Mission Statements are fundamental, to projects, teams, departments, small companies and global conglomerates. What are they? Why have them? How can we better utilize them. Here are a few poignant thoughts that may be helpful to review. In polling over fifteen thousand employees in the Fortune 1000 I found that virtually all worked for companies with Mission Statements. However fewer than ten percent could tell me what their companies Mission Statements were.
- A Mission Statement should not be a noble-sounding plaque to hang in the companies lobby.
- An effective Mission Statement basically answers one question: “How do we intend to win in this business?” It is defining.
- Harp on the mission constantly. In every meeting, large or small.
- Get input from anywhere–but setting the mission is top management’s responsibility.
- A mission cannot, and must not be delegated to anyone except the people ultimately held accountable for it.
- A mission is the defining moment for a company’s leadership. It’s the true test of its stuff. The above bullets are from Winning, Jack Welch. (Highly Recommended.)
- “It has been proven time and again that individuals achieve their greatest successes when they work with others toward a common goal they are passionate about reaching.”
- “Every enterprise and team requires simple, clear, and unifying objectives. Its mission has to be clear enough and big enough to provide a common vision. Without a commitment to a common vision there is no enterprise; there is only a mob.”
- “A mission statement should fit on your T-shirt.” The above bullets are from Peter Drucker as recounted in the book The Definitive Drucker, Elizabeth Haas Edersheim (Highly Recommended.)
To summarize: Everyone in the organization should know and understand the company’s mission. Every division, department, project and team should also have a mission statement. That mission statement must be in alignment with and congruent to the organization’s overall mission statement. Absence of the above leads to fragmentation. Dispersion and waste of limited resources. Frustration and apathy among employees.
BasicsRedefined teaches three fundamental competencies; project management, cutting edge teams, and rigorous time, priority and resource management. Integrating the disciplines into organizations to the point of internalized habituation, creating far more productive and profitable enterprises.
