I recently heard a great motivational speech by professional athlete Tim Tebow that focused on how outcomes can vary when we make decisions that are based on our emotions versus our convictions. The message he was conveying is that most people tend to live their lives basing decisions on their emotions which can be negatively biased if we are tired or had a bad day. However, if we all lived our lives driven by our convictions, imagine what we could accomplish together.
At the September 2019 strategic retreat with the board of directors, Cloverland staff recommended modifying the cooperative’s vision and mission statement to better align with the priorities being established for the cooperative. Vision and mission statements are both necessary for establishing goals and priorities for an organization. A vision statement is what an organization aspires to and the mission statement describes how the organization will ultimately get there. Together, these statements serve as the guiding principles for an organization when considering all business decisions.
At the January 2020 regular meeting of the board, the directors approved the following amended vision and mission statements:
Vision: Cloverland Electric Cooperative, through local control, will improve the quality of life for its members by proactively managing their unique energy needs.
Mission: Cloverland Electric Cooperative is a not-for-profit, member-owned utility focused on delivering exceptional services through the generation and safe delivery of reliable and affordable energy solutions that encourages growth, foster innovation, and strengthen the communities we serve.
Working closely with the board of directors, the cooperative is making great strides in improving transparency, highlighting the value of local generation, improving our financial position, and considering the expansion of member programs. As we usher in a new decade, and new era, the changes to our vision and mission provide a renewed focus on the strengths of our member-owned organization as well as our conviction for serving the unique energy needs of our members to help strengthen the communities we serve.
With our corrected “20-20 vision” and Cloverland’s renewed conviction to upholding our cooperative guiding principles, we can do great things together! This New Year’s storm was a great example of the value of a cooperative. On behalf of the organization, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our members for the outpouring of support as we dealt with a storm of historic proportions.
Kind regards,
Michael (Mike) Heise