Mission, Vision, value, and Strategy Statements

A healthcare organization’s success requires an effective mission, vision, value, and strategy to provide the overall direction designed to achieve its objective and the steps to get there. Mission, vision, value, and strategy are linked together and form the foundation that helps healthcare organizations determine what is needed to achieve and how they can provide standard care to their patients.

Although Mission, vision, value, and strategy statement seem similar, each statement serves a separate function. An organization’s Mission gives a brief description organization, thus defining the primary objective and acting as a starting point for any plan (Achieveit, 2019). It answers the question  ‘Why the organization exists”. The vision is the destination that needs to be achieved. It is a picture of the organization in the future. It articulates the organization’s dreams and hopes that remind each person in the organization what they are trying to build. A vision sets the compass that gives direction and meaning to leaders and is a strong drive and inspiration for the ongoing operational and practical development (Achieveit, 2019). The leaders have to balance innovation, transformation, and recovery.

 Moreover, the leader must ensure the vision corresponds with the core value and is realistic and achievable. Values refer to the quality prioritized by the organization. This statement defines how people conduct themselves in the organization. Values describe how the organization will behave with its patients, employees, vendors, and stakeholders. It aims to mend people together to create a corporate culture. Leaders play a vital role in developing the organization’s culture and setting the course and environment for their subordinates (Burns, Bradley & Weiner, 2018). The core values improve healthcare organizations and strategically prepare them for long-term success.

Although an organization may have a well-defined mission, vision, and values statement, it requires review throughout the strategic planning process (Burns, Bradley & Weiner, 2018). The strategy articulates the organization’s mission, vision, and values and ensures every team is current, resonate with the main stakeholders, and provides a firm foundation for planning.

There are various benefits of having an effective mission, vision, value, and strategy statement in a healthcare organization. One, it improves the communication among all chains as everyone knows where the organization is headed and the steps required to reach there. This creates clarity and improves team communication (Burns, Bradley & Weiner, 2018). This results in improved confidence and faith in the organization (Lica, 2021). Second, these statements help in developing and sharing a vision. This is because the employees become committed and motivated to help the organization achieve its vision. Third, these statements help the patient determine where to seek care. The patients consider these key statements to discern which facilities best suit their unique needs (Lica, 2021). Fourth, the employees can determine where to work. By evaluating Mission, vision, value, and strategy statements, employees can determine where they will fit in their workplace. Fifth, these statements ensure ethical care is provided (Rider et al., 2014). The organization has to be honest and transparent about its Mission and how they affect their patient to ensure standard care is provided ethically. Finally, these statements help improve patient outcomes by creating a mission-driven culture (Lica, 2021). This is because having compelling Mission, vision, value, and strategy statements ignites passion among employees.

In conclusion, the organization’s mission, vision, values, and strategy are very important for any healthcare organization. These statements are linked together. Without a mission and vision, a strategy would be a vacuum; a mission and vision without a road map cannot be accomplished and depends on the strategy. Without values, the organization will have no touchstone to develop appropriate strategies and tactics. Therefore all the statements are equally important for the achievement of the healthcare organization.

References

Achieveit. (2019). The Link Between Mission, Vision, and Strategy. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://www.achieveit.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/The-Link-Between-Mission-Vision-and-Strategy.pdf

Burns, L.R., Bradley, E.H., & Weiner, B.J. (2018). Shortell and Kaluzny’s health care management: Organization design & behavior (7^th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning. ISBN- 9781305951174.

Lica, S. (2021). Healthcare Mission, Vision, & Values Statements | Berxi. Retrieved 19 April 2022, from https://www.berxi.com/resources/articles/healthcare-mission-vision-and-values-statements/#what-are-mission-vision-values-statements

Rider, E., Kurtz, S., Slade, D., Longmaid, H., Ho, M., & Pun, J. et al. (2014). The International Charter for Human Values in Healthcare: An interprofessional global collaboration to enhance values and communication in healthcare. Patient Education And Counseling, 96(3), 273-280. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2014.06.017