Mouserat

Hurray for practicing concepts we learned in the reading!

I thought the simplest way to address these 10 tests was to address each one individually.

 

Test #1: Mission -> Vision are short and simple;

While the MENV vision and mission are somewhat wordy, they are a single sentence each, rather than a paragraph. To me, the message of each sentence is clear. Therefore, I think the mission and vision alone pass Test #1. The values don’t pass Test #1, although I think they help elaborate the mission.  

 

Test #2: Visions capture a picture of a binary future state;

In practice, I imagine it would be difficult to put students into binary categories where either they do or do not have the knowledge, skills, and experience to understand a changing world and build a more just, sustainable, and productive planet. I don’t think this is something the program should try to do. Therefore, it might be difficult to determine whether the program has succeeded or failed in its vision.  

 

Test #3: Visions are intrinsically motivating;

I find the vision intrinsically motivating. I would be happy if I got all of the above out of this program.

 

Test #4: Missions are simple rules that follow a formula;

I understand the objective of the mission, but am not sure how I would translate that into my daily work, if I were part of the MENV faculty. However, I thought the Cabrera’s mission (“Engage”, “Educate”, “Empower”) would also be more difficult to translate to daily tasks, than they implied. Therefore, I’m not completely sure whether MENV’s mission passes this test.

 

Test #5: Repeatedly doing your mission should bring about the vision;

To me, the mission seems more achievable than the vision. Repeating the mission over and over again should produce a competent and engaged environmental professional. However, the vision seems to be seeking world changing environmental professionals. I don’t know what would need to be added to the Mission to get to the Vision.

 

Test #6: Mission -> Vision must be measureable;

I addressed this in Test 2. I think it would be pretty difficult to figure out whether you accomplished the current vision.

 

Test #7: Mission moments are rare and precious;

As a student in this program, I hope that’s not the case. I want to be educated to advance sustainability solutions every day! Does that mean the mission isn’t ambitious enough?

 

Test #8: Mission -> Vision are mental models, not statements;

There are some aspects of mental-models in the mission and vision statements. There’s the idea of interdisciplinary, as well as an emphasis on professional experience. In addition, there is the idea of preparing students for a diverse array of sectors and careers. These all seem like aspects of a mental model of what environmental education should look like. The opposite mental model would be academic, specialized, and headed towards a specific career.

 

Test #9: Culture is built on shared, core mental models; and

To me, it seems like this mental model for environmental education is shared by a lot of the MENV faculty. The greatest source of difference in mental models between faculty, I think, is the “right” balance of academic and professional experience. However, for the most part, I think MENV passes this test.

 

Test #10: Learning constantly improves vision, mission, and culture.

I’m not sure how often MENV’s mission and vision are revisited, so it’s difficult for me to say whether or not they are passing Test #10. If they take the feedback from us and lessons learned from the faculty and incorporate it into a new mission and vision at some point next year, then I think this Test will be passed.

 

Something juicy I’ve learned this term: I’ve learned a variety of techniques for visually representing my mental model of a system in order to make better sense of it. This doesn’t sound particularly juicy on paper, but I’m a visual learner, so I think this will be very useful.

Test, Test, 1, 2, 3

Test 1: Missions and visions are short and simple Both the vision and mission statements are simple and short, avoiding jargon or fancy language that would take away from the point. Grade: A

Test 2: visions capture a picture of a binary future state Explaining that the knowledge students are acquiring in this program will lead them to build a more just, sustainable, and productive planet creates a binary future state. This vision conveys that there is potential to improve on sustainability practices seen today, and that by participating in this program students will not only understand this potential more comprehensively, but also have the tools to act. Grade: A

Test 3: Visions are intrinsically motivating This vision statement motivates outsiders by explaining that they will have a better understanding of present-day problems, and will have the experience to go out into the world and make some serious positive change. I think it would beneficial to include some information about the connections that are created and maintained in this program as well.: Grade: A-

Test 4: Missions are simple rules that follow a formula This mission offers three main simple rules to create the formula for creating sustainable solutions: Educate students promoting a community of learning through engaged and interdisciplinary classes Offer real-world experience Grade: A

Test 5: Repeatedly doing your mission should bring about the vision In theory, repeating the rules discussed in test 4 should produce students who have a better understanding of sustainability challenges facing our society, and well as give them the tools and experience to make positive change. Grade: A

Test 6: Mission and visions must be measurable Given the large scope of this program, which allows students to pursue diverse career option, I think a mission statement with measurable goals would be challenging to create. While the mission and vision statements examined here give general goals, they give no suggestions on how to measure the change made by the program and MENV student. Grade: B-

Test 7: Mission moments are rare and precious I think the mission statement is neither rare nor precious. The goals explored here are admirable, but I am sure that very similar mission statements can be easily found at other environmental masters programs. Grade: C

Test 8: Missions and visions are mental models, not statements I think that the MENV vision is a statement that does not create a mental model. On the other hand, I think the mission statement does a satisfactory job of creating a mental model by, “ promoting a community of learning through engaged and interdisciplinary classes and real-world professional experience.” By promoting this mental model of community learning, engaged interdisciplinary classes and real-word experience, the program is showing how they intend to make changes. Grade: B-

Test 9: Culture is built on shared, core mental models While the MENV values seem great in practice, I do not wholly believe that they are necessarily shared core mental models among all stakeholders. For example, the second MENV value mentioned starts by saying, “we have moved beyond transitional instruction.” In addition to myself, I know many students who would disagree with this. I understand that these values were crafted before the program began, so little to no student input was considering since we were not yet a part of the program. That being said, I think the most import thing analyzed here that needs holistic revision are the MENV values. This should be completed with equal engagement from faculty and students in my opinion. Grade: D (needs some serious work, but mostly because it is the first year of the program and we are learning what works and what does not work)

Test 10: Learning constantly improves vision, mission, and culture In my opinion this is also an area that needs a lot of work. Considering that we are in the first year of a program, learning and changes should essentially be present every step of the way. From what I have observed, students seem to be crying out for changes, but are met with somewhat aggressive and defensive responses from faculty. Of course I am a student so my opinion on this topic is certainly subjective, but I nonetheless believe that listening to students more and working harder to implement their suggestions will create a better and more adaptive program. Students of course are the ones directly experiencing how accurate the mission, vision, and values are in reality, and therefore might have a better understanding than faculty do. Again I think learning and changing needs to be an inclusive and holistic process, avoiding only top-down decision making. Grade: C- (needs some work)

The most important thing that came from this class has been understanding that I have the ability to learn some really awesome skills that will make me an environmental superhero, and also that it is not what you know, but how quickly you can learn.

Masters of the Vision

     After reading over the mission and vision for the program and the 10 Tests for Effective Mission --> Vision, I had a few thoughts about revisions that could be made.

1. The mission and vision are not short and simple and I think that the wording could be changed to make the message more refined. I think that some of the words could be taken out to make the vision more streamlined. It would be a good idea to be able to shorten the mission into 3 key terms that could be used as a slogan for the program (similar to E37BST).
2. The vision does not infer a binary future. The vision is complex and instead seems to offer many different alternatives, instead of just one or the other.
3. With a few choice word changes, I think that the vision would be a lot more inspiring. Saying that MENV will “create” leaders is more powerful than providing environmental leaders with knowledge, skills and experiences. That is something that should instead be mentioned in the mission. These statements are not inherently motivating, which could be because they are very wordy.
4. Again, I think that providing environmental leaders with knowledge, skills and experiences is something that should be moved to the mission statement. This is something that would lend itself nicely to the formula format usually found in a mission. If teaching/learning is repeatedly done, then environmental leaders will emerge.
5. I think that if the mission is followed, the way it is currently written, it should bring about the environmental leaders that are mentioned in the vision statement. But again, having those 3 key terms again would make a big difference.
6. Quantifying leadership and the attainment of skills may not be completely measurable. However, the program could instead quantify the graduation rate and job placement rate of graduates to obtain the results that they are looking for. There aren’t many metrics in place to measure the success of the program yet, besides conventional graduate/alum statistics.
7. In the mission statement, as it is written now, I think that there are two mission moments that stand out. One is “advance sustainability solutions” and the other is “learning through engaged and inter-disciplinary classes and real-world professional experience.” These are two things that everyone in the cohort can agree on as important (and necessary) parts of the program.
8. The vision and mission statements do create mental models. According to the vision, the program hopes to empower us as environmental leaders to essentially understand and change the world for the better. According to the mission, the program hopes to create a strong learning environment through unique techniques (interdisciplinary classes and real-world experience).
9. The culture of the MENV program is inherently shared because it is an environmental program. Everyone in the program comes in with their own vision for bettering the environment and the world and this (theoretically) creates a culture of learning, inclusion and dynamism—values that are mentioned. I think it would be best for us as students to learn more about the mission/vision that the program leaders have in mind so that we can better understand each other and develop a more shared mental model.
10. Being that this is the first year of the program, there is still a lot of learning to do. In order to keep the mission and vision up to date, there should be revisions made annually and the process should include input from students as well. Learning about the people that make up the program will undoubtedly influence the mission, vision and culture.

One thing that I have taken away from this class is the value and importance of analyzing entire systems. Systems are everywhere and include everything and without proper knowledge, we can change systems without understanding the consequences.

In a word

The Cabreras are fierce about the importance of a sleek and powerful mission (arrow) vision.  Like an expensive Tesla, sleek. They make a good point:  hardly any mission or vision statements are interesting, compelling, or even readable.¹    

• Hopefully you know by now that I work for Community Cycles, Boulder's bicycle advocacy organization.  
• Recently, I attended a workshop on mission statements with my Executive Director and Board President.  Each of us separately came up with this mission statement:  We Love Bicycles.  
• Much more interesting, clear, and engaging than our current mission. See for yourself:  Our current multi-paragraph mission statement.  

I'm curious what it is about a mission statement that seems to call forth quantities of hyperbole from the human psyche. Perhaps we all have a primal instinct to deliver the Gettysburg address (someone please tell 45 why we had a civil war and what the Gettysburg address was about.  Or not.)

Among many quotes attributed to Mark Twain is my favorites:  If I'd had more time, I would have written a shorter letter. Perhaps it is indeed a primal instinct, to explain, to explicate, to elucidate.  Survival driven, for sure. Exactly where was that blueberry patch? Where did you find the path that deer follow to the stream?  It's all about dinner.

But when we want engage our creative imagination, achieve inspiration, open new mental horizons, it's clear that way less is way more effective.

Sadly, I do notice that I glaze when I try to read the MENV mission and vision. 

MENV Mission: We educate our students to advance sustainability solutions across a wide-range of environmental careers and sectors by promoting a community of learning through engaged and inter-disciplinary classes and real-world professional experience.

MENV Vision:  MENV provides environmental leaders with the knowledge, skills and experiences necessary to understand a changing world and build a more just, sustainable, and productive planet.

Oh dear.  It's snore-ish.

The Cabreras say: We have worked with many schools and school districts that use the very same mission (engage, educate, empower) and vision (X number of systems thinkers).²

Can we tailor the MENV mish/vish to be Cabrera-sleek?  Let's try:  

• We see a just, sustainable, productive world of skilled systems thinkers.
• Our vision:  Skilled leaders and systems thinkers growing a just, sustainable, and productive world.

The mission, per les Cabreras, is the thing you do over and over to get your vision.  Educate, engage, empower.  That's good, and works for an educational institution.

How's this for the mission:  Educate, engage, empower, and GET EMPLOYED!

 

In conclusion, here's a question for your next level of thought exploration:  

What's your personal vision-mission?  What should be inscribed on your gravestone?  

A friendlier way to ask the question:  What's your ideal professional situation?

I am deeply interested and want to help in any way I can.

 

1. Cabrera, Derek; Cabrera, Laura . Systems Thinking Made Simple: New Hope for Solving Wicked Problems (Page 210). . Kindle Edition.

2. Op. cit., page 220.

Looking for visions in all the wrong places

1. Mission à visions are short and simple;

Neither the mission nor vision statements are simple because the ideas themselves are complex. The number of words used to depict the future the MENV program wants to build is excessive.

2. Visions capture a picture of a binary future;

Binary, to my understanding, is a world viewed in 0’s and 1’s. The mission and vision statements depict a world that has many facets and is teaching students to understand its complexities.

3. Visions are intrinsically motivating;

To be intrinsically anything, the words themselves need to be captivating and emotive. I need to be moved from the first word that I read to be motivated to continue reading. “The future is a place where only those leaders who can understand the world’s complex systems will succeed. We will create those leaders.”

4. Missions are simple rules that follow a formula;

They follow a formula that is intentionally not simple. The key words that have been chosen to fill the sentence (which is quite long BTW…) are strategically placed for readers to see what they want to see.

5. Repeatedly doing your mission should bring about the vision;

Unknown. There are very few words that are used interchangeably in both the mission and vision. Are learning and experience the same as knowledge and skills?

6. Missions à visions must be measurable;

Leadership and education are not quantifiable. However, job placement can be ;)

7. Mission moments are rare and precious;

Real-world professional experience is rarely found outside of a job or internship; since the way that students will obtain this “professional experience” is not clear, it is not known whether or not this would be a rare occurrence.

8. Mission à visions are mental models, not statements;

Does this have to do with mental floss?

9. Culture is built on shared, core mental models; and

Since the culture is built upon our professional experience and community of learning, I would say yes.

10. Learning constantly improves vision, mission, and culture.

Since the mission, vision, and culture are all three tied to learning and education, it is hard to say that learning would improve any to someone not learning with the MENV cohort. That said, if the administration learns from the cohort, all three would benefit.

Reflection:

I think what was most meaningful to me was the systems map. It is interesting to see the relationships qualified using logical reasoning, rather than quantified using an SEM or other statistical model. That said… I also learned some unintended lessons in professionalism, saving face, preparedness, and working with others in a way that capitalizes on what they bring to the table. We are all different. We are all capable. We all are in grad school for a reason. It is worth taking the time to empathize with your cohort at all times, even if it doesn’t suit you/me/us/anyone to do so.

MENV Mission Vision Statement Critique

As we near the end of this semester, it’s nice to take a moment to reflect amidst all the chaos of final papers and projects. For the last blog post of the semester we’re critiquing the MENV program’s mission and vision statement by applying the 10 Tests for Effective Mission à Visions outlined in Derek and Laura Cabrera’s book Systems Thinking Made Simple. Although this would have been a great essay style prompt, I chose to just take each of the 10 tests and briefly reflect upon those in the context of the MENV program. Enjoy!

MENV Mission

We educate our students to advance sustainability solutions across a wide-range of environmental careers and sectors by promoting a community of learning through engaged and inter-disciplinary classes and real-world professional experience.

MENV Vision

MENV provides environmental leaders with the knowledge, skills and experiences necessary to understand a changing world and build a more just, sustainable, and productive planet.

Cabrera, pg. 211 – 10 Tests for Effective Missions and Visions

1. Missions à Visions are short and simple

It’s hard to capture what the MENV program is trying to accomplish in just a few short words. That being said, the mission statement is a little wordy for what it’s trying to encapsulate.

2. Visions capture a picture of a binary future state.

I see that the vision wants the world to be just, sustainable, and productive. Looking below at the values of the MENV program, I think this vision shows that its about changing society more so than just the environment.

3. Visions are intrinsically motivating.

While I realize a lot of talented individuals probably signed off on the vision statement, the last part of the vision statement feels a little clunky.

4. Missions are simple rules that follow a formula.

We are here to learn from as many different people, places, and situations as possible. I can see that.

5. Repeatedly doing your mission should bring about the vision.

If we’re constantly learning across as many different disciplines, then we’ll have a diverse pool of experiences to apply to the problems we try and solve. Hopefully once we go through the Maymester course it will be clearer about some of these value-laden statements about ethicality.

6. Mission à Visions must be measurable.

I wouldn’t want to make a “SMART” goal for the entire MENV program, but when your vision is world where humans live in harmony with nature and each other, each person’s definition of harmony and “justness” is going to be slightly different. I think there’s more room to make this measurable.

7. Mission moments are rare and precious.

Learning has the capacity to deeply enrich people’s lives. When that learning diverse and through peers or experts it is both rare and precious.

8. Mission à Visions are mental models, not statements.

The Belgian painter Rene Magritte captured this best with his painting of a pipe entitled: “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” With this set of mission and vision statements, I think we’re displaying the right values of what this program wants to accomplish. Getting feedback as the program matures should be interesting.

9. Culture is built on shared, core mental models.

Within these statements I think is the inherent sense that there is something wrong with the world and we’re out to fix it. As each of us share our experiences and what we’re doing within our capstones within each other, this is definitely a shared mental model even if it applies to different parts of our society.

10. Learning constantly improves vision, mission, and culture.

Probably the only tragedy involved with the MENV vision, mission, and culture that I can think of is that it wasn’t shared with the cohort as a whole previously. Our environmental leadership course probably could’ve taken a stab as this and honed our efforts further. Considering this program is in its infancy, there is a huge ceiling of potential for it especially if the people within it are actively trying to learn and develop the mission, vision and culture.

Reflecting upon the course, there has been a lot to learn. Personally, I came into the course thinking this class would be all about the “Functionalist” types of systems where everything is broken apart to its simplest pieces and then quantified until it is perfectly explained. I was pleasantly surprised to find this wasn’t the case, even though I love me some quantification. Soft systems and Complex Adaptive Systems are much more accurate for the types of technological and social systems we’re all embedded within. To me the largest takeaway has been how perspectives and values can explain a system’s behavior and the rules it operates by.