The Outcome Mapping manual provides a brief explanation of 'Mission' as applied in step 2 of the Intentional Design stage. At the time of writing, no elaborate, new facilitation processes for developing a Mission statement was considered necessary. OM uses the concept of mission, the way many organizations do. In conventional usage, mission refers to what activities are carried out and why. With OM we try to be thorough and specific about what kind of 'business' the in... Read more ▼
The Outcome Mapping manual provides a brief explanation of 'Mission' as applied in step 2 of the Intentional Design stage. At the time of writing, no elaborate, new facilitation processes for developing a Mission statement was considered necessary. OM uses the concept of mission, the way many organizations do. In conventional usage, mission refers to what activities are carried out and why. With OM we try to be thorough and specific about what kind of 'business' the intervention is involved in. We do this by providing an overview of the following:
A mission statement can be more or less detailed depending on its use and intended audience. In OM terms, a mission statement gives advance notice about 'boundary' and 'strategic' partners and about Strategy Maps, as it can include summary information about the kinds of partners, outcomes and strategies it intends to work with. It may also include the principles and values underlying the intervention and refer to the Organizational Practices it intends to build in to maintain learning and relevance.
There are natural constraints and determinants of the mission boundaries. These include the professional and organizational characteristics and histories of the people involved. Credibility, experience, competencies, relationships, funding agreements, mandates, social, economic, technological and geographical factors - all of these shape and limit the mission of an intervention.
The mission statement can be a powerful communication tool; when developed in a participatory way, it can help manage expectations (what the intervention does, what others need to be responsible for, the different 'bites of the apple' of a 'shared apple'). In this way, the mission provides a bride between the vision and the planning process. Because the vision is intentionally broad and idealistic, there needs to be a piece which then narrow it down and sets some boundaries.
Some examples of how people have innovated on the mission statement include:
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