A Tale of Two Hope Machines, 4.0

THE COMMITMENTS THESE TWO ORGANIZATIONS HAVE MADE in the direction o' becoming hope machines, among other things: Where did they come from? What are their origins?

Their own descriptions of "the business they're in and why" should be a good source for answers. Getting a grip on their missions, values, and visions, in other words, should help.

It’d be nice if those things were easy to find online and in familiar (to me) formats. Since they're not, however, I've had to do my archeological best to excavate, label, and piece things together myself. This is what I've come up with so far.

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Mission: The fundamental purpose of an organization and what it provides to its beneficiaries. 

Luckily for us, mission statements from both organizations are posted on their respective sites:

Red Treehouse was created "to provide a welcoming and vibrant online community for families and professionals to explore resources to help (promote the well-being of) children and young adults, prenatal through age 25."

Boy, am I puzzled. I've been assuming that the group's offerings are intended, ultimately, to benefit “children with chronic illnesses and /or disabilities.” The mission doesn't make that distinction; it seems to be inclusive of all 0-25 year-olds. If that's the case, how much does the promise of FINDING HOPE (as a result of one's association with Red Treehouse) really mean, potentially, to the majority of that population?

United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) and its nearly 100 affiliates "have a mission to advance the independence, productivity and full citizenship of people with a spectrum of disabilities by providing services and support to more than 176,000 children and adults every day—one person at a time, one family at a time." 

The HOPE that quality of life for children with CP might be dramatically improved was the driving force behind the crusade to create UCP in 1949.

Values: Ideally, an organization's values prescribe its attitude, behavior, and character. 

Whole Foods says its core values "are the soul of our company.” What values are at the core of Red Treehouse and UCP? What internal compasses guide the two?

Although there's no official statement of values on either web site, I think one can discern what matters most to each...by snooping around. Which I did. What struck me was how remarkably similar their core values seem to be -- so similar, in fact, that I’m comfortable positing that Red Treehouse and UCP mutually value:

• a sense of urgency: Strive to make things better for kids today.  
• the belief that all things are possible: Challenges, be they physical or mental, are meant to be overcome.  
• the power of information: It's a matter of getting the right information to the right people at the right time.
• networks of Internet-connected people: Build the platform and a smart network will grow.

Vision: The mid- to long-term goals of an organization; an expression of how it wants to be perceived by the world. 

I find it fitting that both organizations are on the paths they're on now largely because eight (8) years ago the people behind them saw a need for change. Sweeping change. Sometime in 2004:

UCP kicked off "a far-reaching dialogue about the ways in which people with disabilities could become fully integrated in society and live life without limits." 

A small group of people affiliated with Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) "convened a meeting with community leaders from hospitals, universities and social service organizations in Greater Cleveland." (RMHC and Ohio Family and Children First combined efforts in 2011 to form Red Treehouse.)

Conferences and visioning sessions involving large numbers of participants ensued. They asked essentially the same questions: What's not right? What would a better future look like for kids with disabilities? What needs to change?

In both cases, takeaways from their heavy-duty "visioning" were then funneled into (1.) strategy reformulations, which lead, in turn, to things like the new web sites and other digital deliverables that I'll start dissecting in the next post, and (2.) the big-picture, high-level goals of each organization.

Most larger organizations use formal vision statements to communicate their big-picture, high-level goals. A classic example? JFK's [to] “land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth before the end of the decade.” (his administration's vision for the US space program) That statement contains three (3) key components: a stretch goal, a definition of the entity's niche, and a time horizon.  

I'm sure Red Treehouse and UCP have vision statements. But I can't find anything as comprehensive as I'd like on either site. About the best I can do is report on the ways in which they do or don't address these components (of a "model" statement):

Niches: Both organizations do an outstanding job of spelling out what their niches are. I guess I shouldn't be surprised: they seem to parallel one another to a T. Each aspires to be a broad, strong educational and support resource that provides hope for – in the case of Red Treehouse, Ohio families with kids with chronic illnesses or disabilities (regardless of diagnosis); in the case of UCP, people the world over "with a spectrum of disabilities” (cerebral palsy, but also: Down Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, physical disabilities and traumatic brain injury)

Stretch goals: Stretch goals set the pace, establish a sense of urgency, and challenge an organization's stakeholders. Apart from references to numbers of people who use or receive support from their various services, I've yet to come across any indication of what stretch goals may be in place. No measures of success. No references to "units of hope" or (more broadly and realistically) to any sort of customer satisfaction target... 


Time horizons: When will the organizations' various programs, projects, initiatives, etc. bear fruit? The only time references anywhere are in the vague "find hope for today and to look forward to tomorrow with greater confidence, support and expectation" [ Red Treehouse ] and "We strive to build a better world for tomorrow, today." [ UCP ]

Organizational vision statements are frequently incomplete, i.e., not expressed in the well-rounded form of JFK's. The problem with that is it makes them not very conducive to being carried out, i.e., executed.

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SO, WE'VE BROUGHT TO LIGHT SOME OF THE BIG IDEAS upon which these two organizations are founded. Next, we're going to fast forward a bit -- zooming past the strategic analysis, development, and planning that have flowed o'er the years from their visioning -- to the products of all that, the actual offerings of the organizations: the goods, services, etc. that people like us on the receiving end get to see.