Why You Should Know Your Organization’s Vision

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

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When joining any organization or corporation, we want to do our research so that we can make a quality decision on whether it is a good fit for us. An empowered person will understand that the application and interview process is reciprocal. Just like a company looks for qualified candidates to fill positions, we look for qualified employers that are worthy of our time, talent, skills, and energy. We should be careful not to undertake any profession only for money and self gain. We need to ask specific questions and discover the answers to them. We should make it our business to learn answers to the following: What is the organization’s vision or mission? What are the guiding principles or touchstones on which the organization was built? What is the vision for the organization short term and long term?  These are the key things that we want to make sure we understand when we consider joining or starting an organization. Why is it important? Because  knowing the answers to such questions will increase our ability to obtain success and advancement in our careers. In contrast, if we do not know these things we can end up spending a lot of time being busy but ineffective in achieving our goals and meeting organizational objectives. It’s vital that we understand the importance of this matter, because time is a very valuable commodity. Time is one thing that we give to people and business endeavors that we cannot get back. We only know for sure that we have this one life to live, and we want to make sure that we are making the most of it. How do we accomplish this?  Most employment is at will. We should be able to pinpoint these factors within our first 90 days. If the mission and vision of the organization does not resonate with us within this time, it may not be the position or organization for us. We don’t want to get stuck in that position.  We must ask ourselves what does this position do for me?  What can I add to the organization and the people with whom I work? What can I learn? How can I grow? Can I really develop an enjoyable career that satisfies my personal and professional goals? If the answer is no to any of these question, then we need to keep our options open. We must keep in mind what this position provides for us today but not allow it to distract our attention from our ultimate goals and focus which should include balance in our personal and professional lives. We can’t allow the vision of others to displace the dreams we have for ourselves.  We can and will live our dreams if and only when we refuse to accept the lies fed to us by others and the lies we tend to tell ourselves. It will prove very difficult if not impossible to carry this out if we have no sense of who we are or what we want to achieve in life. We must take time to discover our gifts, talents, passion, and desires in life.  These factors combined with our experiences will equip us to live a purposeful and abundant life.