Why Mission and Vision Aren’t Enough: The Missing Link in Culture
Most organizations can tell you their mission. Many can articulate a vision. Some can recite both by heart. But ask about their values—the shared commitments that guide how people behave to fulfill that mission and vision—and you’ll often get blank stares, vague words, or a list that lives in a forgotten slide deck.
Why This Gap Matters
Mission and vision answer why you exist and where you’re headed. Values answer who you’ll be—and how you’ll move—as you get there. Without clearly defined values, culture is left to personal interpretation. Every decision, every piece of feedback, every moment of conflict becomes a matter of individual judgment. Sometimes those instincts align. Often, they don’t.
The result? Inconsistency, mistrust, and culture drift.
Values as the Connective Tissue
Values are not marketing language. They are the connective tissue between purpose and practice.
They shape the “how” of daily work:
How we treat each other in high-pressure moments
How we make decisions when the right path isn’t obvious
How we repair trust after harm occurs
How we balance ambition with care
When values are clear and alive, they give people a shared compass. That compass doesn’t eliminate disagreement or complexity, but it makes navigating them possible without eroding trust.
Making Values Real
Naming values is only the first step. The real work is defining what they look like in practice—how they guide decisions, relationships, and systems every day.
At The124Movement, our values are expressed through a simple but powerful framework built on three truths:
Joy is abundant.
Joy is a grounding force built on the unwavering belief that good can emerge from every circumstance. It’s a steady anchor, not dependent on ease or comfort, but on the conviction that there is always the possibility for renewal, growth, and restoration. Joy aligns us with what is true, roots us in purpose, and keeps hope alive even in the midst of difficulty.
This value guides how we approach pressure and possibility, ensuring clarity, trust, and connection remain intact—even in challenging seasons.
Trials are teachers.
Trials reveal the truth about systems, relationships, and capacity. They are not disruptions to the work—they are the work, because they show us where our commitments hold and where they fall apart. When we treat challenges as teachers, we gain insight into what needs to change, repair, or strengthen for our culture to remain healthy.
This value shapes our response to setbacks, turning them into opportunities for alignment, repair, and stronger foundations.
Perseverance refines.
If trials reveal what needs to change, perseverance is what makes the change possible. It’s the ongoing practice of growing through what challenges you—not just moving past it. In cultures shaped by perseverance, people stay with the process long enough to be shaped by it. This sharpens alignment, deepens trust, and makes room for transformation to take root.
This value keeps us committed to the process, ensuring growth and trust deepen over time.
From Words to Practice
Your values—whether framed as “truths,” principles, or commitments—only create real change when they’re put to work. Without the systems to support them, they’re like a compass without a map: you know the direction you want to go, but you don’t have a clear way to navigate there.
Defining values means:
Listening deeply to the lived experience of your people
Naming what you want to be true in both easy and hard moments
Testing values for alignment with mission and vision
Living values means:
Embedding them in decision-making protocols, feedback systems, and accountability processes
Training leaders and teams to use values as a reference point for real-time choices
Revisiting and refining values as your context changes
The Risk of Leaving Values Undefined
When values aren’t defined, operationalized, and embedded, default culture takes over. People fall back on personal norms, past experiences, or the loudest voices in the room. Over time, this creates inequities, erodes trust, and undermines the very mission and vision you’ve set.
Your Invitation
If your organization has a mission and vision but no shared, operationalized values, you’re not alone—and it’s not too late.
Start by asking:
What do we want it to feel like to work here?
How do we want people to treat one another when things are going well—and when they’re not?
What principles will guide our hardest decisions?
If your mission and vision are clear but your values feel vague—or live only on paper—it’s time to make them visible, actionable, and embedded in how your organization moves.
Our Core Compass Workbook is a free tool that helps you define, test, and operationalize the values that will guide your culture every day. Download it here.