Discussion: Your Personal Mission and Vision

Effective leaders are those who have developed and internalized their own personal mission and vision concepts as a positive social change agent. As you create your personal mission and vision statements, you must keep in the forefront of your mind that scholar practitioners apply what they learn in order to effect positive social change on a community, organization, and global scale.

To prepare for this Discussion:

Review this week’s Learning Resources, especially:

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.

PRACTICE 4: ENABLE OTHERS TO ACT

• Chapter 9, “Foster Collaboration” (pp. 195–218)
• Chapter 10, “Strengthen Others” (pp. 219–244)

Caldwell, C., & Dixon, R. D. (2009). Love, forgiveness, and trust: Critical values of the modern leader. Journal of Business Ethics, 2010(93), 91–101. doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0184-z

Hayes, M., & Comer, M. (2011). Lead with humility. Leadership Excellence, 28(9), 13.

• By Day 3

Post a cohesive response based on your analysis of the Learning Resources and your professional experience. Be sure to discuss the following:

• Explain how your mission and vision statement encourages the development of positive social change within your organization or community.
• Discuss your current efforts to encourage positive social change within your organization or community.
• Compare the elements within your mission and vision statement to those of the selected servant leader used in Week 4.

Explain how fostering collaboration within your organization or community enhances your leadership ability to bring about positive social change.

• Elaborate on how your own mission and vision statement encourages positive social change especially in relationship to servant leadership.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.

By Day 5

Respond to at least two of your colleagues’ postings that contain a perspective other than yours.

• Share an insight about what you learned from having read your colleagues’ postings and discuss how and why your colleague’s posting resonated with you professionally and personally. (Note: This may be a great opportunity to help you think about passions you share with your colleagues who could become part of your Walden network.)
• Offer an example from your experience or observation that validates what your colleague discussed.
• Offer specific suggestions that will help your colleague build upon his or her perceptions as a leader.
• Offer further assessment from having read your colleague’s post that could impact a leader’s effectiveness.
• Share how something your colleague discussed changed the way you consider your own leadership qualities.

response 1:

Maria Helwig

RE: Week 5 Discussion

COLLAPSE

Vision and Mission Statement.

I feel like I have developed my mission and vision statement over many years, and it continues to be improved upon. My mission is to continue to find opportunities to do work in the community to help; this could be with the less fortunate or just lending a hand to a neighbor. My vision is that one day the entire population will support and uplift one another. They are pretty lofty goals, but it’s been something I have strived for in the past years, and continue to strive for. I have had the opportunity in my new company to get involved with several community outreach programs. I have also had the opportunity to help in COVID19 vaccination clinics. It makes me so happy to be able to interact and spend time with the community members in my area and try to bring a little extra joy to their lives. My mission and vision statements encourage positive social change within the community as their main purpose is to help improve the community for which we live. It sounds so childish, but I just want everyone in the world to get along, love thy neighbor, and if I can contribute in a positive manner to achieving that, then I will.

I work hard to encourage positive social change in my organization and community by getting my clinic involved. I am part of my organization’s United Way Committee and I help the clinic get energized to participate in events that help raise money for United Way. In addition, I have held several fundraisers for other local organizations which also engages the clinic to participate. My favorite community outreach program is volunteering at the different Milton Hershey School homes. We do fun things with the kids once a month since many of them do not have solid family homes. I promote these activities to the clinic and many have gotten involved, and it makes a world of difference in the children’s lives. By emulating the behavior, and showing how exciting the events can be, other clinic members have begun to volunteer which encourages positive social change.

I feel my mission and vision statements directly correlate to the servant leader identified in week 4. The therapy supervisor I identified is caring, serves other needs before her own, and values all people. Focusing my efforts on community outreach and helping those in need directly correlates to the characteristics of a servant leader. As I mentioned last week in my assignment, I often stretch myself too thin trying to help everyone. I sign up for so many events that I often do not have time for my own mental well-being, and that is not okay. I found an article stating those who practice self-compassion and self-care can help prevent burnout. I need to also take care of myself in order to continue to care for others.

I believe I foster collaboration within my organization which enhances my leadership ability to bring about positive social change. Fostering collaboration creates a climate of trust and facilitates relationships; both items that can contribute to positive social change. Fostering collaboration also requires showing concern for others as well as sharing knowledge with others. Leading to foster collaboration will engage everyone you come in contact with and promote an environment that everyone is welcome. This type of environment will result in those we come in contact with acting the same way, which results in a positive social change.

References

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.

Ponton, M., & Focht, A. (2015). Identifying primary characteristics of servant leadership: delphi study. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 9(1), 44–61.

Seppala, E. (2017). How to Take Care of Others Without Burning Out. Time. How to Take Care of Others Without Burning Out

Response 2:

Dazondria Curry

RE: Week 5 Discussion

COLLAPSE

Visions and missions statements help guide the concerned individual on what they stand to achieve for doing a particular activity or behaving in a specific manner. People have dreams which they anticipate achieving within a certain time frame. These goals require individuals to behave or act in a way consistent with their objectives. As an environmental activist, I am the founder of a non-profit organization called “Nature is Life”. My mission and vision is to protect the environment against human activities that cause environmental harm or degradation.

Nature is Life has been educating people, mainly jobless youths and elder people, on the dangers of a polluted environment. The organization offers the participants a daily stipend of $25 to encourage them to continue attending training programs. Unfortunately, some people have been attending the training to earn a daily stipend but don’t practice the earned knowledge. Although, despite of all the challenges, my key goal is to inspire some people to embrace the practice (Hayes, & Comer, 2011).

As a result, achieving the set goals has been challenging. In most instances, I must visit most people who participated in the program to persuade them to plant trees in their areas, keep their community clean, and prevent them from using harmful chemicals that could harm the environment . Although I am aware that most people attend the training to earn a stipend; I have to remain persuasive, collaborative and dedicate our time and resources towards attaining optimal environmental conservation (Kouzes, & Posner, 2017). Compared to the week four discussion, these qualities are similar to the leadership qualities such as perseverance and quest for change as exhibited by Barack Obama.

Therefore, my mission statement has been encouraging people to shun away activities that cause environmental degradation or harm and embrace nature . So, love for one’s goals is essential for the success of the mission. Again, it is vital to build trust among the followers (Caldwell, & Dixon, 2009).

References

Caldwell, C., & Dixon, R. D. (2009). Love, forgiveness, and trust: Critical values of the modern leader. Journal of Business Ethics, 2010(93), 91–101. doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0184-z

Hayes, M., & Comer, M. (2011). Lead with humility. Leadership Excellence, 28(9), 13.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.