we don’t want, what we fear, what we hope to avoid. It is always positioned affirmatively in terms of the future we intend to bring into our present. Secondly, it is not something that can come from analysis; it must come from individual or collective dreaming—it is fundamentally a creative process. For example: “we’re sitting here in 20 years—what would we love to see? What would this company look like? What would it feel like to its employees? What would it have achieved? If someone wrote an article for a major business magazine about this company in twenty years, what would it say? (p. 235)” Finally, vision is not a solution to a problem; it is an articulation of hope projected into the future.

What Vision Does

Vision plays a very important role in leading organizations generally, and in engaging transformative processes. The function of vision is to:

§ Create the spark, the excitement, that lifts the individual or organization out of the mundane.

§ Compel courage

§ Compel innovation—new ways of thinking and acting

§ Critique the present—asks why, why not

§ Foster risk taking and experimentation

§ Creates “divine discontent” or creative tension with current reality

§ Stimulate progress (even as mission and core values preserve the core)

Characteristics of Effective Vision

There is no such thing as a “right” vision, but an effective vision statement will demonstrate these characteristics:

§ Exciting/Compelling: “Does it get our juices flowing? Do we find it stimulating? Does it stimulate forward momentum? Does it get people going? (Collins & Porras, p. 235)

§ BIG: Evokes the “gulp” factor (Collins & Porras, p. 235)

§ Imaginable: conveys a picture of what the future will look like (Kotter, p. 72)

§ Desirable: appeals to long term interests of employees, stockholders, customers and other stakeholders (Kotter, p. 72)

§ Feasible: it is difficult, but leaders make difficult and ambitious goals look doable. (Kotter, p. 72)

§ Focused: clear enough to provide guidance in decision making (Kotter, p. 72)

§ Flexible: general enough to allow for individual initiative and alternative responses (Kotter, p. 72)

§ Communicable: can be successfully communicated in five minutes (Kotter, p. 72)

§ Present tense: imagined and written as though it is already true (Jones, p. 74)

§ Vivid description: many details about what the future will be like (Jones, p. 74; Collins & Porras, p. 233)

Examples of Organizational and Personal Vision Statements

Merck

We intend to transform this company from a chemical manufacturer into one of the preeminent drug-making companies in the world, with a research capability that rivals any major university. (BHAG)

With the tools we have supplied, science will be advanced, knowledge increased, and human life win ever a greater freedom from suffering and disease...We pledge our every aid that this enterprise shall merit the faith we have in it. Let your light so shine—that those who seek the Truth, that those who toil that this world may be a better place to live in, that those who hold aloft that torch of Science and Knowledge through these social and economic dark ages, shall take new courage and feel their hands supported.

Sony

We intend to become the company most known for changing the worldwide image of Japanese products as being of poor quality. (BHAG)

We will create products that become pervasive around the world...We will be the first Japanese company to go into the American market and distribute directly...We will succeed with innovations like the transistor radio that American companies have failed at...Fifty years from now, our brand-name will be as well known as any on Earth...and will signify innovation and quality that rivals the most innovative companies anywhere...”made in Japan” will mean something fine, not shoddy.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

See italicized portions of his “I Have a Dream Speech” in 1963.

Declaration of Independence

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The vision of the framers is also found in the constitution, particularly in the Bill of Rights. For example, this will not be a nation where we jail, torture, or kill people because they hold the wrong religious views; this will be a nation of religious tolerance. These were certainly not a statement of current reality—especially considering the disenfranchisement of women and the existence of slavery as an institution.

Individual (Unknown; see Jones, pp.75-76)

My mission is to enliven, encourage and reinspire the love of music for children in public schools.

I am singing three nights a week and spending the rest of my time working in the public schools. Once a month I organize and attend school assemblies which feature my work and that of other musicians. As a result of the work that I have done, children in North County have attended three free concerts this year, have increased enrollment in band participation by 30 percent, and have personally met and talked with singers and musicians who are enthusiastic about their work. There is a resurgence of the sales of folk music in local music stores, and two corporate sponsors now provide scholarships for music classes for the underprivileged. I have received sponsorship for my work through private funding, and am being approached about taking the model of what I do statewide.

Strategic Goals & Priorities

What Goals Are

A goal is simply “what an individual is trying to accomplish; it is the object or aim of an action.”[6] In the context of creating a vision statement, goals can be seen as specific interim indicators of achievement. After a vision statement is created, and the current state is examined, there should be at least 3-5 strategic goals or priorities that would begin moving the system toward the vision if they were achieved. Key measures or indicators for each strategic goal should be developed so that it is possible to track progress.

What Goals Do[7]

Generally speaking, goals function in four ways:

§ They direct attention

§ They regulate effort (e.g. “the thesis is due in one month”)

§ They increase persistence

§ They foster strategies and action plans

Characteristics of Effective Goals[8]

Research (quite a lot of it) indicates that goals will significantly enhance performance under the following conditions. These are true whether you are setting goals for yourself or managers are engaging in goal setting processes for employees.

§ They are difficult or challenging. But they are not perceived to be impossible.

§ They are specific and quantifiable. But specific goals will not lead to performance when:

◊ There is no buy-in, commitment or support for the goal (especially if the goal is complex).

◊ There is failure to develop an effective goal attainment action plan.

§ There are feedback loops or mechanisms built in—you can see how well you are doing.

§ Participative goals, assigned goals and self-set goals are equally effective depending on:

◊ Preference for participation in goal-setting

◊ Extent to which the individual participating has relevant task information, high levels of experience and training, and greater levels of task involvement.

◊ Extent to which employees are resistant to the goal—participative approaches tend to reduce resistance and enhance goal acceptance.

§ There is goal commitment. Goal commitment is enhanced when there is:

◊ Understanding of the goal and its importance

◊ Participation in establishing own goals and action plans for completion.

◊ Complete and do-able action plans.

◊ Necessary resources are available to achieve goals.

◊ Goals are supported—but not used to coerce or threaten.

Developing Your Professional Mission,

Core Values, Vision and Goals[9]

In this exercise, you will be given the opportunity to begin the level of reflection and introspection you will need to develop your own professional mission, core values, vision and goals. It is unlikely that you will complete this in the context of our session today. What you should expect to do is to engage in enough deep reflection and introspection that you can return with the skeleton or initial sketch of what you think elements of your mission, core values, vision, and professional development goals or the year might include.

Below you will find some processes intended to help catalyze your own thinking process. They can and should be used by you in whatever way is helpful. You are under no obligation to answer all of the questions or follow the suggestions excepting as you find them helpful in your process of reflection. Pick and choose among the items listed—go with those you experience as most resonant with who you are. In other words, use them to facilitate your reflection—not to control it.

Discovering Your Professional Mission

Here you are trying to connect with your deepest sense of purpose within your professional practice. What is the difference you hope to make in your work? What do you hope to contribute to your profession? To your clients? To your colleagues? What is your passion, your action, those whom you most hope to serve? Some ideas about ways you might get in touch with this are:

§ Imagine that it is 10 years from now and you have received some sort of major award or honor recognizing your professional achievements. There will be an article about the award and what you have accomplished professionally. What would the article say? What would the award be? Who would be awarding it—a professional association such as ASTD, ODN, or SHRM? Or the organization within which you work? Some other institution or organization? And in what ways has your work made a difference? For whom? What has been impacted through your professional practice? What has your contribution been?

§ Consider what it is that most excites you professionally. If you could teach just three things to others about what it is that excites you most professionally, what would it be?

§ Consider what it is that angers you most professionally. If you could teach just three things to others about what it is that angers you, what would it be?

§ How would you use what excites you professionally to combat what angers you?

§ Consider whom you are here to help professionally? Managers? Top executives? People without power in organizations? You might also consider what groups or causes you most want to serve professionally. For example, you might want to use your skills to help business move toward more ecologically sustainable business practices—so the cause of environmentalism would be one you wish to serve. Or you wish to help organizations be effective in developing and sustaining vibrant, multi-cultural communities that enhance organizational effectiveness—so diversity and justice would be the causes served. You may also want to consider settings—do you want to direct your professional practice to helping professional service firms? Manufacturing settings? Non-profit organizations? Educational institutions? Or does it matter?

Discovering Your Professional Core Values

What are 4-6 deeply held core values that guide your professional practice? (see next page)

§ You may want to look again at examples of value statements for the profession of OD. Do any of these resonate for you?

§ As you think about yourself at this point as a practitioner, how you bring yourself to clients, what you define as health or dysfunction in systems, how you approach the task of helping systems change, what core values come to mind?

§ Test your 5-6 values to see if they are really core.

Would you be willing to choose to work in those settings or organizations, or with clients, whose values are congruent with (or at least not opposite of) your core values?

Would you turn down work in settings, with organizations, or with clients whose values are not congruent with (or antithetical to) your core values?

Creating Your Professional Vision

Here, you want to create a vivid and compelling image of your ideal future as it relates to your professional practice. To get started, project yourself into the year 2010. Imagine what your life is like if you are living your ideal professional practice. That is, you have crafted the ideal professional life for yourself—what is it like? Give yourself permission to dream and to be creative in crafting your ideal professional practice. Ignore how possible or impossible it seems. Imagine accepting into your life the full manifestation of this ideal state. You are now in 2010. Describe:

§ What are your qualities and distinct competencies as a practitioner?

§ What is your work environment like? What does the physical environment look like?

§ Who are your colleagues? What kind of relationships do you have with clients, co-workers, and professional colleagues?

§ In what ways are you growing and learning professionally? What ideas are exciting to you—what are you trying to learn about? What intrigues you?

§ What is your reputation?

§ What sorts of products or services do you offer?

§ What kind of projects are you working on? What is intriguing about them?

§ Imagine your ideal workday, starting when you wake up in the morning. What does it look like? What activities are on your calendar today (2005)? How do you spend your morning? Your afternoon? Your evening?

§ What memberships do you hold in community or professional organizations? In what ways do you engage—are you active in ASTD, ODN, or other organizations? In what ways?

§ What is your personal life like? What does your home look like? What kinds of relationships do you have with friends, family, others? What kind of hobbies or extracurricular activities do you enjoy? What is your desire for health, fitness, athletics, or anything else having to do with your body? What are the spiritual dimensions of your life?

§ What else, in any other arena of your professional or personal life, do you want to create for 2010?

Developing Professional Learning Goals

As you consider your mission, vision and core values, what are your professional goals? What knowledge, skills or competencies do you wish to develop this year that will move you in the direction of your goals? List between two and four learning goals you wish to develop this year. Check your learning goals against criteria in the handout. Are they difficult and challenging—stretch goals? Are they specific and measurable? What is the level of your commitment to achieving these learning goals? Later, you will develop action plans for achieving these goals. For now, focus mainly on writing a clear statement of each learning goal, and evidence you would use to determine if you had achieved it (this is what makes it measurable). These are goals that will enable you to be proactive as a learner throughout the second year curriculum.

Role of Mission/Vision Coach

After your period of reflection and introspection, you will work with a mission/vision partner. Each person will have time to describe how far he or she has gotten with the Visioning process. This is an opportunity to begin to practice coaching skills. For now, when you are the “coach”, try to:

§ Use communication skills (paraphrasing, clarifying, perception checking, reflecting) to help the other person increase their clarity.

§ For mission, use the Five Whys process or a series of “what would that bring you?” questions to get deep into purpose.

§ For core values, help the person clarify how the values or principles would guide their work—what it would look like. Also, help the person test to see if the values are really core.

§ For vision, help support the person in visualizing with descriptive detail what their ideal future state is for professional practice. If the description seems thin, help fatten it up. Legitimize the process of dreaming and creating in this way.

§ For professional and learning goals, help clarify the goals, why they are important, and test goals against the criteria.

Why Is Vision So Important?

Vision and Personal Mastery[10]

“Personal mastery goes beyond competence and skills, though it is grounded in competence and skills. It goes beyond spiritual unfolding or opening, although it requires spiritual growth. It means approaching one’s life as a creative work, living life from a creative as opposed to reactive viewpoint...

When personal mastery becomes a discipline, it embodies two underlying movements. The first is continually clarifying what is important to us...The second is continually learning how to see current reality more clearly...

The juxtaposition of vision (what we want) and a clear picture of current reality (where we are relative to what we want) generates what we call “creative tension”...the essence of personal mastery is learning how to generate and sustain creative tension in our lives.”

Characteristics of people with personal mastery include

§ A sense of purpose behind their vision and goals; vision as a calling

§ See current reality clearly—tell the truth about “what is so”

§ Live in a continual learning mode—they never “arrive”

§ Self confident

§ Capacity for delayed gratification

Vision and Change Management

Many consultants and change theorists have come to the same conclusion: Vision is an essential ingredient in change management.

Beckhard and Harris[11] have even coined a formula to capture the importance of vision in heightening readiness for change:

C = abd > x

This formula says that for change to occur, the desirability of the future state, the dissatisfaction with the current state, and perceived steps toward change must be larger than the perceived costs or losses associated with change.

Kotter[12] also states that lack of a compelling vision and under-communication of the vision are two of the 10 most important reasons for the failure of change initiatives.

Vision & Organizational Effectiveness

Visionary companies[13] are premier institutions, the crown jewels in their industries, widely admired by their peers, and having a long track record of making a significant impact on the world around them. They prosper over long periods of time, through multiple product life cycles and multiple generations of active leaders.

§ Premier institution in its industry

§ Widely admired by knowledgeable business people

§ Made an indelible imprint on the world in which we live

§ Multiple generations of chief executives

§ Been through multiple product or service life cycles

§ Founded before 1950

Visionary companies do a better job than their “silver medal” comparison companies in managing a fundamental paradox of organizing: preserving the core (Mission/Core values) while stimulating progress (Vision/Strategic Goals/Initiatives).

Vision is also an essential part of an organization’s strategy. An organization needs to know is fundamental reason for being, the difference it wants to make in the world. It needs to know its core values—the principles that guide its internal and external relationships. Mission and core values should change seldom in the life of a company. The vision, those bold, long-term goals that the organization is striving to achieve, and the strategic priorities and indicators, should change periodically in response to environmental demands.

Vision and Leadership

Transactional vs. Transformational Leadership

|Transactional |Transformational |

|Based on exchange between leaders & followers—reward based |Based in capacity to lead preocesses of organizational change; to enhance |

| |organizational capacity for learning & self renewal |

|Manages by exception—takes action when goals are not achieved or |Manages by inspiration and aspiration—creating a compelling direction. |

|performance is not up to standard. | |

|Focuses on organizational stability, continuity, maintenance |Focused on organizational change and transformation—change agent |

|Primary skill sets: planning/budgeting; organizing and staffing; |Primary skill sets: telling the truth about current reality; formulating |

|controlling and problem solving; achieving short term results as |mission/vision that challenges status quo but corresponds to follower needs|

|expected |and aspirations; aligning people with the new direction; inspiring and |

| |motivating people to overcome personal and systemic obstacles to change |

Charismatic Leadership[14]

§ Vision: Provides/articulates inspiring strategic and organizational goals; able to articulate by emphasizing the importance of what organizational members are doing; consistently generates new ideas for the future of the organization

§ Sensitivity to the Environment: Recognizes opportunities and constraints in the social, physical, cultural and business environment that may influence ability to achieve organizational objectives

§ Sensitivity to Member Needs: Demonstrates personal concern for the needs and feeling of other members in the organization.

§ Personal Risk: Incurs high personal cost, risk, sacrifice for the good of the organization.

§ Unconventional Behavior: Uses non-traditional means to achieve organizational goals; often exhibits very unique behavior that surprises other members of the organization.

Motivational Effect of Charismatic Leadership/Vision on Followers

Research evidence supports enhanced self-esteem/self-efficacy on the part of individuals; identification with collective interests of the organization; increased intrinsic value of goals and goal achievement; increased personal commitment to the leader and the vision.

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[1] Sources for material presented in this handout include, Collins, J.C. & Porras, J.I. (1997). Built to last: Successful habits of visionary companies. New York: HarperBusiness; Senge, P., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R.B. and Smith, B.J. (1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. New York: Doubleday Publishing; and Jones, L.B. 1996). The path: Creating your mission statement for work and for life. New York: Hyperion.

[2] Sources for material presented in this handout include, Collins, J.C. & Porras, J.I. (1997). Built to last: Successful habits of visionary companies. New York: HarperBusiness; Senge, P., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R.B. and Smith, B.J. (1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. New York: Doubleday Publishing; and Jones, L.B. 1996).

[3] Source for information about values of the field of OD is French, W.L. and Bell, Jr., C.H. (1995). Organizational Development: Behavioral Science Interventions for Organization Development (Fifth Edition), pp. 72-77. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

[4] Hurley, R.F., Church, A.H., Burke, W.W., and Van Eynde, D.R. (1992). Tension, Change and Values in OD. OD Practitioner, 24: pp. 1.5; Reported in French & Bell, Jr., (1995). Organizational Development: Behavioral Science Interventions for Organization Development (Fifth Edition), pp. 72-77. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

[5] Sources for material presented in this handout include, Collins & Porras (1997). Built to Last; Senge, P., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R.B. and Smith, B.J. (1994). The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook; Jones, L.B. 1996). The Path: Creating Your Mission Statement for Work and for Life; and Kotter, J.P. (1996). Leading Change

[6] Locke, E.A., Shar, K.N., Saari, L.M., and Latham, G.P. (1981). Goal Setting and Task Performance: 1969-1980. Psychological Bulletin, July 1981, p. 126.

[7] Kreitner, R. & Kinicki, A. (1995). Organizational Behavior. Chicago: Irwin

[8] Ibid.

[9] Sources for material in this handout are derived from the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, pp. 202-211; and The Path by Laurie Beth Jones.

[10] Senge, P. (1991). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization, pp. 141-143. New York: Doubleday.

[11] Beckhard, R. & Harris, R.T. (1977). Organizational transitions: Managing complex change. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

[12] Kotter, J.P. (1996). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

[13] Collins, J.C. & Porras, J.I. (1997). Built to last: Successful habits of visionary companies. New York: HarperBusiness.

[14] Conger, J. & Kanungo, R.N. (1998). Charismatic leadership in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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