Essay on Mission, Vision and Strategy

committee, plenty, Values &038 Goals David Grusenmeyer Sr. Extension Associate, PRO-DAIRY Introduction Teams and squad building efforts ar popular buzzwords in todays hold out environment. Bringing individuals unneurotic in the plyplace and get hold ofting them to work in concert as an effective team is a ch eachenge. The sports team analogy is gobs sighted and sought after in the workplace, but seldom go deep atd. What is it more or less successful sports teams that shambling them function so well as teams? some(prenominal) observations stand out 1.The coaches or captains argon successful at clearing the similar ken in the mind of each team member that at the end of the season they will be 1 in their league, city, state, or nation. 2. All members sh atomic number 18 a common team bursting charge or goal to win each and perpetu solelyyy game they play. 3. Theres an opponent, or a goal to be outstriped, and e reallyone issues clearly who or what it is. 4. each( prenominal) player has a individualised military com bearing and goals that mesh with or escort those of the team to perform their part of each play during the game to the best of their ability. 5.Each team member knows their position and how their individual efforts contribute to the teams success. They in any case know their teammates depend on them. Business owners/managers will invite a go at it success in team building and success in their line of reasoning to the extent they 1. Have clearly defined fundamental lawal mission, mental imagery, value and goals. 2. distinctly articulate the mission, romance, value and goals to everyone involved with the crinkle. 3. Mesh the trades mission, imagery, set and goals tightly into those of each individual so that in achieving individual goals and visions, disdain goals and visions be in any case achieved.Think officious your person-to-person credit line. Is there a clearly identify vision of where the spring up i s headed? How will the course look or sabotage a path in one, two, five or ten years? If you dont know where youre going any road will wee-wee you there. And, if you cant clearly answer for where youre headed how can you take your family members, employees, or agri-service professionals to help you get there? Do you have a clearly defined mission? wherefore is your farm in business? What do you hope to achieve? Does everyone on the farm ? family, employees, and agri-service representatives ? know what that mission is?Do they see your commitment to it everyday? Have they accepted the mission as main(prenominal) to them? Does each individual know how their efforts contribute to the mission? 1 Are there special goals and objectives? Does everyone accept these goals and see how achieving farm goals will help them achieve their own person-to-person goals? Are the goals and objectives translated into work performance standards and expectations for each employee? These atomic nu mber 18 not clear questions, but as we increasingly depend on the talents and efforts of others to sham our farm successful, answering them affirmatively becomes ever more grave.Core Values Even though we frequently communication some mission and vision maiden, the basic underlying nameation for twain be our affection set. Core value atomic number 18 the principles and standards at the very centerfield of our character, and from which we will not budge or stray. Core determine are extremely st fit and change only very slowly everyplace long periods of judgment of conviction. Core value form the basis for our beliefs nearly demeanortime, ourselves and those roughly us, and the human potential of ourselves and others. Values and beliefs form our attitudes and guide our behavior.The behaviors we engage in are what mess around us see, along with our skills and actions. Our outer or public shell of behaviors and skills can change rapidly and dramatically through o ur lives, influenced by our environment and guided by our more stable effect values and beliefs. 2 For some the great unwashed identifying and communicating personal middle values can be a difficult task. Core values are so close to the center of who we are that they tend to be very protected and not shared with others until a personal descent has been established.The fact that these values are so central to whats grand to us individually, makes it all the more classical to weigh close to them first as a basis for establishing sound and meaningful mission, vision and goals in both our life and business. Once the values of an individual or organization are identified, its frequently useful to rank them from more to little important. Then when questions come up later where one value must(prenominal) be traded off a impinge onst another the ending will be easier to make and communicate. For example, say the core values of a farm business are qualification, family, safety and respect for others.If a question comes up about implementing a practice that will improve exerciseal susceptibility but may compromise the health and safety of employees, knowing the relative greatness of efficiency versus safety will help guide the decision. If an employees infant is hospitalized are they expected to be at the farm for their shift regardless, or with their child in the hospital? Knowing the relative importance of family versus operational efficiency will help answer that question. It wont necessarily make these decisions easy or totally objective but it will ferment some guidance and consistency to the decision making process.In the high risk game of professional football Tom Landry coached the Dallas Cowboys for years. Win or lite he always maintained a cool, calm, stoic presence on the sideline. A reporter once asked him how he was able to maintain much(prenominal) a calm focus with all the pressures. Coach Landry replied its easy because I have my prio rities straight. First is my graven image, stake my wife, third my family and fourth is football, so if I loose on the weekend I have lots of more important things to support me through the week. Defining your core values first will help you get your priorities in order.Mission A personal mission or a farm business mission didactics deals with questions interchangeable, Why are we here? , Why do we exist? , Why do we get up each day and do what we do? , What is it that we get paid for? What function does the organization perform? For whom? How? The mission is a broad statement of personal or business scope, purpose and operation that distinguishes me, or my farm, from others. A farm business cannot have values, beliefs or a mission outside of the pile who makeup that business.Therefore, especially for small fast held businesses, its important that each principle in the business draw up their own personal mission statement first, so(prenominal) come together as a group or team to develop a mission statement for the business. 3 A farm business mission statement reflects the core values and beliefs of the individuals who lead the business. To the extent there are large differences between a farm mission and a personal mission, or between farm business values and personal core values, there will be discord and friction for that individual inwardly the business.Weather youre an owner, an employee or a consultant, one way to help interpret happiness and fulfillment at work is to be certain your values and mission are in alignment with those of the business. People have been know to become physically ill from the stress of working in a business where their core values were at odds with the values and ethics practiced in the business In summariseition to giving complex body part and watchfulness to an individual or business, well-written mission statements are excellent tools to propound others about whats important to you and how you operate your bu siness.Example mission statement 1 Our priorities are God, family (people), business. Our goal is to be a place where people (our most(prenominal) valuable asset) have the opportunity to grow spiritually, personally, intellectually, and financially. Through putting God first and people second, our success as individuals and as a business is guaranteed. Example mission statement 2 To produce large quantities of high-quality take out as economically as contingent, in order to provide an satisfactory standard of living for both owners and employees. These two mission statements communicate very different notions about whats important on these two farms and withal give some indication that day-to-day business may be conducted differently as a result. Any mission statement that briefly represents truth and reality about the individual or the farm is a unattackable mission statement. Likewise, any statement that doesnt honestly and accurately represent the values and beliefs of th e individual or the farm is a brusque mission statement, regardless of what is says or how good it sounds.If excellence is a verbalise value or the pursuit of excellence a verbalise mission, notwithstanding average, industry standard, or legal requirement is good enough, then what is the real commitment to excellence? Do they in truth live their stated mission? Mission statements serve to inform employees, friends, neighbors, and agribusiness people about whats important to you and your business. They also serve as anchors and guideposts for both strategic and operational or tactical decision making on the farm. Vision While a mission is a statement of what is, a vision is a statement of what or how you would like things to be.A picture of the future youre working to create, what you pauperism to be when you grow up, what you want your business to become. 4 Without a vision of where youre going how can you develop a excogitation to get there and how will you know when youve a rrived? Without a vision of where we would like to be, we can continue hiking various trails through life, climbing dope after mountain, only to discover each time that weve arrived somewhere we really dont want to be. Nothing was ever created without a vision. It guides us, gives us direction and purpose, and can serve as a powerful inducement for those around us and ourselves.In order to truly guide and motivate a vision must 1. Be aligned with the core values of both the individuals and the farm business. and 2. Be effectively communicated to and accepted by everyone involved in the farm. The more precise and detailed you can be in piece of writing a description of your vision of the future, the easier it will be to communicate it to others and gain their commitment to it, and the more likely you will be to achieve it. be able to articulate a clear vision of the future is natural if you expect employees and agri-service consultants to help you get there.Success comes through bringing aboard people ? as partners, employees or consultants ? with core values that fit well with the business, and who examine and accept the business mission and vision as matching intimately with their own. Developing visions and missions that are truly shared takes time, effort, energy and commitment. You cant expect that just because you develop mission and vision statements, read them at a staff meeting and even hand them out in printed form, that everyone will immediately accept and work toward achieving them.You need to walk the talk and be totally committed to them yourself first, and then discuss them with your employees and consultants at to the lowest degree ogdoad or ten times before they will call up youre really serious and begin to internalize these statements. Goals &038 Objectives Mission and vision, although frequently short statements, are broad, encompassing and far-reaching. They can often seem sweep over and perhaps even impossible to achieve. The me taphors, How do you eat an elephant? One burn up at a time and A journey of a metre miles begins with the first step, fit well in regard to achieving a mission and vision.Goals and objectives create the bite size pieces, the road map and docile stepping stones to achieve the mission, make the vision a reality, and navigate the course we have set for our business, or for ourselves. 5 Reading the business literature is enigmatical as to whats a goal and whats an objective, theyre utilize interchangeably from one business author to another. The education literature up to now is consistent and specific. Goals are the bigger fuzzy things and objectives are the small S pecific M easurable A ttainable R ewarding T imed steps through which we achieve our goals.It doesnt really matter what we call them as long as we keep in mind the principle of, start small and break it down to minuscule in terms of identifying the steps that will decease us in the direction we want to go. Whil e its possible to get bogged down in minutiae, the reality is, few people computer error on the side of too much detail when it comes to writing goals and objectives. more than often than not employees are confused and frustrated by a lack of detail. To be effective goals and objectives must be written. If they arent in writing theyre merely ideas with no real power or conviction behind them.Written goals and objectives provide motivation to achieve them and can then be used as a reminder to you and others. Clearly and specifically written, they also eliminate confusion and misunderstanding. Among all the attributes of a well-written objective, the most important are measurable results and a timeframe for completion. Being able to quantify results and guess the timeliness of accomplishing goals allows owners or managers to assess the performance and progress of the overall business as well as individuals and teams within the business.Having well developed goals and objectives als o helps Maintain focus and perspective Establish priorities Lead to greater romp satisfaction Improve employee performance. Researchers studying the effects of goals as part of a companys overall performance management process found that the level of performance is highest when Goals are clearly stated and contain specific objectives Goals are challenging but not unreasonable Employees accept their goals with a true sense of ownership Employees participate in setting and reviewing their goals.As time goes on and goals are achieved, or conditions and situations change, its important to reevaluate and establish new goals and objectives. Failure to periodically 6 set new or more challenging goals can lead to stagnation in the business and boredom among employees. Finally, as goals are achieved or milestones along the way are reached, providing positive feed adventure and rewards for yourself and employees is critical to maintaining enthusiasm and continued progress. Whats Your Goal l ay Quotient? Yes 1. I work from a comprehensive business plan or a formal long-range strategic plan.My business (team) has an operational plan that is revised annually. Each of my family members and employees has an individual plan that covers his/her goals for the year. I meet with my family members or employees on a regular basis to review progress toward their goals. I meet with my team regularly to check on progress toward goals. When a goal is set I make sure its monitored and doesnt fall through the cracks. I build my relationships with family members and employees around tasks we mutually identify and pursue. I feel good when I relinquish control and pass responsibility on to others.Business goals are set by all the key people, not just by me. No 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. I praise my family members and employees meltly and publicly when they accomplish their goals. A yes to all 10 puts you at the top in management growth with regard to goal setting. 7 Summary The followin g analogy of a group of people carpooling together may help to pull things together. It would be very difficult for everyone in a carpool to make a decision on whether to turn right, left or go straight at the next intersection if each was headed for a different refinement.If theyre all going to the selfsame(prenominal) place, they may have different ideas on which way to turn and exactly how to get to where theyre going. One may like the scenic route, another knows about road construction that should be avoided, a third may want to take a shortcut and arrive early, a fourth may need to run an errand along the way. Since their destination is the same, even though there is diversity in their ideas, they should be able to reach a consensus decision on the route to take ground on information provided by each.Likewise in a business its difficult or impossible to agree on strategic or even tactical decisions if everyone in the business ? owners, managers, family members, employees ? ar e not all headed in the same direction, toward the same mission and vision. If a family, a business, or a team doesnt have a common direction ? mission, vision and core values ? arguments will occur surrounding almost every decision and agreements may be impossible. Developing shared mission, vision and values is the first step in laying a universe for making strategic and tactical decisions that will move the business forward.Having them in place wont eliminate arguments and disagreements, but at to the lowest degree the disagreement will be about how to best get to the same endpoint as opposed to heading in opposite directions. acquiring Started Discovering and developing a businesss mission, vision and values is not an easy task. For small and closely held businesses the business mission, vision and values report from those of the individuals involved, it makes sense that each individual should first identify their personal mission, vision, values and goals and then come toge ther to develop them for the business.The following worksheets are knowing to help you work through the process of identifying your personal core values and developing a personal mission statement. Some of them may also be useful in developing your business mission and vision statements. I recommend using all of the worksheet exercises in the sequence in which they appear here. However, these are simply tools to help you through the process so feel free to use any or all of them in whatever sequence you believe will be helpful.The objective is to get you thinking from several different perspectives about what is important to you and what you stand for. 8 Characteristics Survey Below is a itemisation of 20 personal characteristics put in alphabetical order. Rank each item according to the importance of that characteristic for YOU. Study the make carefully. Then place a 1 next to the characteristic that is most important for you place a 2 next to the second most important characte ristic, etc. The characteristic that is least important to you, relative to the others, should be ranked 20. Work slowly and think carefully.If you change your mind, feel free to change the ranking. The end results should show how you truly feel. Add characteristics that are important to you but missing from the list. _____Ambitious (hard working, aspiring) _____Broadminded (open-minded, tolerant, accepting) _____Capable (competent, effective) _____Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful, happy) _____Courageous (brave, standing up for your beliefs) _____Dependable (reliable, trustworthy, responsible) _____Forgiving (willing to pardon others) _____Friendly (pleasant, warm, outgoing, good-natured) _____Helpful working for the welfare of others) _____Honest (sincere, truthful) _____Imaginative (daring, creative, original) _____Independent (self-reliant, self-sufficient) _____Intellectual (intelligent, reflective, knowledgeable) _____Logical (consistent, rational, realistic) _____Loving (affecti onate, tender) _____Obe surpassnt (dutiful, respectful) _____Organized (clean, neat, tidy) _____Polite (courteous, well-mannered, respectful) _____Self-confident (self-assured, poised, self-aware) _____Self-controlled (restrained, self-disciplined) _____ ____________________________________ 9 Values SurveyBelow is a list of 20 values arranged in alphabetical order. Rank them in order of their importance to YOU as guiding principals in YOUR life. Study the list carefully. Then place a 1 next to the value that is most important for you place a 2 next to the value that is second most important to you, etc. The value that is least important, relative to the others, should be ranked 20. Work slowly and think carefully. If you change your mind, feel free to change your numbers. The end results should show how you truly feel. Add values that are important to you but missing from the list. ____Achievement (attaining personal and professional goals, accomplishment) _____A comfortable life (a prosperous life, adequate finances) _____Equality (brotherhood, equal opportunity for all, fairness) _____An exciting life (a stimulating, active life) _____Family security (caring for loved ones, being cared for) _____Freedom (independence, free choice, autonomy) _____Happiness (contentedness, fulfillment) _____Inner Harmony (freedom from inner conflict, accord, balance) _____Leaving a legacy (something that endures after you are gone) _____Mature love (sexual and spiritual intimacy) _____National security (protection from attack) _____Pleasure (an enjoyable, comfortable life) _____Salvation (deliverance from sin, eternal life) _____Self-respect (self-esteem, pride, self-worth) _____A sense of accomplishment (making a lasting contribution) _____Social recognition (respect, admiration, appreciation) _____True companionship (close companionship, love) _____Wisdom (a mature understanding of life, insight, knowledge) _____A universe of discourse at peace (freedom from war and confl ict) _____A world of beauty (beauty of nature and the arts) _____ ______________________________________ 10 Whats Important ? Look back at your ranking of values and personal characteristics. Are there values or personal characteristics that are important to you and are not listed? If so, add them to your list. Now list below, in rank order of importance, your top eight most important values and top eight most important personal characteristics. These are your core values and characteristics that you would not compromise on or stray from regardless of the situation. Values Characteristics 11 My Roles In life story Identify all the roles you play in your life (e. g. aughter, son, student, employee, parent, grandparent, husband, wife, church member, aim board member, local charity committee member, etc. ). Then describe the purpose you serve in that role. Why you do it? Whats important about it? Who depends on you? Who benefits? Role Your Purpose In That Role 12 Interacting With Peo ple To a great extent getting along in this world means getting along with and interacting with people. List ways that you successfully interact with people. Examples Advise Teach Encourage Stimulate Help handle Enthuse Entertain Lead Educate Motivate Study earmark Serve Reassure Manage Love Inspire Plan fluff up Support 13 If I Won an Award If I won an award, what would the award be for?What would I want the presenter to say about me? What would my parents, grandparents, spouse, children, siblings be proud to hear about me? 14 What Do I Want In Life ? What do I want people to say about me in 10 years. . . , 20 years. . . , when I die? What do I want to accomplish in my life? What do I want to do (experience) in my life? What do I want to have (posses) in my life? 15 A consummate World Visualize your better world. How does it look? What are people doing? What are people saying? How does it feel? Write a description of this perfect world. Example My perfect world is a place wher e people know their destinations and enjoy their life journeys.My perfect world is a world at peace where people are helpful, friendly and truly care about everyone. My perfect world is a world where I am in close contact with my God, my family, my friends and my environment. My perfect world . . . 16 Personal Mission Statement Combine words and concepts from your values list, characteristics list, roles in your life, interacting with people list, and things you want in life, along with your description of a perfect world, to create your personal mission statement. Example My life purpose is to use my energy and my people skills to teach and motivate people to know their destination and enjoy their life journey. My life purpose is . . . 17