Refreshing the Vision and Mission
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  1. Vision
    A compelling description of how the world is different because of the organization's existence; a description of an outcome state without a commitment to a particular approach or methodology.
    1. Does the Vision statement clearly define a target population to be served?
    2. Does the Vision statement define a positive state to be pursued or a negative state to be removed?
      1. For example, "Rid the world of diabetes" vs. "Ensure every child gets all the education they desire".
    3. Are there other organizations with similar visions in the area that would be either competitive or redundant with the organization? If so, what is our distinguishing characteristic?
    4. Are all the activities of the organization clearly targeted toward the achievement of the Vision? Have other activities crept in (usually happens in pursuit of a critical grant)?
    5. Does the Vision statement contain any suggestions of activities? Could those be moved into the Mission statement to sharpen the focus of the Vision statement?
    6. Does the Vision statement provoke commitment? Support? Excitement?
  2. Mission
    A broad statement of programmatic activities designed to bring about the vision state.
    1. Does the Mission statement clearly suggest the activities that are NOT part of the agency's operations?
    2. Is there a compelling argument for the efficiency of the agency? That is, does the benefit pursued greatly exceed the cost of the activities defined in the Mission?
  3. Strategic Plan
    A medium-term plan with specific objectives and deliverables that reflect the mission of the organization and provide a skeleton or framework for more operational planning.
    1. Does the SP define a small set of objectives that can drive Agency actions (decisions, resource allocations, staffing, etc.) for the next few years?
    2. Are there a set of clear metrics that would indicate the achievement of the objectives?
    3. Does the SP define the key dilemmas that will determine the success of the Agency?
      Dilemmas are contradictory goals that have to be balanced or blended.
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