Directional strategy report: mission, vision and values
Write a 3–5-page directional strategy report for a panel of employee stakeholders: analyse an organisation's mission, vision and values as directional strategies, examine the ethics they express, identify the gap between desired outcome and current state, and recommend changes that align structure and strategy.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 14, 2026
Mission, vision and values as strategy, not as wall art
Directional strategy means the mission, vision and values are being read as decisions rather than as statements, so analyse them as such. A mission answers what business the organisation is in and for whom; a vision states a future state specific enough that you could tell whether it had been reached; values name the constraints the organisation accepts on how it pursues both. Test each against that job. A mission that would fit any hospital in the country is not directing anything, and a vision such as being the provider of choice fails because nothing in it could ever be measured. The competency list also asks you to examine organisational ethics as expressed in these statements, which means asking what the values commit the organisation to when it is expensive — how a stated commitment to access survives an unprofitable service line is the kind of question that shows the statements are doing real work.
The gap analysis is the centre of the report and it needs evidence, not impression. Set the desired outcome the statements imply against observable current state: service mix, quality and safety results, patient experience scores, workforce turnover, community benefit spending, where capital actually goes. A gap is only demonstrated when you can point at something. Then the recommendations have to propose changes to the statements themselves and to the structure that delivers them, because the assessment criteria name both, and each recommendation must be supported from the literature rather than from your own judgement alone. Keep the audience in mind throughout: you are presenting to a panel of employee stakeholders, so the report should explain why these statements should matter to people whose daily work they are supposed to direct, and it should be written to be shared rather than as an internal memo to the executive team.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Analyse mission, vision and values statements as directional strategy rather than as branding.
- 02Examine the ethics an organisation's statements commit it to.
- 03Evidence a gap between desired outcome and current organisational state.
- 04Recommend changes to statements and structure that align with strategy.
- 05Write for a named stakeholder audience in scholarly, APA-compliant form.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01An analysis of the organisation's mission, vision and values as directional strategies.
- 02An examination of organisational ethics as expressed in those statements.
- 03An analysis of the gap between the desired outcome and the current environment.
- 04Proposed changes to vision, mission and values statements.
- 05Recommended changes to structure and strategy, supported by literature.
- 063–5 pages in current APA format, written for a panel of employee stakeholders.
Analyse, find the gap, then recommend
The organisation and its statements
Introduce the organisation and quote the three statements you will analyse.
Mission and vision as directional strategy
Test each against the job it is supposed to do.
Values and organisational ethics
Examine what the values commit the organisation to when it is costly.
Desired outcome versus current state
Set the implied outcome against observable performance and resource allocation.
Proposed changes to the statements
Rewrite or sharpen the statements so they direct decisions.
Structural changes and recommendations
Recommend structural alignment, each recommendation cited.
Sources for directional strategy and organisational ethics
Recommended databases
- Capella University Library
- Business Source Complete
- The organisation's own annual report and community benefit filing
- CMS Care Compare
- Health Affairs
Search sequence
- 1.Choose an organisation whose statements and performance data are both public.
- 2.Retrieve its mission, vision and values verbatim from its own materials.
- 3.Pull quality, experience and workforce data as evidence of the current state.
- 4.Read a strategic management chapter on directional strategies for the analytic vocabulary.
- 5.Find literature on ethical decision frameworks based on mission and values.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Find Healthcare Providers: Compare Care Near You | Medicare
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services · 2025
Public performance data to evidence the current state in the gap analysis.
- 02
Objectives and Data - Healthy People 2030
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion · 2024
Measurable national objectives, useful as the standard a vision statement is tested against.
- 03
Nursing Ethical Considerations
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Grounds the organisational ethics competency in a recognised ethical framework.
- 04
Quality Improvement Methods (LEAN, PDSA, SIX SIGMA)
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024
Supports recommendations that propose a measurable change rather than a restated intention.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Quoting the statements and paraphrasing them instead of testing whether they direct anything.
- Skipping the ethics criterion, which is a named competency.
- Asserting a gap without any observable evidence of the current state.
- Recommending changes to the statements but not to the structure, or the reverse.
- Supporting recommendations from personal opinion when the criteria require literature.
- Writing for an executive board when the brief names employee stakeholders.
Submission checklist
- Mission, vision and values are each analysed separately.
- The vision is tested for whether it could ever be measured.
- Organisational ethics are examined explicitly.
- The gap is evidenced with observable current-state data.
- Recommendations cover both statements and structure, each with a citation.
- The report is 3–5 pages and follows current APA format.
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.

Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.