Our class project is broken down into five sections, and each responsibility is allocated to a group of 3-4 students (task depending). On the first day of class, Professor Kelso allowed us to choose a team we wanted to be a part of.
The teams were: Team 1: Founders who work on the development of the mission and vision statement, Team 2: Program Development who work on designing the grant application, Team 3: Communications who design the website and campaign strategy, Team 4 who evaluates and accepts grant proposals, and Team 5: Board who oversees the other teams and communicates with stakeholders.
Choosing what team I belonged on was instant. I was well aware I could give the most time to components of the project that were early on in the semester which narrowed my choices down to Team 1 and Team 2. The development of a mission and vision statement was more appealing to me, because it set the foundation of the rest of the project. Being someone who needs a mic to speak in a group setting, I thought being in Team 1 would allow me to have a greater say in the foundation of the project.
Much of the thoughts that went behind the mission and vision were discussed in class, it was just a matter of formulating our thoughts into two presentable statements. I honestly didn't think it would be a challenge to write two sentences. Especially after writing papers that were over 45 pages, two sentences seemed effortless. I soon came to realize that because of how short the statements had to be, it was critical for each word to hold power and purpose.
Our mission statement had to be simple, strong, and concise- mainly because anything too long may lose the interest of organizations or even complicate our purpose. Also, keeping things simple would be beneficial to us. I always thought it was best and easiest to “keep things simple” but, it is actually a challenge because of the many minds contributing to this one task. Luckily, in the end we managed to keep things simple!
However it was a process, our team went through a few drafts before presenting the mission and vision to the class, and as a class we went back and forth on what wording sounded right, or what could be improved. For example, our current vision statement reads: “We seek a future where every person will have the resources necessary to achieve their academic and professional aspirations.” Believe it or not, we debated if we should say “every person”, “people of all backgrounds”, “people from all walks of life”, or even be specific and say “immigrants”. Wording is key, and it was a collaboration of many minds that gave us what we have now!
After going through this process, I realized that constructing a mission and vision statement as a team was effortful because of the variety in perspectives and opinions we each brought to the table. But, it was also our greatest strength! As for me, when I was questioned why I wanted to write something a certain way I was forced to think about my own reasonings, ultimately learning new ways of writing and thinking.
-- Arshia
Responses From Our Class
I agree entirely with what you had to say. I also thought constructing the mission and vision would be one of the easier parts of the foundation process, but it turns out we were both wrong. We definitely learned through trial and error which wording to use to effectively communicate our ideas. Having a class full of people with different ideas and perceptions about how to say what we mean was both positive and negative due to the vast amount of input and valuable criticism but it also made the process much more difficult to ensure everyone's opinions were heard and included.
Even though this process was challenging, I feel as though it was beneficial for us to struggle through figuring it out and working through the hard parts to come up with something we will use to promote our foundation. It also makes the end product much more valuable and makes our efforts feel more gratifying. If we had simply slapped some words together we wouldn't be nearly as confident and proud of our mission and vision as we are now. I personally feel that it helped bring us together as a class and get on the same page to really hone in our focus which will assist us even more once we reach the point where we have to choose which organization(s) to award the grant to.
These communication skills and our willingness to work together will also help us throughout the process both with class objectives and more general support of each other. I'm looking forward to continuing to achieve our goals through mutual understanding and hard work. Thanks for your perspective!
--Tanya
When we initially broke into the five teams, I was worried that this process would feel very disconnected. However, after our experience in Team 1, I saw that it was a much more collaborative process than I was expecting. As you mention, it was important to have a smaller group to do the background research and work out certain details so that as a larger group we could have a more productive discussion and work collaboratively to edit what was presented. I think that this “group-within-a-group” setup is also representative of work is done in many organizations.
Something that helped our smaller group construct the mission/values statement was to separate and define the important parts that we needed, including our target population, location, and issue topic. One of the more difficult aspects, as you mentioned, was choosing the right words to define these aspects and weave them together in a clear and creative way.
I also agree with Tanya that this initial brainstorming helped to open the lines of communication as a class, specifically engaging in constructive conversations when there were different ideas of what to write. I also think this collaborative writing helped make everyone invested in the foundation.
--Rachel
Thank you for your thoughtful and critical reflection on the process of writing our mission and vision; you eloquently captured what it was like to journey through something that was deceitfully challenging. I particularly enjoyed your comment that 'wording is key.' I think that so often it is easy to write using terminology that is within our everday vernacular, but when we come together in what you called a 'collaboration of many minds' we could reflect on the differences between "every person" and "people of all backgrounds." While a mission statement requires concision, the team also had to consider person first language amongst other aspects of phrasing that might be wordier.
I agree with both Tanya and Rachel in that this process brought the class closer together in a working, collaborative capacity. It was the first time where all of the students were offered an open platform to discuss a common project. This is something that is not too common in acedemic coursework, an entire class working openly on one project, but I believe that it provides invaluable lessons that lend to the strength of our project, and our skill development as young professionals. As Rachel noted, the 'group-within-group' model is present in many organizations, and it is advantageous to have this exposure in the classroom setting. It is additionally beneficial in that the class is collaborating on something about which we are passionate and eager to develop a meaningful foundation that will support local organizations creating change within the DMV community.
I enjoyed reading your considerate post and the different aspects of the mission and vision writing process about which it made me think!
--Grace