Vision statements should consider how the market and your customer base may change within the next three, five, or seven years, how such changes can create opportunities for your organization, how to bridge the distance between how things are today and where you envision you want to be within your established timeframe, how you will surpass your competitors in order to gain greater market share, and also what you are doing collectively to capitalize on the changes in business conditions and your business’s needs.
Like a mission, an organization’s vision has ideally been created/ contributed to by all employees. The more buy-in an organization has among its employees, the greater the effectiveness of the vision. The vision should inspire—it demonstrates where the organization as a whole wants to be, and what will occur as it delivers on its mission. It is where an organization envisions itself in those three, five, or seven years. (We prefer five years, because that is a reasonable amount of time for most organizations to get to the next step.)
So, whereas the mission is what an organization does best every day, its vision is what the future looks like when it fulfills its mission exceedingly well. Some effective vision statements include Nike: To be the number one athletic company in the world, and Amazon: Our vision is to be earth’s most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.
When I worked for Gatorade, we developed an incredible advantage over the competition because we took the time to establish its vision, where they were going and when they wanted to get there, and ensured that every employee shared this vision. Gatorade’s competitors at the time, Powerade and All Sport, faded away as a result, because they lacked a commonly shared vision, they lacked direction—they lacked a road map.
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In His Name HR helps organizations build high performance Human Resources programs. Visit them at In HIS Name HR or e-mail them here.
Mark A. Griffin is the founder and chief consultant of In His Name HR LLC. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Successful organizations begin by establishing their mission, which is the core reason for their existence—the product or service they provide, who they provide it to, and the benefits of that product or service. A lack of an established mission means that not only are staff and management unsure of their purpose, but customers and vendors are also left in the dark, uncertain of what to expect.
An organization’s mission ideally defines what it does best every day and why, and reflects the customer’s needs as well. Having a mission is the foundation upon which a high-performing organization’s dreams and potential become reality. Essentially, it affirms the reason(s) why an organization exists.
Under the guidance of a project facilitator, a team of senior management begins by developing a framework of what they believe the mission should be. The facilitator shares and explains this mission framework to each supervisory layer, soliciting input on each occasion, and ultimately shares it with the employees who then sit down with a good human resources representative in a roundtable session to discuss it and generate further input. The facilitator may need to go back and forth a few times before a final product is derived. Once the majority of employees and management agree to the refined mission, all employees need to agree to respect and support it.
A primary benefit to creating or revisiting a mission is that it opens up communication within and throughout an organization. Every successful organization has a clearly established mission, one that has been developed with input from all employees collectively, not simply flowing down from the top. By engaging employees in establishing their organization’s mission, they become fully invested in it. The mission must be ingrained within the organization’s culture. Not only are employees and customers made familiar with the organization’s mission; candidates are also exposed to the mission of high-performing organizations during the interview process, before they’re offered a position.
Some tips to remember when writing a mission statement: 1) keep it short and easy to remember; 2) specify who your target customer is and describe the advantages you offer; and 3) define your product clearly and how it differs from the competition.
You may be wondering how you can say all that and still keep your mission statement short and memorable. Here are two strong examples from high-performing organizations with effective mission statements.
Google: We organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Their marketplace? The world. Their product and its advantages? Organizing the world’s information to make it easily accessible and useful. They do this and they do it exceedingly well.
Starbucks: We inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time. Their marketplace? Also, essentially the world, yet they stress the individual: one person, one neighborhood at a time to maintain a personal feel. We are already very familiar with their product and social coffeehouse environment, aren’t we?
Let’s look at a Bible College and Seminary Mission.
Lancaster Bible College|Capital Seminary & Graduate School: Our focus is on your journey to fulfill God’s purpose for your life. Our mission has remained constant since 1933: To educate Christian students to think and live a biblical worldview and to proclaim Christ by serving Him in the Church and society.
And finally a Private Christian College.
Messiah College: Our mission is to educate men and women toward maturity of intellect, character and Christian faith in preparation for lives of service, leadership and reconciliation in church and society.
In addition to a mission statement, all high-performing organizations possess a clearly defined vision. Organizations with an established vision have a workplace of direction, purpose, and achievement. These organizations envision where they want to be and do the appropriate things to get there. Every employee is given a copy of this road map.
In His Name HR helps organizations build high performance Human Resources programs. Visit them at In HIS Name HR or e-mail them here.
Mark A. Griffin is the founder and chief consultant of In His Name HR LLC. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter.
When we meet with people to discuss strengthening their HR practices, we often use the term “Kingdom-minded organization.” More often than not, they are intrigued as to precisely how we define what potentially encompasses a considerably broad scope or approach. Certainly, many Christian business people, academia professionals, pastors, and consultants have their own ideas as to what constitutes a Kingdom-minded organization. My own Kingdom-minded human resources organization has worked hard to develop what we feel is a clear, actionable, and measurable articulation of just what a Kingdom-minded organization means to us and how to achieve it, and, as a result, the organizational leaders we work with express enthusiasm to achieve these goals, and are willing to invest their precious time, dollars, and energy into making their organization a prosperous one, and one reflective of Christ and His teachings.
In terms of what comprises the framework of a Kingdom-minded organization, the model I developed contains principles that apply to marketplace organizations, colleges and universities, churches, and non-profit organizations alike.
A Kingdom-minded organization puts Christ first, with a focus on integrity, honesty, and straightforward dealings with students, alumni, parents, staff, contractors and suppliers, etc. Such an organization possesses clearly delineated mission, vision, and core value statements. It has agreed upon goals and objectives, especially in the realms of mission execution, customer service, production, and quality.
Being a Kingdom-minded organization does not in any way preclude prosperity. On the contrary, it aims to be prosperous for the benefit of its key stakeholders, leadership, owners, employees, and the organization’s community. They should—they must—strive to do great things, marrying their godly goals with the fruits of success, those of a job well done. By no means should they consider themselves as unable to participate in the results-driven culture of winning U.S. organizations.
Mission, Vision, And Values (MVV)
When mapping out the future of an organization that professes to strive to become high performing, management must create its mission, vision, and value statements (MVVs) or ignite existing ones by recreating them. Much has been written on what should comprise mission, vision, and value statements. I always suggest keeping them simple—simple concepts that all employees can remember and fully support. It’s difficult to fully commit to and “own” an organization’s ideals if they are so complicated, convoluted, or vague that the employees can’t remember them clearly.
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In His Name HR helps organizations build high performance Human Resources programs. Visit them at In HIS Name HR or e-mail them here.
Mark A. Griffin is the founder and chief consultant of In His Name HR LLC. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter.
When I was asked to blog about forward-thinking human resources content to Christian Higher Ed Professionals, I knew I would have to start by constructing a solid foundation and build upon that. Having spent over 25 years in corporate America working alongside highly respected HR thought leaders at such organizations as Kodak, PepsiCo, and Merck Inc., I thought back to what makes certain organizations succeed while others fail.
Six years ago, I founded and now lead a growing HR consulting firm that supports organizations across the United States, organizations with one thing in common—they are Christian-based, whether for-profit companies or ministries and churches, and all possess essentially the same strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. No amount of technology or reengineering solves their issues. At the end of the day, it is the people within those organizations who make the difference.
What singles out certain organizations is the ability of their leadership to align their people effort to a collective MVV—mission, vision and values. Without this foundation, organizations flounder and employees lack direction. Without identified and established MVVs, HR leaders are unable to align their HR programs to achieve high performance. I have witnessed firsthand what happens when organizations lack this essential organizational mantra. What’s tragic is that establishing a company’s MVV is not only basic but quite simple to do. It requires nothing more than to identify why you do what you do and how you want to do it.
In the coming posts, I will guide you through the necessary steps to identify your core beliefs and goals, your MVV. Then we will explore how to skillfully integrate this MVV into your HR process to ensure you deliver on your mission, achieve your vision, and work within the values you establish. I will also define for you a term we use: “Kingdom-minded organization.” In my experience, the use of this Christian-oriented term illuminates how your organization will present its MVV differently to those of secular organizations.
Once you spend some time reflecting on what is meaningful to you and your organization, you will have taken the first steps on our journey together to create a Kingdom-minded organization of like-minded individuals working together to achieve high performance.
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In His Name HR helps organizations build high-performance Human Resources programs. Visit them at In HIS Name HR or e-mail them.
Mark A. Griffin is the founder and chief consultant of In His Name HR LLC. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter.
LANCASTER, Pa., March 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Workplace relationships are a vital element of a productive and positive work environment, and Christian Business Consultants, In His Name HR, are offering HR Impact 360, a newly developed leadership tool that will lend more transparency to businesses, available from April 1, 2016 through InHisNameHR.com.
HR Impact 360 is a tool that provides workplace leaders with anonymous, aggregated and meaningful feedback from the people who work with them. Depending on the organization, this could include the employee’s manager, peers, and direct reports.
Receiving feedback from these diverse sources allows each leader to discover how their colleagues view their effectiveness as an employee, coworker and staff member.
President and Founder of In His Name HR, Mark Griffin, said Impact 360 is an invaluable tool that allows feedback and constructive criticism to be given honestly and professionally.
Many job seekers spend countless hours on job boards and resume submission sites. There is a better way. Enjoy learning how with Jamaal Abdul-Alim of Diverse Issues In Higher Education. The central theme of the article is to not get bogged down in the hiring funnel. The following is an excerpt from the article.
Despite the growing number of websites designed to connect college graduates to jobs, job seekers should focus on alternative ways to get in contact with the people who hire and fire.
That is the advice that Mark Griffin, a veteran human resources professional, offers in his newly released book, titled College to Career: The Student Guide to Career and Life Navigation.
“I would have to say that college students and others have very little chance of making it though the filter to actually get an interview, let alone make it to the point of job offer,” Griffin told Diverse, citing the “hiring funnel” and data that show that only 25 out of every 100 résumés among applicants will be seen by a hiring manager, and just four to six of those will lead to an actual interview.
“Some of these vacancies receive thousands of applicants per posting,” Griffin said. “Therefore your chances are decreased dramatically.”
Griffin’s remarks come at a time of increased emphasis on a college education as the means to a good job. It also comes at a time of a proliferation of websites — some free and some paid — meant to connect college graduates to the marketplace.
“This is not a self help book… This is a book to help you create your best options, now and into the future…”
31 August 2015
College to Career, The Student Guide to Career and Life Navigation, a new book by accomplished human resources professional and author, Mark A. Griffin, will be released on Amazon.com on August 31, 2015.
This year, more than 1.6 million students will graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree, after dedicating themselves to years of study and investing tens of thousands of dollars into their education.
The identified trend is that these inspired students are keen to kick-start their careers, leaping blindly into the workplace and asking questions later. Unfortunately, the majority find themselves in unrelated to their college major, feeling unfulfilled and demotivated. It’s a downward spiral from this point.
The book will help readers to target the career ideally suited to their personality, set up practical, actionable steps through each stage of college and translate their education into a meaningful career.
Do You Know Which Career Path to Follow After You Graduate?
This year, over 1.6 million students will graduate college with a Bachelor’s degree. After spending tens of thousands of dollars on their education, many will find themselves absorbed in to the workforce in a career field unrelated to their college major. These once hopeful students will become discouraged and uncertain about their future, some may spend many years feeling unfulfilled in a career where their passions and purpose are unmet.
You can avoid this predicament; there is a better way.
In College to Career: The Student Guide to Career and Life Navigation, accomplished human resources professional, author, and consultant Mark A. Griffin helps readers to:
Target the career ideally suited to their personality
Define their unique voice
Set up practical, actionable steps through each stage of college
Translate their education to a meaningful career
This is not a self-help book for finding employment. This is a book to help you create your best options, now and into the future. It is a book to steer you through careful planning and vision casting, toward achieving and enjoying a satisfying life professionally, financially, and personally.
As a bonus, this book includes several interviews from top experts in their fields. You will learn from leaders in organizations which includes: the Dallas Cowboys, Management Recruiters International, Florida A & M, James Madison University, Hope International and more. They will share their tips for success as well as hurdles they have overcome.
Whether you are a student just starting college, a parent wanting to guide your child in the right direction, or a graduate seeking direction in your career, you have come to the right place. Don’t waste another minute living aimlessly. Begin your future today!
Interviews With Workplace Experts From Across America
Many people are eager to start a career in HR, but often don’t know what steps to take to break into the profession.
If you are in this situation or know someone who is, this article will provide some helpful hints.
Finding a job in HR is easiest for those with an HR-related college degree. Frankly, in most cases, even an advanced degree and/or HR certification is increasingly becoming the preferred credential.
Honored to have been a guest blogger on Alan Collins blog.
