Favorite guidelines for a Mission, Vision, etc 2

[thedaver]

I'm wondering if any of you have favorite websites, articles, authors, or organizations that you reference when working on the development of project, program, or corporate missions, visions, strategic statements, etc.

I find that the trend toward presenting missions and visions leaves a blurred line sometimes.

I would appreciate clarity on why you'd choose to write certain pieces, for whom they are written, language use tips, and selection of topics.

If I've asked a poor question, please say so....

D.E.R. Management - IT Project Management Consulting

http://www.dermanagement.com/

 

[johnherman]

One of the tenets of TQM and Six Sigma is for the company and each department to have a mission statement and a vision. These should address what is acronymed as COPIS, Customers, Outputs, Processes, Inputs, and Suppliers.

Who do you get what from? What do you do with it? And what do you provide to others?

Starting from this, it is fairly easy to classify a program or project. The other thing to remember when talking to he big guys (mission, vision, etc) is there are three objectives for a business: Increase Revenue, Cut Costs, and Generate Quality. Quality can be expressed as quality of customer or employee experience or quality of product.

If a project does not address one of these points, is it worth doing at all?

-------------------------
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw

 

[thedaver]

Thanks John, great start on the thread. I'm trying to move past some consulting jargon and poor practices to really cut to what the Customer (and I) NEEDS to have in place to succinctly demonstrate that we have the project (program, team, division, charity) moving in the right right direction and seeking the right goals.

Trouble is that so much of what gets wrapped up in "vision" statements seems to be - at least at a corporate level - a lot of placating language that tries to be a lot (too many) of things.

You know the kind of nonsense that reads... "We're a preiminent market driver with a charitable community presence and a tremendous eco-focus while maintaining an excellent environment for our employees to thrive.... blah blah blah". Nobody just says "We're going to kick ass or die trying".... but that's a different kind of discussion I suppose.

I guess some of my hang-up here is that the corporate vision/mission/charter various significantly from a project/program level statement...

Still interested in more feedback!

D.E.R. Management - IT Project Management Consulting

http://www.dermanagement.com/

 

[johnherman]

Sorry if what I stated sounds like consulting jargon; I was a consultant for many years.

However, the basic concepts (COPIS, 3 goals for businesses) remain valid even if you change the names or level of detail to protect the innocent.

Side Note:
Adam's downfall was precipitated by Eve, assisted by Satan, the first consultant.

-------------------------
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw

 

[planetant]

I think this is an amazing question. The mission statement of a company is usually more general than the project goals, I think...? Is that what you mean?

Sometimes I think it hurts to make the mission statement and vision before the analysis. Usually part of a corporation looking inward is initiated from an sense that its stagnating and has no vision. It becomes circular problem. So that is why you get the 'We are...' rather than 'what are the parameters of our success? how do we grow? where are we going?' The medium is the message in my opinon - the language is stale,confusing and indirect, the company embraces staleness and indirectness and confusion.

'We kick butt. We need to continue to kick butt. This is how we continue to kick butt, grow, learn, and then kick some more butt.' Or even more radical, make the vision a question. 'What are the parameters of our success and are we ready for our own success?'

I digress.

So wait, though, do you have a mission statement or vision you are working from or are you trying to develop one?

Also, I would do a search on 'learning organizations'. There are some cool ideas about corporate culture that is almost a little radical.

 

[PDQBach]

Projects don't have to restrict themselves to advancing the corporate mission as johnherman somewhat implies ("If a project does not address one of these points, is it worth doing at all?")

Some projects are performed simply to let the corporation meet regulatory or legal requirements.

I am reminded of the story of Nike. New hires were always invited to lunch with the president. He'd go round the table asking each person what his/her job was. At the end he'd tell them they were all wrong. "Your job can be summed up in two words: destroy Adidas."

I'll bet _that_ wasn't in the corporate mission or value statement but it sure was the corporate ethos!

 

[planetant]

I think that projects should add to the corporate mission in some way. So that is why a corporate mission becomes so general.

So that 'Be the top-selling sneaker company' becomes 'Beat Adidas' and the projects are about that - worried about sales rather than employee turnover for example.

 

[rvnguy]

thedaver,

Great question...I don't know if there are any sites that will directly address your query or provide you with genuine solutions to what you seek??

"I find that the trend toward presenting missions and visions leaves a blurred line sometimes."

I couldn't agree with you more. These endeavours tend to be attempts to sound so savy and become full of fluff and not the meat that other posts elude to. Out with the fluff in with the meat...but you can't say "kick ass".

Having been forced, to generate these statements in the open team environment, I have most often attempted to validate any claims(fluff) with sound verifiable/accountable metrics. Do not just fluff me, if you say it, provide how others will know when you actually are doing it including me.

When it is verifiable it becomes less fluff and more meat.

Projects lean to the structured environ, with goals, dropdead times & the like. Goal first then mission is clear and falls into line.

Corporate missions, visions, strategic statements, lean towards fluff. Mission/vision first then we hope for some goal to fall from the sky or something like that(but it sounds soooo great)

Enuf rant. Approach it from the goals side and let the mission/vision develop from that.

rvnguy

"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[djones2051]

I think I understand your dilemma. No need to elaborate on the problems of project alignment.

There are probably several techniques – the best would be what would work in the context of your client. Understanding their culture is pre-requisite to choosing the tool. So you’ve crossed one of the most difficult and often ignored hurdles.

I think I’ve been in your situation, though the complexities you face may not make my suggestion valid.

However, I can tell you what has worked for me. I always try to keep it very simple. I suggest using a model (there are a dozen generic business process models – preferably find one they already use??) – I use a general business cycle of:

Doing the right things
Doing them the right way
Getting them done
Getting business value

Project alignment starts in making sure the company is “Doing the Right Things”. I would suggest using a diagramming model. Something graphical that delineates the initiatives, their results (increase/decrease/create/eliminate SOMETHING that is measurable) and assumptions (risks). There are several formal methodologies out there. You might want to talk to a seasoned business process modeler for modeling techniques as well as tools.

Keep it simple at first then you can throw analysis tools like BTOPP or COPIS to dig deeper into the model. Warning: As you do this make sure you don’t create any recursive loops in your model. I’ve found that a visual model will expose complexity and provide clarity.

I hope this helps.

 

[thedaver]

Thanks all! Good stuff!
I also decided to go Googling, we are not alone!

http://www.jslogan.com/index.php?title=does_your_mission_statement_mean_anythin&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2004/05/30/stories/2004053000150300.htm

I must have a little more marketing in me than I thought... I enjoyed section #2 especially from here... Watch out for embedded Amazon links though....

http://www.brendonwilson.com/projects/entrepreneurship/artofthestart/theartofstarting.shtml

D.E.R. Management - IT Project Management Consulting

http://www.dermanagement.com/

 

[johnherman]

Star for PDQBach because yes, sometimes we have to do things because of law and regulation. Add that to the other three giving four business goals:
Increase Revenue
Reduce Costs
Generate Quality
Achieve Compliance

-------------------------
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw

 

[A0C61ZZ]

djones2051,
In one of the threads you've mentioned that there are over a dozen generic Business Process Models. Can you point me to some. I tried doing a search on the web and came with a few.
Thanks,
A0C61ZZ

 

[A0C61ZZ]

Regarding johnherman's statement "If a project does not address one of these points, is it worth doing at all? ", I guess all the vision statements are designed to be generic, ambiguous so as to accomodate all types of projects within them.

If there are contradictions(rarely), there is a possibility of not having right or wrong answers for the problem.

However there could be some. I work for a reputed financial institution and my manager attended a training on org skills. He had a scenario during the class.

"If a big client of your company invites your team for a golf game which does not allow ladies, would you as a CEO committed to equal treatment/rights of all your employees except the invitation or forgo it and the BIG client" he also mentioned that these type of decisions need to be made almost on a daily basis for the top mgmt.

Needless to say everybody made the politically correct noises of sacrificing the opportunity & the client and defend everybody's rights. But I guess this is rarely the case esp. if this occurs on a daily basis. So I'd take these vision statements with a pinch (though not a load) of salt.
- A0C61ZZ.

 

[PDQBach]

To AOC61ZZ

First of all, if your organization is only reputed to be a financial institution, what is it actually? (You said "reputed" when you almost certainly meant "reputable".)

And I'm also assuming that you meant your question to read "accept" instead of "except" (they are, for all intents and purposes, opposites).

But to answer your question, your manager is dumb (but you had already worked that out). The only time the CEO should not go for the game of golf is if he is breaking the law. If it isn't breaking the law to restrict membership (as they do at Augusta where Tiger Woods wins the US Open) then the CEO has a fiduciary responsibility to the company and its shareholders to maximize corporate revenues and profits. In fact, by *not* going to the golf club might the CEO might find himself the subject of lawsuits.

 

[stoicism]

Hi,

I just signed up for these forums and this is my first post.

I find that the most useful framework to be dealing with to make something tangible out of the corporate vision thought is the one developed by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras in the article "Building Your Company's Vision" printed in the September/October 1996 issue of Harvard Business Review.

It has also been included in the book "Harvard Business Review on Change" (Many of you will probably be familiar with this series).

This article does a good job at defining, in easy-to-approach terms, the differencies between Visions, Mission statements, Core beliefs and so forth.

Hope this was helpful to you,

Best regards,

Jonas

 

[stoicism]

There doesn't seem to be a way to edit my thread, but after pressing Submit Post, I found out I wanted to add something further to the discussion.

In my opinion the Visionary approach to project management caters well to certain projects.
Projects with lots of exposure to, what I have always called, contextual uncertainty (I believe this is called external risks in PMI lingo), can often benefit from having a clearly defined Vision and perhaps more loosely defined goals. Adaptation to the external catastrophes will be easier if you have a vision to hang on to, however the downside to this is that people seem to interpret visions in their own way and end up in places you didn't want them to go.

So it will require a lot from the project manager to succesfully manage projects like this. To paraphrase one of my favourite lines, apparently NASA had the Vision of "putting a man on the moon within the next decade." This is beautiful to me.

I think most of the fluff involved in Vision and Mission statements come from the fact that people think they -have- to have one, resulting in poorly thought out rhetorics. Again, I recommend reading the Collins/Porras article on the subject. It's always been helpful to me.

Best regards,

Jonas

 

[thedaver]

Recently emailed to me....

"Beneath the Buzz: Mission, Vision and Values Statements
Your classic corporate mission statement sounds great,
but echoes emptily through the cubicles. Columnist and
organizational consultant Dean Meyer describes how to
develop mission (or vision or values) statements that
will shape and inspire day-to-day operations.

http://www.cio.com/go/index.html?ID=5562&PMID=26046206&s=3&f=1

"

D.E.R. Management - IT Project Management Consulting

http://www.dermanagement.com/

 

[stoicism]

Truthfully, I think most of the bad things that can be said about vision statements comes from misconceptions about giving visions to people who don't need them.

It should be emphasized that a vision should reflect a fundamental philosophy in the organization and not just be a futile exercise in rhetorics.

There's nothing visionary about saying "We want to be the best.

 

[A0C61ZZ]

PDQBach

This is exactly what I argued. My question was "What is the employees responsibility/purpose" Is it to work for the company or to play golf?
Secondly if ethics are involved agreed equal treatment of employees is part of ethics but so also is responsibility to the employees/shareholders. If the employee doesn't have security and knowledge about where his/her next meal is coming from how can the company guarantee security to them. Similarly if the shareholders lose money, if the company embarks on an overdrive of protecting employees, neglecting responsibilites to the shareholders it would be unethical on part of the company.

And I definitely meant "reputable" and "accept". Sorry for the faux pas.

 

[PDQBach]

AOC61ZZ

"That is exactly what I argued."

Good man! (uh, woman; uh, person ... yeah, that's the ticket: good person!)

;-)