Mission Creep

Temptations and Solutions
Robert Hodge

In 1938, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt founded the March of Dimes to help fight polio, the disease that had crippled him. The charity funded research into vaccines, and within two decades polio had largely become a relic of the past. The March of Dimes, however, persisted. In 1958, its Expanded Program covered polio, birth defects, arthritis and central nervous system diseases. Later transferring its arthritis interests to another organization, it then focused on the prevention of birth defects and infant mortality. Most recently, the March of Dimes has added the prevention of premature birth to its mission objectives.

Is this a job well done, or did the leaders fall prey to mission creep?

"Mission creep" sounds like an insidious force that changes an organization's primary focus to something less than its mission, vision, and heritage. while it may not be all that insidious, mission creep is a documented phenomenon that usually damages an organization. Here, we will consider forces that tend to incite mission creep, and preventive, detective, and corrective methods to assure that the organization does not unintentionally shift from its foundation.

Temptations That Incite Mission Creep

Completion of a mission—such as the fight against polio—is one reason for organizations to change their mission, but it is far from common. More often the causes for mission creep lie in finances, personnel, organizational structure, demographics, or philosophy. Each of these causes, in turn, comes in obvious and not-so-obvious forms.

1. Financial Causes. "Chasing after the money" is commonly cited as the basis for incremental if not dramatic shifts away from the core of the mission. The chase can start with financial good news or bad news.
   
   Say an aging donor with a great heart offers a non-profit its largest donation ever for an initiative that is of only secondary importance to its mission. Though given and received with the best intentions, the donation necessarily re-centers the organization's focus and possibly changes its character. An example of this phenomenon would be a small rescue mission receiving a renovated hotel for housing the homeless, without receiving commensurate support for ministry staff. The larger shelter, while still rescuing people from the streets, simply cannot offer the intensive personal ministry that had been the mission's hallmark.
   
   On the flipside, tight budgets pressure organizations to broaden their mission and values, allowing for greater reach (in terms of staff, potential donors, and persons ministered to) but often leading to a loss of the original vision. One Christian college in the early 1990s, needing more students to remain full, downplayed its denominational background. But the plan backfired, temporarily obscuring the university's distinctives. Faculty with good academic credentials but heritage-opposing doctrinal beliefs were hired and later let go with great pain. Fewer students chose to matriculate, as they did not grasp or appreciate the now hidden distinctives of the university. Recapturing the distinctives and alumni support has taken years; yet the university has become more focused and is enjoying increased attendance, campus community, and academic quality from united faculty.
   
   
2. Personnel-Related Causes. Though inevitable and sometimes desirable, personnel changes can also cause an organization's vision to wander. Changes in leadership at the senior or board level will inherently bring a different perspective to the mission of the organization. Recruiting and selecting new staff will bring different thoughts about the organization. Where a mission statement is broad enough to identify the general outcomes, the specific outcomes and pathways to get there may be interpreted differently by each new person based on his previous experiences.
   
   In our various positions—whether as a board member, new staff member, donor or executive director—we all may bring our "hobby horses" to an organization. Naturally, we want to work in our area of greatest expertise, demonstrating mastery in something, gaining some early wins. Too often, we can lose site of the core mission as we seek to make these skills known throughout the organization.
   
   Mission creep can easily occur as the organization takes on new personnel. A staff recruiter that makes hiring decisions only on competency and character may innocently bring staff into the organization that do not grasp or appreciate the mission and values. The same issue applies to leaders, board members, and the most senior leader.
   
   
3. Structural Causes. The personalities and experiences of the people in an organization certainly influence its direction, but so do the structures in which those people operate. At the board level, the committee structure can shift the direction and priorities of an organization. Aligning committees along operational lines can divert the board's attention to three-month issues rather than three-year or thirty-year issues. An operations board with the executive director as an implementer of board decisions defines an environment where no group formally "owns" the mission and values. Relegating the mission statement and values to a committee begs the question of what is so important that does not allow the entire board to be fully attentive to mission and values.
   
   An over-emphasis on evaluative metrics or poor usage of them may distract and organization from that which is intangible and subjective. Yet, these qualitative aspects often form the heart of our mission. The transformation of human lives is complex, usually inefficient, and difficult to measure. Obedience to the Word is difficult to measure and is often contraindicated by organizational or business metrics. Donors, foundations, and others increasingly base their funding decisions on quantitative data that can override or overwhelm qualitative knowledge and prayerful discernment. A "numbers guy" can easily and innocently craft a data-driven decision that promises to improve the numbers at hand, but it may in fact not be in the best interest of the vision. Some have noted that Jesus would not be fundable under the prevailing drive for efficiency as measured by emerging standards of analysis and evaluation.
   
   An organization's place in the larger scheme of other organizations with similar goals matters, too. New organizations focusing on the same area of service as existing organizations may bring an injection of resources to the needs at hand, but may create real or perceived competition for resources. This competition can inspire an organization to healthy discussion of honing its mission, or it can cause the organization to grasp at quick solutions that may circumvent its founding goals and principles.
   
   
4. Demographic Causes. Like competition, demographic shifts create a temptation to mission creep with internal and external components. Internally, new generations will change the interpretation of values and worldview of the organization as the generation gains greater influence. Externally, organizations must be increasingly adaptive to remain relevant to the changing communities that they serve. Yet they must learn to adapt the "how" of ministry without unintentionally causing or allowing a change in the "what" or "why" of the organization.
   
   Over time, the communities our organizations serve will probably change. A neighborhood church or social service ministry will most likely see a notable demographic change in the course of a generation. In context of this changing background, a mission statement focused on a narrowly defined group of people will suffer. On the other hand, a mission broader in scope, focusing on ends rather than means, will endure, possibly even becoming more successful.
   
   Alternately, the people served might stay constant, but their real and perceived needs could change, sometimes quite rapidly. For example, church planting missions in earthquake-torn Pakistan had to adapt quickly to simply keep those served alive.
   
   
5. Philosophical Causes. When an organization suffers mission creep due to changes in finances, personnel, structure, or demographics, this drift often indicates a lost connection to a solid philosophical mooring. The biggest challenge in this area is secularization.
   
   Secularization may be the single greatest cause of mission creep in Christian organizations. Some of the movement may be of our own doing. Historian George Marsden, in his 1995 book The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Non-belief, recounts this process for one sector of the non-profit world. The people who built America's universities tended to be ardent, active Protestants. Marsden writes, "In the late nineteenth century, when American universities took their shape, the Protestantism of the major northern denominations acted as a virtual religious and cultural establishment. … As late as the 1950s it was not unusual for spokespersons of leading schools to refer to them as 'Christian' institutions." Over the next decades, however, "Many of the same forces set in motion by liberal Protestantism which rooted out traditional evangelicalism from university education, were eventually turned against the liberal Protestant establishment itself. Now, while it is the spirit of liberal Protestantism that arguably survives, normative religious teaching of any sort has been nearly eliminated from standard university education."
   
   This dramatic shift did not take place overnight, nor did it result from any organized campaign of militant atheists. In many cases, the desire to obtain government funding has prompted educators (and leaders of other types of non-profits) to tone down the offensive "Christianese." At some point, the primary focus of their organizations shifted from "Christ proclaiming" or "Christ honoring" to providing good services often indistinguishable from secular organizations.
   
   Accreditation plays a role in potential mission creep as well. Accreditation and certification agencies are often not government agencies, yet they exert equal influence as gatekeepers for funds, clients and a license to practice. for example, children's homes, colleges, medical clinics and social service ministries must meet strict guidelines to assure quality, yet "quality standards" increasingly pressure organizations to ease up on their "restrictive" policies and practices often tied to their faith. Who they hire, their selection criteria based on religious or sexual practices, and explanations of their faith in the service programs are influenced heavily by accreditors with secular agendas not defined by the actual laws.
   
   Additionally, the mounting pressures to conform to secular notions of diversity and toleration create tensions for those responsible for maintaining the direction defined by the mission statement. This is particularly cumbersome for those with a mission and value system that tends to be exclusive. Diversity and tolerance to enjoy the breadth of God's kingdom is a wonderful and noble motivator. But watering down the mission or reducing it to a lowest common denominator statement will most assuredly broaden it, reduce its focus, and shift energy away from the organization's primary focus.
   
   
6. A Lack of Reminders. Lastly, a significant cause of mission creep is that people simply do not know what the mission is, or the problems of the day tend to become the focus of their attention. Without constant reminders to "look up" to the long term, inspiring mission and vision, people turn their head down. Daily goals focus on accomplishing tasks within the circumstances of the day. Nehemiah learned that he had to renew the vision about every four weeks or the circumstances would be sufficient for people to simply drop their hands.

Avoiding Mission Creep

Few organizations intentionally creep away from their mission. However, changes in increments become a change in kind. Assuring adaptive adherence to the mission and values of the organization requires a greater focus on culture and communication, not just a checklist of analytical tasks.

John W. Gardner, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, has spoken well about values, goals and the balance between continuity and change as part of organizational renewal:

"Now these values and goals, at their best, don't come out of the mind of the leader. They come out of a lot of back and forth among the leadership team, which is in touch with an even broader circle in the system, and then folks in the system itself. Out of that come the values and goals. But, you've got to formulate them in understandable ways.You've got to disseminate them. … It isn't enough just to have goals and values. You've got to celebrate them. You've got to reaffirm them.You've got to say these are the things that are important to us. There's an old saying that it's a waste of time to preach to the choir or preach to the converted.But in fact, it isn't a waste of time, and time out of mind, from the dawn of history, I'm sure, people who keep their faith keep telling one another what their faith is. It's got to be done." ("Conversations with John W. Gardner," Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation 2000).

We can expand on this statement to gain a number of insights to maintain the mission while adapting to a changing environment.

Aspects of a Successful Mission Statement

Avoiding mission creep presupposes a good and well understood mission statement. The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management suggests that a great mission statement:

• "Is short and sharply focused
• Is clear and easily understood
• Defines why we do what we do, why the organization exists
• Does not prescribe means
• Is sufficiently broad
• Provides direction for doing the right things.
• Addresses opportunities
• Matches our competence
• Inspires our commitment
• Says what, in the end, we want to be remembered for."

In short, a great mission statement proactively draws people to its broad center, preventing the organization from straying from its foundation.

Gardner makes an excellent point that the vision and mission, while possibly articulated by a small group of leaders, must contain the voices of those who are giving their lives to it. Internalization of the mission is critical to its success, possibly even more so in organizations highly dependent on volunteers. "The leader's vision," if that is all there is, can be dangerous as it is as temporary as the leader. "Our vision and mission" takes a lot more time to establish and articulate, but it will last a lot longer than "my vision." This does not discount a vision or mission given by a single person, but it requires that person to be a great communicator with the ability to inspire people to internalize the mission, in the mold of Nehemiah.

Maintaining and Realizing Mission

Who is responsible for maintaining the focus of the mission in your organization? Where it is everyone's responsibility, it is nobody's responsibility. Formal responsibility for establishing and maintaining the mission should be identified as a governing board function, with much of the activity to that end being delegated through the executive director. Focusing on the mission should be a significant part of the board's work. Quick checks of adequate focus can be made by simply reviewing the board agenda, preventing, detecting, and correcting problems of focus and attention.

With a mission that meets the Drucker criteria, it is then natural and easy to tie the strategic plan and strategic budget to the mission.In its long range/strategic plan, one organization quoted the exact portion of the mission or vision that was to be supported by each strategic element and respective budget amount.This provided a simple test to assure that the money followed the mission, rather than the other way around.

Likewise, tying grant proposals explicitly and boldly to the mission and values assures that a donor will perceive a clear relationship between the proposal and the mission.Going a little deeper into grant proposal writing, an independent internal test for continuity with the mission will prevent "hobby horse" proposals by those who may be looking primarily for an outlet for their particular interests, however praiseworthy, yet outside of the primary role of the ministry.

Leveraging Personal Voices and Assets

Anecdotes of those served will have a much greater impact on board and staff than will only data of numbers served. Great boards, when presented with stories or given experiences that demonstrate the grander value of the organization will be more fully informed to make wise strategic decisions regarding the bottom line (measured in dollars), "the other bottom line" (transformed lives), and obedience to the Word, regardless of outcomes. This can help detect inappropriate value changes not easily measured or reported in summary form.

Those served by the organization can also passionately articulate the needs of the people and the value of the mission to meet them.At one college, almost twenty years ago, a mom and dad stood in line at the bursar's office to pay her son's tuition.Surprised at some extra fees, she expressed to her husband that she understood why she had waited to get the dishwasher repaired! After I heard this story as a cabinet member of the college, I began expressing the high cost of quality education in these new and meaningful terms.Future decisions about capital expenditures were often mentally measured and communicated in increments of "dishwashers not fixed".

"Long timers" on the board and staff assure an active organizational memory. They not only bring their stories, they bring the earlier culture into the future.

Recruiting of staff and board members must sufficiently focus on the mission, as well as the tasks at hand.Everyone, including clerical or manual workers will benefit from understanding how their role links to the achievement of the mission. As they are fully brought into the family to accomplish the mission rather than performing individual tasks, they will bring far more commitment and energy each day. While more senior leaders and board members will talk about the mission, these people will walk the walk every day as they engage those being served. Given an opportunity to express themselves, they may become some of the better detectors of incremental mission creep.

Toward Mission Integration

A number of simple practices will help keep the mission in the forefront of each person on a daily basis. Once enabled, people with the mission on their mind will rise above the limiting circumstances and resources of the day to find new ways to achieve according to the pattern of mission. This will prevent mission creep at the incremental level and enable each person to detect mission creep on a daily basis.

• Craft the mission statement such that it can be easily remembered apart from the founding and governing documents.
• Assure ongoing board awareness by stating the mission and values clearly in various documents. These documents include the agenda, the governance policy book, and/or placards on the desks at every meeting. Several boards recite the mission at the beginning of the meeting to assure that it remains fresh in their minds. With a story and devotional by a staff member or person served, the board is ready to fully engage the organization with head, heart, and hand.
• Impress the mission every day on staff and visitors by proudly displaying the mission and values at the entrances to the building or offices. Insert the statement and possibly an application of it in the computer screensavers.
• Directly impact each new person engaged by printing the mission statement on the back of business cards.

Budget Analysis

Current wisdom teaches, "If you want to know the organization's priorities, follow the money."While somewhat distasteful because of its apparent simplistic emphasis on the business of the organization, there is much truth to the statement. Ongoing ratio analysis, tying budgets to specific components of the mission, and reasonable evaluation will assure, from the corporate side, ensure that financial resources are focused appropriately. These tools will incite dialogue during budget approval and ongoing review, assuring that the resources align with the mission.

Transparency Builds Trust in the Mission

Transparency assures accountability to the mission and vision. This is increasingly difficult where there are pressures to soften or deny founding values under the sometimes agenda-seeking auspices of diversity or tolerance. Indeed, there are reasons to seek diversity and tolerance, but not to the incremental detriment of the organization's foundation as articulated in the mission and values. if correction of past restrictions and offenses is needed, be transparent, intentional and bold to change.

Transparency is just good business. For example, a volunteer-based organization must rely on the good will of well-informed and motivated people; they can and will quickly detect the de-motivating gaps between what an organization is and what it says it is. Organizations can ill afford a new, self-funded volunteer, committing to a long-term engagement, yet surprised at the organization's real values and how they are lived out daily. Transparency up front will assure that the right people "get on the bus."Transparency builds trust in the mission and the people who lead. It opens the way for feedback from those who are on the frontlines every day, offering yet better approaches to achieve the mission. Those people will continually close any gaps between the mission and the tasks of the day.

Keep the Core Focus Central

All great causes are not your cause. Mission creep as discussed here is an organizational issue with both organizational and individual causes and influencing forces. The preventive, detective and corrective solutions, especially in faith-based organizations, are both organizational and individual. Hitting the white ring around the red bull's eye is one thing; shifting the aim to the white ring is another.

Robert Hodge coaches nonprofits in the areas of organizational and leadership development, strategic and succession planning, and collaborative initiatives. You can reach him at Bob@Foresighthodge.com