Does everyone in your organization share a sense of purpose? Is it crystal clear to all of the employees what's truly important here? Is there a feeling that we serve a higher purpose, we all know what that purpose is, and we're dedicated to its fulfillment? If so, you should be proud, because you are in the minority.
Most organizations have mission statements that were conceived over three days at a management retreat in a state park. The language used is flawless corporate-speak. It's appropriate, usually emotionless, and therefore meaningless. It may be printed on pocket cards that every employee is required to carry. The mission statement is read aloud at the annual meeting. And few, if any, employees have any personal attachment to it at all.
If your mission statement doesn't strike an emotional chord in employees, then what's the point? We're talking about mission, not procedural guidelines. Your mission should be something that any and every employee can verbalize in seven words or less, and in their own language, not as some memorized slogan.
At a managers' meeting for a chain of emergency medical care clinics, I pressed one of the participants to tell me, in her own words, what the point of the company was. After a great deal of resistance, because she didn't want to give a "wrong" answer, she finally said "Hey, we help people when they're hurt. Okay?"
Yes. Okay, indeed. I asked the group if any of them were particularly inspired by the company's mission statement. Not one said yes. I then asked if they were inspired by this woman's six word mission statement: "We help people when they're hurt." Every hand in the room went up.
State your mission simply, powerfully, and with emotion. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.. didn't inspire anyone by saying "I have a strategic plan." He said "I have a dream." Your mission should tap into employees' hearts and dreams. If it doesn't, then what's the point?
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