Individual Purpose/Mission, Values, Vision Exercise

Created by Bob Bostrom

EXERCISE BACKGROUND The premise of a recent book, Leadership from the Inside Out by Kevin Cashman, is that one cannot be an effective leader unless one comes to grip with being an effective and meaningful person. Some sample questions posed by the book include: Are you on achievement auto-pilot? What are your values and purpose? Do you question where you are going and why? Will it take a major crisis, such as divorce, disease, or termination for you to question your direction? Are you living "have-to-dos" or "want-to-dos"? What is the true meaning of your life? This exercise will help you answer some of these questions and develop a clear purpose and vision for your life. People without purpose and vision don't have much influence on other people, and thus, they are not very effective as leaders.

INDIVIDUAL PURPOSE, VALUES, AND VISION There is a set of exercises described in a the attached document ("Internal Compass Exercise", see web site). The exercises help you explore four concepts:

 Purpose/Mission: Why we are here. Our reason for being, our core. Our sense of mission and direction. Purpose provides meaning.  Values: What is really important to us, what matters. The standards we use to evaluate things and make choices.  Vision: What you want to create in the world, what you what, your desired realities. The expression of your purpose and values in the world.  Outcomes/Actions: The actions you take to achieve your vision and purpose. The daily expression of your personal purpose and vision.

I have also attached a short paper that reviews these concepts ("Meaningful Work", see web site).

Take the time to do the exercises described in the "Internal Compass Exercise" file following the guidelines provided. Upon completion, take your notes from the exercises and write up:

 personal purpose/mission statement;  brief description of core values (I want you to prioritize or rank order your values, present your most important value first, then second most important, etc);  brief vision statement of current work role (how your purpose and values being expressed in your role as a manager, consultant, auditor, etc.); and  A brief discussion of how the key changes you identify during this workshop will help you obtain your vision and purpose. Purpose statements are usually short (a paragraph or two, etc.). Your purpose statement should not exceed a page, I expect no more than 2-3 pages to capture purpose and values. Similarly, a vision statement is usually short (no more than a page).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I have borrowed heavily from two sources: the unpublished work of Leslie Cameron- Bandler and the book Living With Vision by Linda Marks (Knowledge System, Indianapolis, IN, 1989). I thank them both for their gifts. Although I have used their material, I have made major modifications in both substance and form. Thus, I take full responsibility for the content represented in this handout.

After I had finished this exercise, I came across an article, "Building Your Company's Vision" by J.C. Collins and J.I. Powers, in Harvard Business Review (September-October 1996, pg. 65). I strongly recommend that you read it. It describes a process for developing a company's purpose, values and visions. From reading it, you will gather insights on how to apply the process you went through in this assignment to organizations and their subsystems (teams, departments, etc.). An abstract of this article follows:

ARTICLE ABSTRACT: Corporate vision provides guidance about what to preserve and what to change. A new prescriptive framework adds clarity and rigor to the vague and fuzzy vision concepts at large today. The framework has 2 principal parts: core ideology and envisioned future. Core ideology combines an organization's core values and core purpose. Core values are an organization's essential and enduring tenets - the values it would hold even if they became a competitive disadvantage. The 2nd component of the vision framework is the envisioned future. First, a company must identify bold stretch goals; then it should articulate vivid descriptions of what it will mean to achieve them. Unfortunately, the usual vision statement is fuzzy and inspires only boredom. But managers who master a discovery process to identify core ideology can link their vision statements to the fundamental dynamic that motivates truly visionary companies.

Two related sources that might be useful for later reference:  The Passion Plan by Richard Chang (Jossey-Bass, 2000): this book focuses on helping you discovery the things your really care about, deciding where you want them to take you, and developing a plan for getting there. A good resource if you want to pursue this topic more.  First Things First By S.R. Covey, A.R. Merrill, and R. R. Merrill (1994): Useful resource for helping to take your purpose and vision and make sure that you are living them each day.

Web site for resources: www.terry.uga.edu/~rbostrom See LEADERSHIP 2000