Posts Tagged ‘mission’

I am not doing the holidays this year.  My refusal to do Christmas is a radical action I’ve been considering for some time.  Just around Halloween, as the 2010 holiday season dawned, I announced that I would not be participating in Christmas this year.

So far the reaction has been positive, supportive and even enthusiastic.  The advantage of my rebellion is just beginning to reveal itself to me.

• In the drugstore picking up a prescription for my dog, I saw an enticing display of bathrobes.  I stopped to check the quality thinking: “Does my daughter need a bathrobe?”, and then I remember, I don’t “have” to buy her a present. 

•  I spotted a flyer posted in the locker room at my gym announcing a holiday sale of craft baskets. I was thinking, who do I know that would like a basket,  and then I remembered: I don’t need to spend my creative energy trying to find  good gift for people who already have everything.

I admit to feeling some guilt.  I believe in small business and many small businesses depend on the Christmas season. But by not participating I have completely changed my view of the season. I am actually looking forward to it. By eliminating shopping and cooking and wrapping and decorating I might actually create a season of peace.

As the year winds down, we here at Working Miracles will be preparing for the New Year by revisiting our vision and mission.  The first rule of creating a motivating and meaningful is, begin with total honesty.  What does a satisfying, meaningful life look like to you? Never mind what the rest of the world is doing. Never mind social convention and family pressure. Never mind your personal responsibility to rebuild our consumer economy– what is it you want?

Santa won’t bring it but, once you know what it is, you can create it.

Image by Flickr user Peter Hilton, licensed under CC 2.0

When my children were in middle school, where being different in anyway was an invitation to name calling, exclusion and shame, I would often assure them that the years between 11 and 13 would be the worst years of their lives.  Just wait, I would encourage them, if you can survive middle school the rest of your life will be better.

Now that I coach business owners to become business leaders, I deliver a similar message as we struggle through the process of defining a unique vision and a mission for their business.  For many this struggle for simple clarity about what it is they do and why they do it is the hardest part of forming a business plan.  Once an entrepreneur is able to clearly articulate the reasons his company exists, the rest can be easy.

Vision or Mission?

Don’t get too hung up on the terms, I find the exact content of each to be flexible depending on who you are talking to. I usually include monetary goals in the vision but reserve the mission for the “Why”.  It is important to know why your business exists because an entity that attempts to operate without a clear mission statement runs the risk of working harder and harder on tasks that don’t necessarily accomplish its intended course: i.e. its mission.

Values

What to you do? How do you do it? Why do you do it?

In a sentence or two a company can articulate its philosophies, goals, ambitions and more.

Here are some examples:

Traditional:

Notice the values included here.

To be the preeminent provider of superior construction services by consistently improving the quality of our product; to add value for clients through innovation, foresight, integrity, and aggressive performance; and to serve with character and purpose that brings honor to God. C.F. Jordan L.P. Construction Services

The One line statement:

In this version the values are fleshed out with bullet points.

“To preserve and improve human life.” (Merck)

• Corporate social responsibility
• Unequivocal excellence in all aspects of the company
• Science-based innovation
• Honesty & integrity
• Profit, but profit from work that benefits humanity

The Inspirational Statement:

Here is an extremely famous and clear mission statement. Notice the clear values.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

For other examples of mission statements click here

Socially Meaningful

Notice that each of these examples includes socially meaningful criteria.

It can be difficult to uncover the social meaning and value of the service or product you provide but it is essential. When you understand that you are adding value and that value is ultimately what your clients and customer pay for, you will be motivated to grow your business in order to provide that value to as many people as possible. And, in addition, you will be better able to prioritize your activities.  When you are on a mission you will choose to focus on only those tasks that promote your mission.

And Now A Test

Seth Godin says this statement is in the running for the worst mission statement ever.  Can you tell why?

“To satisfy our customers’ desires for personal entertainment and information through total customer satisfaction”
 
 Photo by rustman via Flickr Creative Commons

Now that you taken the time to connect with your inner knowing and reflect on what you discovered, it is time to clarify your vision.  This is sometimes referred to as developing a Personal Mission Statement.

A few year back “personal mission statements” were all the rage.  The goal of writing a mission statement was to state in one or two sentences the value and vision that drives your actions each day of your life?  Personal mission statements, an outgrowth of the management buzz of the nineties, were supposed to be the corollary of a corporate mission statement. A clear mission statement promised to focus an organization on a vision. The intention of a clear vision was to create “buy in” and channel the energies of the workforce in the same direction as management thus creating a synergistic organization.

This was management for the times.  In the heyday of the dot.com boom, wealth creation required workers to work long, unrelenting hours doing the tedious technical work of software development. Young men joked (and still do) about not having enough time to date.  Young women, more successful at dating, found themselves packing their babies into the car in the pre dawn darkness to drop them at day care. These were the daily actions required to get the work done.

Into this world entered the idea of a personal mission statement. A personal mission statement posted on your cubical wall could become a life jacket in a sea of insanity. A review of your personal mission statement over lunch or dinner at your desk could serve to refresh your rationalizations. There on laminated copy paper was a meaningful sentence or two providing a concrete understanding of how one’s actions contribute to the organization and, consequently, to the greater good of society.

This is not the outcome I wish for you in the exercises I have mapped out.  Don’t – please don’t – begin with the end in mind.  Do not seek to justify the reality you already have.  This is your chance to stretch, to dream, to imagine.  Next time we will talk about creative tension and why it is important to step out of your comfort zone.