Key Terms in the Workplace: Defining Purpose, Mission, Vision, Values, and Needs

Photo by Jordan Madrid on Unsplash

The world of  HR and corporate culture has many buzzwords. There’s “value propositions,” “growth mindset,” “adaptability,” among many others — and all together these can become a lot for any organization, manager, or employee to define and collectively understand. 

However, even though they’re sometimes overwhelming, many of these concepts actually hold great importance. To help provide some clarity, in this piece I’m going over what I consider to be five main pillars for any organization: purpose, mission, vision, values, and needs. Keep reading for my perspectives on what these are, how they contribute to an organization, and how they’re embodied in practice.

Purpose

When we think about the purpose of an organization, it’s worth discussing it within the context of the individual, first. A person’s purpose typically drives their understanding of what matters in their life. 

Naine Dhingra, from McKinsey, uses the analogy of the North Star; "this idea of having a sense of direction, intention, and understanding that the contribution you're making is going somewhere. Now, that's a technical definition, but I think we all intuitively know what it feels like to be on purpose. It's when you feel energized and inspired and alive." 

Relatedly, research shows that 70 percent of people claim to define their purpose through work. Employees are looking to work in fields that help fulfill what they believe is their purpose. 

As such, there’s an incentive for companies to work with their teams to collaboratively create an authentic organizational purpose that current and potential employees can relate to. This is not just making grand statements or donating money to a cause. It means setting intentions behind what it is you want your organization to contribute to the world.

With a strong sense of purpose organizations attract employees who are far more likely to be excited to work for them. This improves personal well-being, expands employee resources and skills, allows for stronger relationships, and increases creative thinking. 

Mission

A company's mission typically represents the basic building blocks of an organization: who we are and what we do. Often, a mission statement will also reflect what matters to the organization or their values. 

In other words, a company's mission statement communicates the organization's basis for existence. In fact, I've seen some organizations state their mission by starting with "we exist to…", followed by a description of what they do, the services they provide, or the products they create. 

Let's take a look at Fresh Prep’s mission statement as an example. 

“We believe that the quality of your life starts with the food you eat. By eating the right food, your mind and body can flourish and function at the best of its ability. The problem is: you’re too busy, and you don’t have time to eat well, often resorting to take-out or fast food. It takes too much time to plan, shop, cut and clean up. That’s why at Fresh Prep, we find the absolute easiest way for you to access the highest quality food, everyday. We are committed to making your life in the kitchen, and outside the kitchen, as easy and as stress-free as possible.” 

Here, Fresh Prep indicates what they are trying to accomplish for their customer, but it also speaks to an ethos they can bring inside their organization. It’s important to note that a company's mission can change over time as it evolves. As such, the scope of a mission statement is a little more immediate than that of the purpose.

Vision 

A company’s vision speaks to where they want to go in the future. It is a declaration of the organization's aspirations, speaking to the “why” behind the work. Now, sometimes these aspirations are internally focussed, where the company outlines what they want to become within their space and beyond. And sometimes these aspirations are focussed on external elements, speaking to a potential future state of the world, an improvement they can make on people’s lives, or how they envision the impact they can make.

This is particularly important for companies and organizations that are disrupting the status quo within a particular space and want to invite people to work with them to do that. It's also important for social enterprises and not-for-profits as they are truly focussed on external impact that is beneficial to a specific community or humanity as a whole.

At Parent Support Services Society of BC, for example, they have a future-facing vision of “Communities where all families and children are empowered and valued.” All of the work they do ladders up to this vision, which acts as a guiding statement for all their employees, members, volunteers, and donors. 

Values 

I like to call values the “non-negotiables" — a term gifted to me by my Co-active Coach, Valerie. Values reflect what is important to an organization, they provide guidelines for decision-making for individuals and teams across the organization. At the organizational level, they should be embedded into how employees and other members show up in various contexts. 

I often talk about values as influencing the “how” behind the “why.” If we look back at the purpose, mission, and vision statements I addressed above, the purpose and vision focus on the big picture, whereas the mission speaks to what is being done. The values influence how things get done.  

Sometimes values show up in an organization’s code of ethics, but where I find them to be most helpful is when they are articulated in a manner that aligns with organizational culture. For instance, if your organization is mostly remote, is there a digital space where employees can surface them easily? Alternatively, if your team meets regularly, is there a chance to reference the values when you recognize an employee for their good work? 

It is important to note that your organization's values, just like the purpose, mission and vision statements, shouldn't be set in a top-down approach, but should reflect a collaborative effort with members of your team. And given employees will have their own personal set of values, although it may seem daunting, creating a set of values for your entire organization is possible. You just have to make sure the 'non-negotiables' reflect the voices of all your employees and the communities you serve.

Needs 

Lastly, we have needs. I'm a systems thinker and, since learning about systems thinking, I have often found myself stating that humans are complex and beautiful systems within systems. One of the building blocks in humans are our needs. Similar to values, needs influence our decisions and form part of the "how" behind our "why."

Human needs are motivational drivers. There are tons of theories and models about human needs. Two frameworks that I sometimes reference are Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and The Centre for Nonviolent Communication Inventory of Needs. The key here is to honour and recognize the needs your employees have. The challenge for organizations is to implement HR strategies that strike a good balance between these needs and your organizational goals.

Defining and acknowledging these elements are essential as you engage with new and existing employees because it allows your employees to get solidified in your organization's culture. Having clearly defined values, missions, visions, and a purpose while having a pulse on employee needs makes it easy for your employees to accomplish goals, stay motivated, and know their roles within the workplace, as the basic building blocks are clear.

Want to learn more about how to embed these elements into your employee relationships? Let's chat.