| What I'm about to say, will shock most
organizational leaders….It's time to retire the mission statement.
- They don't motivate anyone.
- They are a waste of time and energy to develop.
- They quickly become part of the corporate wallpaper.
During a recent leadership workshop a participant
proclaimed, "When I hear the word mission, I think of a military mission." Not
exactly the image that is going to get most employees excited about their jobs.
Lookup the word "mission" on dictionary.com and
15 references are cited. Only these three even come close to filling the definition
organizations use the concept for and none are very inspirational:
- an assigned or self-imposed duty or task; calling; vocation.
- a sending or being sent for some duty or purpose.
- the business with which a group is charged
Is it any wonder why few employees are motivated by their
organization mission statements? Yet, most every organization in the world spends
countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars trying to create the perfect mission in
strategy sessions.
How Successful Organizational Leaders Motivate Employees
Without Having a Mission
If organizational leaders want to inspire and motivate
employees, connect at a deep level with customers and build a brand around something that
shows the organization makes a difference, they should burn their organization's mission.
Then, they should dig deeper to identify the organization's "Purpose."
Dictionary.com's definition of "purpose"
includes:
- the reason for which something exists or is done, made,
used,
- an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.
- determination; resoluteness.
Those three definitions provide a much greater foundation
that will help you inspire a group of employees to work toward your organization's goals.
The inspiration will become more real, however, by experiencing actual organizational
purpose statements.
My Favorite Purpose Statements…
I believe Yellowstone National Park has one of the best
organizational purpose statements. Sitting across the archway leading into the park, their
purpose statement reads "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People." It's
simple. It's easy to remember. And it's something that focuses park employees on serving
the millions of visitors to Yellowstone every year.
Here's another example:
A regional not-for-profit organization recently completed a
strategic planning process decided to take my advice and created this as its purpose
statement: "Our Purpose Is To Instill Hope, Empowerment and Self-Determination in
People with Mental Illness to Foster Recovery and a Transition to Mental Wellness!"
Again, this is a one-sentence statement that is memorable
and motivational whereas most mission statements are many sentences in length, are
cumbersome for employees to memorize and are rarely associated to or referenced after they
are created.
To create a powerful purpose statement for your
organization you might think that all you have to do is ask "why does our
organization exist?" That question can be tricky, especially in a for-profit
organization that needs to meet shareholder expectations, turn a profit and dividends or
attain a certain share price. Instead, the focus should be on the thing the organization
must to in order for it to position itself to be able to achieve those things.
Two Questions You Should Be Asking to Create Your Purpose
Statement…
- "What is the one thing that our organization must do
for our customers and our community, at a very high level, that will absolutely ensure our
financial success for the long-term?"
- "What is it that we do consistently that makes a
difference in our customers lives/businesses every day?"
Even with these questions leadership teams have a challenge
answering them by themselves. Often, internal facilitators fail to push the issue deep
enough to get to the core essence of the organization's existence. What is created is a
statement lacking power and emotion.
For organizations serious about creating a memorable and
motivational purpose statement that actually inspires team members to perform and achieve
high level results there also needs to be an implementation and integration strategy to
infiltrate the purpose throughout the organization's culture. Often times the best results
are attained by having an outside facilitator and consultant assist the organization's
leadership with this process.
Creating a powerful organizational purpose that will
motivate employees while building a powerful brand image is just one component of
"The 3 Strategies Champion Organizations Master that Too Many Leaders Take for
Granted," a white paper and audio seminar that can be downloaded at:
SkipWeisman.com/3LeadershipStrategiesTraining |
