What Is Mission Creep? Why Is It Bad? and Some Tips for Avoiding It
Mission creep is a bad thing. We could say that is all you need to know, but for the sake of nonprofit strategy, we are going to break it down a little further. In this blog, we are going to take a look at what is mission creep and how to avoid it in your organization. As we have discussed before, your mission is a critical component of your organization. It helps to guide your strategic focus and drive you toward your vision. When your mission starts to falter, so will the rest of your efforts. So what exactly is mission creep?
Mission Creep
Mission creep is when your nonprofit organization expands its mission beyond the original goals that were set. Maybe this doesn’t seem very concerning to you at first glance, but it should. It is when your organization starts working on strategies outside your mission. Now, why is it so terrible? One big reason is that it leaves your organization facing confused constituents, annoyed or possibly angry partners, upset donors, and an overall less effective approach to your interests. Mission creep commonly occurs in the backdrop of quick decision-making or even crisis. It can be reactive. That said, we will visit a few strategies for avoiding mission creep at the end of this blog.
How Can Mission Creep Affect Your Organization?
We noted some of the broad discontents that can be created by mission creep, but to be a little more fine-tuned, a tangible issue created by mission creep is a negative impact on resources. Adding new goals and expanding your strategic focus requires new planning, new tactics, new training, and adds new responsibilities to your staff. All of those new aspects of operation take a toll on your budget. With nonprofits already operating on thin budgets, mission creep can leave you with too few resources to spread across your programming. This all boils down to a simple concept: don’t let your mission become too complex. Keep it focused and simple. It may be tempting to add new items to your agenda by but it is important to remain focused on a simpler mission in order to make the greatest impact.
The next way mission creep adversely affects nonprofits is that it can destabilize your relationship with stakeholders. Stakeholders are just that. They have a stake or interest in your organization. Consider how they perceive mission creep. They will see mission creep as creating several issues. It can complicate how your organization communicates goals and strategies to these stakeholders, leaving them confused. Further, these stakeholders may not agree with such a quick and uncommunicated change in direction. This change may lead donors to question how their financial resources are being used. Donors and other stakeholders may see your goals become more of a stretch and unattainable. Finally, it can cause serious skepticism amongst staff. We probably don’t need to dive much deeper into why those perceptions are bad. Donors, members, volunteers, and staff that begin to recognize these issues as stemming from mission creep could reduce their support, step away, or just lose their passion for your work. That is not good, so let’s look at some strategies to avoid it.
A Few Tips to Avoid Mission Creep
Communicate effectively across your entire organization. Mission creep can stem from many sources and remaining on the same page is key to remaining aligned
Develop, communicate, and use a process for organizational decision-making that is based on your mission. This will help maintain a clear mission focus on all of your decisions and the operations that come from them.
Don’t let your mission, vision, or values fall to the wayside. When they are not in your everyday work, your mission can easily begin to creep. Centralize them within your organization.
Know how to refuse new things. The areas your mission may creep toward are not themselves bad. We wish we could tackle all areas related to our mission, but it is just not feasible. Being willing to say no is key to preserving your mission.
Keep your stakeholders in the loop. Stakeholders are key to your organization and often have a lot to say when it comes to staying on mission, particularly when their passion and resources are caught up in that work.
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