mission drift
Goals slowly shifting
Mission drift is the gradual departure of an organization from its original purpose or core objectives.
It typically happens incrementally—each small decision seems reasonable, but collectively they pull the organization away from what it was founded to do.
The nonprofit started feeding the homeless but suffered mission drift when it expanded into job training, housing advocacy, and mental health services.
The term carries implicit criticism, suggesting loss of focus or diluted effectiveness.
- scope creepUncontrolled project growth
- feature creepGradual unnecessary expansion
- slippery slopeArgument predicting inevitable escalation
- purposeReason something exists
- visionAbility to see
core values · deviation · off the rails · distraction · dilution · wandering · straying · nonprofit · organization · goals · moving goalposts · original · intent · expansion · bureaucracy · compromise · gradual · erosion
- organizational changemerger, acquisition, restructuring, reorganization, expansion
- mismanagementmishandling, dysfunction, misuse, incompetence, inefficiency
- thinking errorsad hominem, straw man, slippery slope, confirmation bias, sunk cost fallacy
- driftdriftwood
mission driftfocus
Concentrated attention point
single-mindedness · laser focus · prioritization · concentration
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