Our journey starts considering the concepts of Vision, Mission and Strategy as they relate to peer support programs. A peer organisation’s Vision tells us where that organisation hopes to be in the future. A Vision is usually slightly out of reach, but it clearly tells us what that organisation believes is most important and its desired future location. In the peer support space, it usually relates to foundation concepts such as human rights, accessibility, inclusion, quality of life and life choices. For example, JFA Purple Orange has a vision ‘to create a world where people who live with disability get a fair go at what life has to offer’.
The Mission tells us a little more about the approach the organisation is taking to arrive at that destination. It may define their organisation, its objectives and its approach to reach that hoped for location. In the peer support space, the Mission will often reflect the ways in which the peer organisation is heading toward their desired location. For example, JFA Purple Orange’s mission is ‘listen to, learn from and work alongside people who live with disability to develop policy and practice that makes a difference’. While the vision gives us the destination, the mission gives us some insight into the way they will be travelling on the path toward that location. Frequently not for profit organisations combine elements of both Vision and Mission to develop a statement of an organisation’s purposes, goals and values.
Strategy is the way in which the peer organisation is travelling on the path. It is how the organisation aims to achieve its mission and arrive at its vision. The process of coming up with the organisation’s strategy is via a process called ‘strategic planning’. This activity is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen processes, ensure that the team and other stakeholders are working toward shared goals, establish agreement around the desired destination, and assess and adjust peer program design according to its operating environment. Strategic planning can be a helpful process, but in this module we will assume this has already been undertaken at the organisational level.