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OVERVIEW
There are four main components that drive the overall work of colleges and universities: Mission (purpose), Vision (inspiration), Values (commitments) and Goals (targets). Although not all components are present in colleges and universities in the United States, it is safe to assume that most schools have at least a mission statement. Below is an overview of mission, vision, and values.
Mission Statement
Mission is a statement that guides the major work of a college or university. It refers to "the purpose, philosophy, and education aspirations of a college or university" (Hendrickson, Lane, Harris, & Dorman, 2013, p. 9). It must be clear and motivating.
Hendrickson et al. (2013) notes,
"[A mission statement] should provide a rationale for the way a college or university administrator approaches decisions about every aspect of the academy from whom the board selects to lead to what the curriculum should be to how glue that binds the organization together as well as offer the core values that guide the institution's decision making." (p. 10)
It provides a framework and purpose to the institution. The mission statement helps the college or university assess their progress towards annual or multi annual goals and adjust their duties to achieve their mission. Hendrickson et al. (2013) shares that "A highly effective shared governance model is as much the product of an institution whose administrators understand its purpose or mission as healthy enrollments, strategic planning, and clear budgeting and management" (p. 9).
By being aware and understanding the mission of the university, administrators and employees can advocate for changes and justify their actions. New York University’s mission is “to be a top quality international center of scholarship, teaching, and research.” ('About NYU', 2022). Every initiative, program, and activity revolves on the ability to fulfill the university's mission.
Vision Statement
A vision statement is what we aspire to accomplish in the future and often visionary. Gurley et al. (2015) writes that it “ is an articulation not of purpose, but of a preferred future for the organization.” The authors go on to say that, “though a vision statement should be clear and meaningful to all stakeholders, effective vision statements are concise and provide lofty, yet [measurable], language” (p. 223). A vision statement is what keeps us motivated and gives us hope that we can continue to do more and that we are in the business of changing people’s lives.
Constantin (2020) summarizes it well, when he states that,
"Vision is a mental representation of the university’s development in the future. It is a powerful mental image of how the university should be in a long-term time framework. It evokes an inspiring and overarching goal defined by university leadership to motivate and challenge all the academic community members for sustainable efforts to reach that destination. A well formulated vision helps in crafting successful strategies to achieve that long-term goal. Although a vision statement is rather fuzzy, it allows for flexibility in creating and implementing strategies and in bridging the present situation to the long-term goal. A successful vision should be correlated to the university resources and its dynamic capability for change." (n.p.)
There are two key terms in this previous passage: flexibility and resources. First, administrators and department leaders must be willing to be flexible with the changes in the field, especially after the pandemic work guidelines are over (Covid-19). Colleges and universities were able to function in a virtual environment and still deliver successful and effective services. I am not arguing for an all virtual experience because I think that would be detrimental to the student experience. However, Human Resources and other departments must assess and honor work-life balance to its employees. Second, to make progress towards the university’s vision, leadership must be willing to invest and provide resources to its employees. Colleges and universities employees are the main members meeting the mission and driving the vision forward. For college students to be satisfied with their experiences, not only they have to be challenged academically, they need to receive great customer service and supporting services to all students. In order for us to provide these services, we need to hire the best professionals and treat them well.
Finally, Constantin (2020) explains how these two statements are part of the strategic planning for the university. He writes, “mission and vision statements are components of the strategic plan of any university and are supported by the values system of the academic community and the visionary leadership. They are evaluated during the process of institutional accreditation by the specialized agencies.”
Values
The third component is values. This is often a set of shared commitments that results in how members of the college or university are expected to behave in order to fulfill the university’s mission and vision. DuFour and Eaker (2012) challenge us to answer this question when thinking about values, “How must we behave, what commitments must we make and honor, in order to make our shared vision a reality?” (p. 6). Values help us focus on new ideas and daily tasks, plus how we behave to meet the mission and vision statements.
In summary, the mission is the description of what we do (purpose), the vision not only describes what we want to accomplish (inspiration), it helps materialize the mission; and to effectively fulfill that mission, we share a common set of values.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
I have had the opportunity to be in a couple strategic planning committees throughout my career in higher education. My first experience was at St. Cloud Technical & Community College where I was a member of the college's assessment committee. We worked with The Higher Learning Commission to renew the college's accreditation. In addition to that, I was part of the group that worked with the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system office to help the college go from a technical college to a comprehensive college (offering both technical and liberal arts degrees). My second experience is at New York University, where I am part of the Student Affairs Mission, Vision, and Values working group. In all these experiences, the mission of the college or university has been integral to our work and planning to achieve short- and long-term goals.
However, it took me a few years to understand the value and power of a mission statement. And still, the mission, vision, and values are only relevant and effective if the administrators, faculty, staff, and students understand them. While serving on the Board of Trustees for the Minnesota State system and taking graduate courses in higher education, I gained awareness of the importance of being mission driven. It is my practice as a current higher education administrator and educator to share the university's mission, vision, and values with my team in addition to providing clear, realistic, and measurable goals.
Teams benefit from mission statements because it helps them understand the purpose of their organization. One of my favorite examples is from Microsoft. The company's mission for many years was, "A computer on every desk and in every home." From all levels at the company, team members knew that whatever they were doing that day, it had to be supporting Microsoft's goal of putting "a computer on every desk and in every home". From answering phones, to designing a new chip or computer, employees had to ask themselves, "Is my work and actions meeting Microsoft’s mission?" Currently, Microsoft's Mission (2022) is “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.” Both of their missions were easy to remember. Also, this is an example that it is okay to update the company's mission once its purpose has evolved.
In higher education, the college's mission, vision, and values drive the work of faculty, staff, administrators, departments, and other internal and external partners. It should also inspire stakeholders and give them a sense of purpose for their work. During the SCTCC Admissions Office annual retreat in 2015, I shared the college's mission and asked the team to reflect on how their work related to the overall mission of the institution. Their comments were that although they do not read it every year, they were excited to see that their daily work aligns with the mission of the institution and how they are one of the key players in actively "preparing students for life-long learning by providing career, technical and transferable education" ('MVP', 2015). Staff said that if it wasn't for their recruitment efforts and customer service, many students would not be there. I do not think we always memorize it but it is rewarding to reflect and make connections of how our jobs have supported the mission of the college.
One thing that I would like to see more often is these statements and values ingrained in the team's onboarding and work experiences rather than statements on the website that gets reviewed or discussed every few years. I have lost count of how many times the mission is asked as a question during trivia and rarely someone knows it. Sometimes it happens during evaluation season and employees are asked to say how they have fulfilled the mission, vision and values of the division or organization without ever discussing them in the beginning of the year when individual goals are established. Below I will provide some strategies that I have found helpful. If you have more, feel free to share them with me via email, LinkedIn, or Twitter!
As the authors have noted, mission vision and values are extremely important and purposeful. However, they are as important and purposeful as the employees know them. Then, employees run into several missions, vision, and values: one for the university, one for the unit, one for the department… Which one is the most important? Are they all connected? For example: an employee in career services is exposed to their department’s mission, the student affairs mission (if the department is in Student Affairs), and the university’s mission. Here are some questions I have been thinking about when reflecting on this topic:
Unfortunately I do not have answers for them all but I have some ideas for strategies that could help with incorporating them into all levels of the university.
REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY
About NYU. (2022). Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://www.nyu.edu/about.html
Blessinger, Patrick, & TJ Bliss. (2016). Open Education: International Perspectives in Higher Education. Open Book Publishers.
Constantin, Bratianu. (2020). Higher Education Institution Governing Boards: Mission and Vision. Sage UK.
DuFour, R., DuFour, R., & Eaker, R. (2012). Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work®: New Insights for Improving Schools, Solution Tree, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3404898.
Gurley, D., Peters, G., Collins, L., & Fifolt, M. (2015). Mission, vision, values, and goals: An exploration of key organizational statements and daily practice in schools. Journal of Educational Change, 16(2), 217–242. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-014-9229-x
Hendrickson, R., Lane, J., Harris, J., & Dorman, R. (2013). Academic leadership and governance of higher education: A guide for trustees, leaders, and aspiring leaders of two- and four-year institutions (First ed.).
MVP - Mission, Values, Priorities. (2015). St. Cloud Technical and Community College. Retrieved December 23, 2015, from http://www.sctcc.edu/mvp
FURTHER READING
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