Organizations and companies the world over regularly align themselves to mission statements, vision statements, and organizational values to help drive their success. However, outside of the overall company statements, there are many teams within organizations that do not stop to consider their own mission or vision statements. Nor do they really consider how they align these statements to the broader company. It is important to periodically pause and review the fundamental questions:
- Why do we exist?
- Where do we want to be within the next few years?
- Where do our priorities lie and what do we care about?
- And finally, how do we get there?
I have had the honor, and the challenge, at various times in my career to build (or rebuild) specific teams within an organization. These were obviously key times to sit and contemplate these questions. However, it is good practice to revisit periodically and evaluate whether you are progressing in the desired direction or if a change is needed. At these times, it may be beneficial to involve your staff (and possibly their teams as well) in the discussion. You alone do not drive the success of your team. Without the rest of the group there would be no team and no forward momentum on any idea, big or small.
THE MISSION AND THE VALUES: Identifying Who You Are (Or Who You Should Be)
Why do we exist? (Who are we… ideally?)
When setting the mission and vision statements for my teams, I start by posing two basic questions. I apply these questions both to my team and to my role within it: “Why do we exist? What values do we believe in?” These may be very straight-forward questions to answer, but you must also consider how they fit within the larger organization. When I posed these questions to a training organization, the answers revolved around imparting knowledge and skills, valuing curiosity, helping others, passion and drive, and tenacity. When I asked them to make the connection to the broader organization the answers evolved to evoke concepts around excellence, consistency, and customer focus. One set of statements supported another.
What matters to us?
What are your key values? What are the things that you want people to remember about your team? These are going to be the things that will (or at least should) drive your actions. If we value curiosity, we will end up looking at actions aligned to exploring, learning, and trying out something different. If I want people to remember my teams (or me as a manager) as loyal and caring, I shouldn’t drive my actions and values towards winning at any cost. So, what matters? Make a list and make it a broad list. You can pare it back to something more concise later. Often when you start casting a wide net, you start to see common themes. These themes can pull several items together and help you identify the “big values” that are at the core, while the others may play supporting roles.
Crafting the Mission Statement
It is not often that you need to re-write a whole mission statement. As this is typically the guiding beacon, it typically only changes when the business undergoes some form of transformation or massive shift. If you have a mission statement for your organization, and it’s still applicable, congratulations! But sometimes, things happen that require you to write (or rewrite) a mission statement.
When writing your mission statement, I generally endorse the following guidelines:
- Keep it concise. Ideally one sentence. Two at most.
- Don’t use industry jargon or acronyms. Think about whether people outside of your organization will understand it.
- Address (briefly) who you are, what you do, and who you do it for. I typically try to include a why or how component to round things out.
For example, if I look at what we do on this site, I could write the following mission statement:
COMET Leadership Development provides thought leadership to new and emerging leaders for the purpose of building the skills that create engaged cultures, loyal teams, and interpersonal connections.
You will probably go through a few iterations while you’re crafting your statement. This is ok! The mission statement is meant to be a guiding light, an enduring mantra. You want to have it resonate. I recommend that you test out your mission statement with trusted individuals and seek feedback. Get your team involved! People will tend to believe in and better follow a statement they had a hand in creating.
Creating the Vision – Set the Stage for the Future
Who do we want to become? Where do we want to be in 3-5 years?
Once we know who we want to be, then comes the hard look at who we currently are and how we keep moving along towards our mission statement. Note that to create your vision statement, you’re also going to have to take an honest look at where things currently stand. Not where you want to be (yet – we’ll get there), or what you are capable of. The first step is a proper understanding of where you are today – the good and the bad – before you can determine where you want to go.
Maybe you are already living your mission statement and demonstrating your values regularly. If so, that’s great! Your vision statement will be more focused on what’s next. This could be expanding your reach, improving your financials, offering new products, or becoming more influential. However, if you find that you are not living your mission and values, that is definitely a good place to start.
For a vision statement:
- Think long term. Your vision statement is a large objective that you can achieve in the years to come. I typically aim for a three-to-five-year timeframe.
- Think big. Your vision statement is not going to be a small goal that could be done by a single person in a week. These are going to be the big efforts that are going to move your organization towards fulfilling your mission statement.
- Like the mission statement, keep it short. Aim towards a statement that inspires and motivates your team, and helps them see how their work, goals, etc. fit into the broader picture.
So again, using COMET Leadership Development, I may create something such as:
Our vision is to be a key resource for leaders to build workplaces focused on the connections between people. We aim to create a community of leaders who support each other and their teams in order to build loyal and engaged cultures.
Just as with the mission statement, you may go through a few versions, and I recommend getting feedback to help refine your message.
Ok, Now What?
With mission, vision, and values in hand, you can craft the remaining pieces relating to goal setting.
- Your Strategies will be the overarching plans on “how” you will achieve your vision. I tend to think of these as categories, or the mid-to-long-term focuses. Continuing the examples above, I may create strategies around content development, community outreach, and creating delivery mechanisms for my work.
- Behind that comes Goals and KPIs. These are the specific things you need to do, and ways to measure if you are making progress. These may be SMART goals. You can find out more about via several online resources. We like this site for an overview to get you started. You should also track data points to create concrete evidence of movement. I recommend target time frames of one year, although you can certainly set quarterly or monthly goals!
- And finally, Tactics and Action Plans. These are the specifics of what you’re going to do and when.
On a Personal Note…
This same approach can be applied on a personal level as well. I have challenged team members and people I have mentored to think about how they look at their career trajectory and question “what’s next” for them as well. My inevitable first question is about their passions (i.e., their values). While there is not always perfect alignment between your personal values and your company or career values, I believe that they should not be 100% at odds with each other either. I believe that if you are completely at odds on what you value, you risk unhappiness with where you are. If I value interpersonal relationships and helping people grow, I’m not going to be very happy in the long run in a role where I type all day long and don’t speak with anyone.
Then I ask people to use those values to help form the answer to “who do I want to be?” I try not to use “why do I exist?” for personal evaluation. I don’t want to risk putting people on the path to an existential crisis! But I want people to think about what would make their future selves happy. What do you want to do that helps embody your values and passions? Then we get into the traditional flow that we often see in business. We go from “who do I want to be” to the question of “how do I get there”. We discuss the long-term plans, the short-term strategies, and the immediate tasks to move people along their desired path.
And yes, I absolutely do this in my own personal life. Although maybe not very consistently. If I am unhappy and feel that things are awry, I look at whether I am living to my personal values. If I have a vision of where I would like to be in a few years, I check whether I am following along with strategies and goals to get there. And if I don’t have a vision… then I think maybe I should set one!
Give It Time
In business and in life, change is usually not instantaneous. Having this methodical, organized, and specific outline can help create the guides needed for change. Understand that these efforts take time, and you may need to go back and revisit it all again – because no one has a perfect crystal ball!
