Module 4: Common Language

Establishing a common language is imperative to organizational development and mutual understanding. This section reviews foundational terms necessary for mission and goal creation and success criteria identification.

 

The mission statement is the crux, and it likely will be the broadest and most static statement. The institution, department, or program many times will have already established a mission statement. All efforts should relate back to the mission statement as the foundation. 

 

The goals are the mission statement broken down into large, forward-thinking statements. What will the future look like if the mission is achieved? The goals will be more specific than the mission, but still broad enough that several discrete tasks are needed to accomplish them. 

 

The objectives are the supporting points for the goals. These will be more specific and may change more frequently depending on budget, staffing, administrative priorities, or the results of previous assessment efforts. 

 

The outcomes are measurement statements for the objectives. It provides the evidence threshold for saying the objective was (or was not) achieved. These are the most specific and most responsive to changing institutional needs.

 

It should be noted that this terminology might vary from institution to institution. Some might include vision statements, or objectives and outcomes may be considered one entity. The overall point remains the same: broad statements of purpose must be broken down into smaller, operationalized pieces that can be measured in some manner.