Does your school have mission, vision, and values statements? Who knows about them?

We’re probably all familiar with these three terms and in this episode, Merle Burkholder offers simple definitions and provides clear examples of each one to refresh our usage. He also suggests a variety of means to communicate these guiding statements so that they can become second nature for you and your people.

Merle brings many years of experience in church and organizational leadership including his work at Open Hands and Servant Institute. After working through definitions and examples of guiding statements Merle explains four elements of an organization that can be used to measure its health and life-stage from birth to death. It’s a useful grid for evaluating the health of a school. On that note, this episode echoes our last episode on evaluation. Merle proposes that, “People produce what you measure.” Clear guiding statements, particularly core values, give you an effective basis to evaluate your school.

Merle was addressing leaders of different types of organizations. Where Merle discusses the responsibilities of a leadership team and CEO in carrying the vision, I think we can insert the school board and administrator. You might consider going back to episode 14 by Steven Brubaker outlining the role of an administrator who works at the intersection of the various parties involved in a school.

Finally, it is possible for a school team to share a vision that is sufficiently vivid and understood to occasionally take away your breath and consistently guide your decision-making. May this strengthen your gains here or guide your steps in that direction.

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