Tuesday, August 7, 2018

The Way We Designed Our Vision and Mission

The Way We Designed Our Vision and Mission
     Some organizations design a vision that leads to a mission statement. If you review the literature, you can also discover organizations that design a mission before a vision statement. Some people speak of the vision and mission synonymously.
     Our school wanted to design a vision that encompassed our leadership through positive climate and culture. From that point, we focused on a timeless vision statement that was relevant to our existence. When we committed to creating vision and mission statements, we knew to include all stakeholders.
     At a staffulty (staff and faculty) meeting, we started creating our vision statement by passing around a beach ball and markers.  Our school is located close to the South Jersey Shore, and the beach ball created an engaging team-building activity.
     Each person was asked to write a word or two on the beachball that described our school and the journey of our students and all stakeholders. We wanted our school to be the center of the community. We asked our parent groups and community groups to contribute words as well.
     We literally developed a vision during the course of the entire school year. After continually fine-tuning the statement, we were satisfied that the statement spoke to who we are and where we were going. In order to make the vision visible, tangible, and walkaroundable, I painted it twenty feet high on the wall in the main lobby. Everyone that passed the threshold would see our vision. The students would pass the lobby at least twice a day on the way back and forth to the cafeteria.
     During the next year, we worked on our mission statement. Although the vision statement encompassed our journey, our mission was designed to be easy to remember and sum up our vision. This was also painted twenty feet on the wall in the main lobby. Both statements were included in all the correspondence to the community as well as our staffulty and student handbooks and on our school website. Pictures are attached of each statement as they appear on the walls.
     Here's a description in the Companion Lifebook of 50 Great Things Leaders Do: Let's Get Fired Up! http://inspire-leadership.com 
Beach Ball Bonanza: Grab a beach ball or any cheap playground ball. Gather your group, the bigger the better. Write nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Pass around the ball. Everyone writes a power word on the ball. The word is something you would like to see in our organization. After everyone writes on the ball, split into smaller groups.  Each group comes up with a one sentence mission statement. Write the sentences on posters and tape them to the wall. Revisit them later to fine tune your mission. In another month, come up with one that connects everyone.

Where do you want to work and play? 

     

Get Fired Up, people! 

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