Building Capacity by Managing a Mission

Abstract

This chapter contains explanations on how a mission can be used and managed to build capacity within an organization. It investigates and defines the meaning of capacity building by analyzing its elements and purpose. In addition, the chapter describes the leadership style for building capacity through a mission and provides an explanation and description of three phases in building capacity for an organization. The intention of the chapter is to present the rationale for mission statements as a strategy and the anchor for capacity building. The research reveals that an organization's mission statement is an effective tool only if it has an inspiring purpose that is understood by the whole community. This means that simply having a statement is not sufficient to fully incorporate a mission. Rather, the mission statement needs to be properly managed to ensure that the whole community of an organization feels or senses the words expressed in the statement in its daily life at work.