Align your solutions and goals

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Introduction

Organizational goals, guided by mission and vision statements, encompass the overall aspirations of the entire company, providing a comprehensive vision of where it’s heading in the future. This tool focuses on organizational goals with important implications for individual or departmental objectives. While organizational goals chart the course, individual or departmental objectives outline the steps you and your teams must take to reach those overarching aspirations.

Mission and vision statements define an organization’s identity, purpose, and direction. Together, they provide a strategic framework that guides decision-making, inspires stakeholders, and creates a sense of purpose and unity within the organization. Well-crafted mission and vision statements contribute to organizational success by ensuring alignment and fostering motivation through serving as a roadmap for the future.

Once you have established your organization’s goal in the form of a mission and vision statement, you want to ensure that everything you do and the products and services you offer are actually conducive to achieving your goals. Is there a clear alignment of your organization’s goals, processes and offerings, and communication and marketing material? This tool will provide guidance in articulating your goals, thinking through these questions and achieving alignment.

At a glance

  • Articulating your mission and vision statements
  • Breaking down your goals into practical and achievable activities
  • Ranking your offerings based on their alignment with your mission and their contributions to it.
  • Ensuring that all stakeholders share a common comprehension of your organization’s purpose and operations.
  • Evaluating and adjust all processes to ensure they actively contribute to the attainment of your goals.

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Mission and Vision Statements

Both mission and vision statements play complementary roles in providing a clear sense of purpose, identity, and direction for an organization. The mission statement articulates your organization’s current activities and purpose, while the vision statement paints a picture of the organization’s future aspirations and impact. Below are key differences to note:

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Mission Statement

A mission statement defines the fundamental purpose or reason for an organization’s existence. It answers the question, “Why does the organization exist?”

Mission statements focus on the present and describe what the organization is currently doing to fulfill its purpose. They include the products, services, or activities of the organization, its target audience or beneficiaries, and the values directing its actions. Mission statements act as a guiding principle for decision-making within the organization, providing clarity on its core identity and goals.
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Vision Statement

A vision statement outlines the desired future state or long-term aspirations of the organization. It answers the question, “What is the organization aspiring to become?”

Vision statements focus on the future and articulate the organization’s long-term goals and the impact it envisions. They express the organization’s ambitious goals, aspirations, and the positive change it aims to bring to the world or its stakeholders. Vision statements guide strategic planning and decision-making by providing a forward-looking perspective on where the organization aims to be.1

While mission and vision statements are separate, they have many overlapping qualities as well.

Example

Mission and vision statements from famous socially driven organizations.

Mission Statement

“We provide medical care to help people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare.”

– Doctors Without Borders

Vision Statement

“Humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.”

-Red Cross

Components of strong mission and vision statements

Mission and vision statements that are clear, concise, and compelling are more effective both for internal guidance and external communication purposes. Below, we further explain each of these components.

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Clear

Clarity in mission and vision statements is essential for ensuring that an organization’s purpose and goals are effectively communicated, understood, and pursued. This is because your success measurement efforts and processes to hold yourself accountable to your goals depend on how clearly you originally stated them.

Frame

Concise

Concision in mission and vision statements is essential to maintain focus, facilitate alignment, and have a more lasting impact on the organization and its stakeholders. Succinctly explain your goals in less than 50 words – be straight and to the point.

Frame

Compeling

Compelling mission and vision statements serve as powerful tools for engaging and uniting individuals around a shared purpose. They differentiate the organization, attract support, and promote commitment, ultimately contributing to the organization’s success and impact. Your written goals should be inspiring, informative, and memorable for the reader.

Quiz

Let’s test your knowledge and see if you can guess whether is a mission or a vision statement.

  1. To provide all students and teachers with access to the highest quality instructional materials that will help improve student learning outcomes.

    a. Mission Statement
    b. Vision Statement

  2. To ensure that school districts across the US are empowered to challenge professional learning vendors and highlight evidence-based strategies to foster the continuous advancement of teachers.

    a. Mission Statement
    b. Vision Statement

  3. To be a national leader in the assessment of effective and impactful educational technology.

    a. Mission Statement
    b. Vision Statement

  4. To create practical, timely, and affordable professional learning to help educators and instructional leaders provide students with a modern, equitable, and quality education.

    a. Mission Statement
    b. Vision Statement

Quiz – Answers

Let’s test your knowledge and see if you can guess whether is a mission or a vision statement.

  1. To provide all students and teachers with access to the highest quality instructional materials that will help improve student learning outcomes.

    a. Mission Statement ✔
    b. Vision Statement

  2. To ensure that school districts across the US are empowered to challenge professional learning vendors and highlight evidence-based strategies to foster the continuous advancement of teachers.

    a. Mission Statement
    b. Vision Statement ✔

  3. To be a national leader in the assessment of effective and impactful educational technology.

    a. Mission Statement
    b. Vision Statement ✔

  4. To create practical, timely, and affordable professional learning to help educators and instructional leaders provide students with a modern, equitable, and quality education.

    a. Mission Statement ✔
    b. Vision Statement

Create Your Own Statements

Now that we understand how to differentiate between mission and vision statements and the qualities both must have, it’s time to look inside your organization and define what your core pillars and values are. This process will help guide the construction of your goals. We will do this through 3 steps:

The Steps

01

Define your core values

Define core values, target users, the needs you are looking to address, impact goals, and strategies. Aligning these answers to your efforts shapes organizational identity, fostering purposeful actions and meeting user needs effectively.

02

Building Your Statements

Create your statements using our proposed templates by articulating your goals, target users, user needs, and intended impact, providing a foundation for clear and purposeful communication.

03

Evaluate Your Statements

Assess your statements to corroborate if you are goals are aligned with your efforts and with the market demand” instead of “if you are on the right track

Exercise

Build Your Value Statements – 3 steps
Complete the 3 steps outlined

Fill the template

Complete the exercise by accessing our template. You can either download and use it online or print it for use with your team.
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Mission alignment of all products, services and processes

Mission alignment is important for various reasons. It allows your organization to focus its resources on activities effectively and directly contributes to your goals, it helps users understand the value you generate and increases your credibility. It also gives your employees a greater sense of purpose and an understanding of how their actions contribute directly to your mission, and it allows your organization to track and measure successes. Below we suggest four steps to accomplish your alignment goals.

The Steps

01

Theory of change

Think through your theory of change.

02

Realign and prioritize

Design, prioritize and align your offering based on your goals.

03

Identify inconsistencies and misalignments

Identify inconsistencies and misalignments in the perceptions of different stakeholders.

04

Clarify business model

Differentiate your offering from that of other evidence creators in the market.

You have the flexibility to go through some or all of these steps, and the order doesn’t necessarily have to be as presented above.

The first step involves identifying actions that contribute to your goal attainment. The subsequent steps concentrate on aligning your product and service portfolio, your communication with various stakeholders, and your overall business operations and internal processes with your objectives. Particularly, steps 3 and 4 offer a comprehensive approach to ensuring your mission alignment.

You are missing a value proposition?

If you have not crafted one, refer to the tool above to help you craft one after the first two steps and come back to steps 3 and 4 afterwards.

Related tool

Craft your value proposition

What are the benefits of your products/services and how do they address your users’ needs?

Step 01: Think through your theory of change

A theory of change refers to how you expect your organization’s activities to result in creating the desired impact.2 Vision and mission statements help you operationalize them to decide which actions you should take next in order to make progress toward your goals.

The idea is to break down your goals into actionable items. State your goals (vision and mission statement) below. Use the diagram to break them down into more concrete actions. Start by listing all the different areas on which you could focus, or different angles from which you could approach the underlying problem you want to solve. Then, create a list of products and services you can offer users in each area to address the underlying problem. 

Consider first thinking about all the ways in which your goal could be achieved and only afterwards removing those actions which are not part of your organization’s expertise or your ideal products and services portfolio. This can limit confirmation bias.

Exercise

Aligning Services to Goals
This template includes the working material to complete the 4 steps of the process.

Fill the template

Complete the exercise by accessing our template. You can either download and use it online or print it for use with your team.
Access template
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Step 02: Design, prioritize and align your offering based on your goals

To synchronize your existing product and service portfolio with your objectives, follow 3 steps. Ensure that you allocate the majority of your resources to the high-priority products and services.

3 Steps to synchronize existing products and portfolio

01

Analyze your full range of offerings, considering the value they provide, and establish their alignment with your organization’s goals.

02

Compare your current product and service offerings with the ideal list you created in the previous step to identify any gaps.

03

Prioritize your products and services based on their contributions to your overarching goals.

Exercise

Aligning Services to Goals
This template includes the working material to complete the 4 steps of the process.

Fill the template

Complete the exercise by accessing our template. You can either download and use it online or print it for use with your team.
Access template
file

Step 03: Identify Inconsistencies and Misalignments in the Perceptions of Different Stakeholders

Often, different people have different perceptions of the same thing.
Of what it means to be a teacher, for example …

What does it mean to be a teacher?

With your products and services, all your stakeholders, employees and evidence users should know what you are doing and what you are offering. In addition, they should all know why you are doing what you are doing and how it benefits them. 

Exercise

Consider Diverse Perspectives
Consider the diverse perspectives held by various stakeholders regarding your organization. Reflect on what each stakeholder group perceives about your organization and where they gather information that shapes their views. This exercise aims to uncover disparities in your communication among different stakeholders and identify any potential misconceptions that can be rectified. Use the insights gained to pinpoint communication adjustments that enhance alignment with your goals.
Instructions
  • Respond independently or by yourself
  • Answer the questions below

Select each question for suggestions on where you can gather input.

What are your goals?

Need help designing a mission and vision statement? Click on the related tool below:

Related tool

Align your solutions and goals

What are your goals and how are your products/services helping you achieve them?

What is your value proposition?

Need help crafting your value proposition? Click on the related tool below:

Related tool

Craft your value proposition

What are the benefits of your products/services and how do they address your users’ needs?

What are the processes you have in place?

Need help mapping your processes? Click on the related tool below:

Related tool

Map and assess your process

What are your key activities and how can you optimize them?

What are the products and services you offer? What are the processes you have in place?

Need help? Click on the related tool below:

Related tool

Map and assess your process

What are your key activities and how can you optimize them?

Step 04: Clarify Your Business Model – Compare the Status Quo with Your Aspiration

A fundamental element of mission alignment is gaining a clear understanding of your organization’s activities and ensuring they align with your goals. To facilitate this process, you can utilize a valuable tool known as the Business Model Canvas.

The Business Model Canvas is a widely used template adopted by numerous firms and organizations spanning various industries. It provides a concise visual overview of your organization’s key operations, aiding exploring how your organization functions and what it requires to achieve its objectives.

In this section, you will be guided through the process of creating a Business Model Canvas. Developed by Dr. Alexander Osterwalder in 2005, this tool consists of nine building blocks designed to help you visualize your business model.

Download the official template
Feel free to print this model and engage in the exercises. Additionally, utilize the guide questions offered to assist you in this task.

External Resource

The Business Model Canvas

it allows you to describe, design, challenge, invent, and pivot your business model. 

Exercise – A

Identify your Status Quo
In order for the business model canvas to not be too high-level, divide your organization into smaller units and assess the business model for each unit separately. You can decide which level of granularity makes the most sense. 
Instructions
  • Fill in the business model canvas. What are you actually spending most time and money on on a daily basis?
  • Use these additional guiding questions to help you think through the status quo:

 

  • Which activities are you spending most time on on a day-to-day basis? 
  • Which channels are you most heavily using on a day-to-day basis?
  • Which partnerships are the most prominent?
  • Which user group are you most engaged with on a day-to-day basis?
  • What are the most expensive activities you are engaged in? Do they also deliver the most value?
  • What are your most common interactions with your customers?

Exercise – B

Compare the Status Quo with Your Aspiration
Comparing your aspirations with the status quo will allow you to identify any misalignments between your current operations and the ideal operations based on your value proposition and goals. Use this insight to identify any changes to your current operating model you can make to increase alignment with your goals.

Always think back to your value proposition and your vision/mission statement and ask yourself how each aspect of the business model links back to your goals.
Instructions
  • Now, fill in the business model canvas below with your aspiration. How would you like your organization to operate?
  • Use these additional guiding questions to help you think through your aspirations

 

  • Which activities would you consider most important to achieving your goals? Rank your activities in the field “key activities” accordingly.
  • Which channel has been shown to be the most effective to reach users?
  • Which partnerships have delivered the most value?
  • Targeting which user group has the most impact?
  • Which key activities and resources have the best cost-benefit-ratio?
  • What would your ideal customer interaction or customer journey look like, how would they interact with you and what would they do at each step?

Communicating to Your Organization

Once you have done the work of identifying and articulating the values your organization, communicating this to all members of your organization, as well as any stakeholders, ensures that everyone can participate in their role in achieving the vision and mission.

Everyone should have the opportunity to figure out how their role and process fits into the organization goals and can be well-equipped to support it. Here are some ways to ensure everyone is aware and included:

stakeholder

Leadership Participation

When the leadership team drives the alignment efforts, all members from the top to bottom can feel empowered to be on the same page.

stakeholder

Individual and Collective Impact

How the mission and vision manifests can look different per role, but each contribute to the collective success of the organization. When it is clearly defined for everyone, the process can be understood and can help generate buy-in.

magnifying-glass

Transparency and Accountability

Be open in answering questions from your colleagues can help them understand the rationale behind the values and adjust their contribution to the goals.

Summary

Identify and articulate your values before crafting your mission and vision statements, then share them internally and make them easily accessible on your website. These statements can meaningfully guide all your efforts, including the development and refinement of your products and services. To align your products and/or services always begin by thinking through your theory of change – begin with your goals, not with your existing activities, to ensure that you are not working to justify your existing efforts but to fine-tune them for better alignment with your self-identified organizational goals.

Key Takeaways

  • Mission and vision statements are essential for your organization’s short-term and long-term planning and must be clear, concise, and compelling
  • To align your products/services to your mission:
    • Think through your theory of change
    • Design, prioritize, and align your offering based on your goals
    • Identify inconsistencies and misalignments in the perceptions of different stakeholders
    • Differentiate your offering form that of other evidence creators in the market

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¹Coleman, Basha. “How to Write a Great Value Proposition [7 Top Examples + Template].” HubSpot Blog, April 13, 2023.

2 “Describe the Theory of Change.” Better Evaluation.