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.