The mission
People in a position of strategic responsibility in an organization are better at taming and integrating this notion of “mission”. This term refers to a deep commitment to action to build something valuable. Our mission is based on the feelings we have of who we are as a person and what characterizes us. Our identity must be at the heart of our mission.
For example, in the professional context, a human resources manager can be defined as a professional who balances the relationship between management and all employees. He can then conceive of his role as a mediator in delicate or conflicting situations, and thus as a key element in maintaining the cohesion of the teams within the organization.
As early as 1973 Peter Drucker pointed out that “The greatest reason for frustration and failure in business is due to inadequate reflection of the purpose of the enterprise, of its mission. “As the saying goes: “There can be no favorable wind for the ship that does not know where it is going.”
The vision
The vision is broader than the mission in a sense that it exceeds the individual. An equivalence term is “contribution”. What is the success of the progressive development of the mission, and what is the feeling of contributing to the larger than me? By realizing who I am, I feel more of control of my world where the individual ones communicate and help each other despite their differences
Thus, the vision corresponds to the genesis of a cause, to an ideal. It is important the consciousness of vision and that it has a profound sense of action. This signifies competition that is at the source of a motivating rating to contribute to a world we want to belong to.
Values
Values also need to be clarified and consistent with the mission and the vision of the company and individuals who work there. Values are criteria. They talk about what is particularly important to us. They constitute our internal reference framework. So, we act according to our value system.
Just as a person gains awareness of his values, so does a company. The extension of values by the governing body allows staff to displace the setting in which they operate. In addition to making sense of the work – if it is incarnated and conveyed by the leaders, otherwise they are pure manipulation – the mission, vision and values function as benchmarks that allow over time to create a coherent corporate culture must be taken seriously.
What is the link with leadership?
The clarification of the mission, vision and values therefore directly concern the exercise of leadership.
Indeed, the big challenge today within organizations is to manage the complexity, to navigate in a shifting and uncertain world something difficult to meet if the leaders do not identify a vision, a mission and clear values. These are lighthouses that help to keep the course particularly stormy (internal conflicts, merger-acquisition, succession desdirigeants …).
A leader must lead by example in terms of attitude (state of mind) and behavior. It obtains the commitment of people, whatever their function in the company, by a “savoir-être” rather than a “know-how”. He is the guardian of the vision, mission and values of the organization he has created or to which he adheres.
Leadership is thus manifested more by the exemplarity, the coherence, the meaning given to actions than by the application of technical skills. It is a state of being that is cultivated and worked daily. Knowing how to retain employees while remaining consistent with the vision, mission and values of the company is the art of leadership.
