Intersection Between Values And Mission

Miguel Lebron • September 15, 2020

Which is most important to the success of an organization —mission, values, or culture?

I believe the organization should have a balance. While that balance starts with the leader, it must trickle down. The reason I say there should be a balance is that I believe not one of these is greater than the other. For an organization to be successful, there must be a balance between these three and the two I will mention.

Imagine a vertical line that meets with a horizontal line. The vertical line is the organization's values, and the horizontal line is the organization's mission. There will be some intersecting parts in-between, but let's start with the vertical line first.

As mentioned, the vertical line represents the organization's values. Those values state what your organization stands for, its part of the organization's DNA. Those values could be: honesty, accountability, fun, and unselfishness, to name a few. The values stipulated are what keeps the organization vertical even when the raging winds of life persist. They also help the organization attract the right people.

The horizontal line is the mission. While the values tell people what the organization stands for, its the mission that lets people know why your organization exists. You may not share your organization's vision with everyone as it may be more for internal ears only, but sharing your mission with others, will inform people where you are and where you'd like to be. Think of it this way: as a kid, you would ask "why" when someone told you to do something. The mission answers the why of that annoying little me asking people why, why, why.

The values and the mission intersect, and there are inner intersecting parts also.
Those parts are vision, culture, and strategy.

We start with the vision. As mentioned previously, the organization's vision has no deadline. An organization's vision is what you see when you look into the future. While there is a relationship that exists between the organization's vision and the goals we set, vision and goals are not the same. The next intersecting part would be culture.

Each organization has a culture. That culture encompasses beliefs, bylaws, customers, etc. These shared standards are the things your company finds most important and ultimately defines who fits and who doesn't. The culture flows in every aspect of the organization, and although each sub-group within the organization may have a sub-culture, it will maintain in line with the organization's overall core value; it all intersects.

The final intersecting part between values and mission is strategy. Here is where your goals and plans live.

The organization's mission will speak to what they intend on accomplishing, its why your organization exists. The organization's values state what the organization stands for, and the strategy is how you would make that mission a reality while maintaining the organization's values.

Some organizations have the issue of leaning towards the mission, and they compromise their values. Others rely heavily on their values, even if it affects the mission. The question of which is most important to the success of an organization —mission, values, or culture? I would say have a clear mission as to why your organization exists; although one is not greater than the other, this will ensure that the people that come on board, at the very least, have bought into the organization's mission. However, an ideal situation would be that all of these intersect, enabling the long term success of the organization.

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