Vision, Schmision…
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Fri, October 02, 2009
- (2) comments so far
What the heck is purpose? vision? mission? values? Does anyone really know? Here's a primer and a starting point if you're confused...
Purpose and Values
Purpose and values should never change. They are with you from the beginning of your organization's existence and they should be with you until the end. They don’t contextualize or change with culture. They should always remain. Jim Collins’ research shows that a relentless commitment to purpose and values is the one and only difference between organizations that are built to last and those that are not. It’s not vision, mission, strategy, inventions or money in the bank that makes organizations last, it’s a relentless commitment to purpose and values.
Purpose is the reason why you exist. It's not your vision or mission, or the values that guide you. It's the big idea for why you do what you do. For church communities, I've found this often comes directly from Scripture. It's the reason you're regularly bringing everybody together. It's not how you bring them together or what you're doing when you're together or how often you come together. It's why you come together. And again, purpose should never change.
Values should guide everything you do. They are the glue that hold everything together. Words like "integrity," "honesty," and "humility" are often found in value statements. Values should inform every decision, every strategy, every employee hire and fire, every marketing campaign and every relationship with a vendor. And again, values should never change.
I think this is a good start. What do you think?
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