Are Your People Living Your Organization's Mission?

The preeminent responsibility of leadership in any municipality, governmental agency, industrial company or business organization is to craft a crystal clear vision and mission that is subsequently lived out each and every business day.

 

While your organization’s mission statement may be elegantly framed and bear a prominent placement on a wall in the executive office suite … Do the people in your organization actually understand what the organizational mission is? And do they know how to “live” it out on a daily basis?

 

Simply stated, do they understand their role in the mission and how to implement it?

 

Take a moment to carefully consider the following mission statement from a top Fortune 100 company:

 

Conoco-Phillips (a leading international petroleum company)

 

Mission: “As one of the largest publically held energy companies, our mission is to increase supplies to consumers through actions and investments that simultaneously build value for our shareholders.”

 

If you were an employee of Conoco-Phillips, you would no doubt find yourself hard pressed to understand in your specific job role “how” you personally make a valuable contribution toward the achievement and fulfillment of the company’s mission.

 

More than likely, you are going to have the distinct impression that your job is nothing more than to make money for the shareholders. So much for answering the question of every employee on the payroll… “What’s In It For Me?” (WIIFM)

 

As an employee, you might also be asking what “actions” am I supposed to take?

 

In stark contrast, consider the straight forward mission statement of Liberty Tax Service which is experiencing rapid growth and fully expects to overtake H&R Block as the #1 U.S. tax service by the year 2020.

 

Mission: “Set the standard. Improve every day. Have some fun.”

 

As an employee, understanding how you directly contribute to the fulfillment of the Liberty Tax mission, company success and personal success is fairly easy to grasp:

 

Set the standard. Know what you as an individual employee are capable of doing.

 

Improve every day. Continue to learn and improve, then set your own performance expectations a little higher every day.

 

Have some fun. Enjoy your work and the people that you work with.

 

It is certainly not difficult to understand which organization is going to have happier workers that are more engaged and more productive, while experiencing increased employee loyalty and retention.

 

Unfortunately, the vast majority of organizations worldwide regardless of their business classification or size, invariably craft mission statements that are wordy, vague, complex or overly ingratiating.

 

Of the Fortune Global 100 companies, perhaps the best mission statement of the lot comes from #27 Daimler Benz (Mercedes) which simply states its company mission is “To produce cars and trucks that people want to buy, will enjoy driving and will want to buy again.”

 

If your management team and front line workers are struggling to achieve your organization’s mission and goals, and your organization is experiencing continued employee turnover and lack of employee engagement...

 

Then you may have to look square into the organizational mirror and ask the prerequisite question… Are we merely advertising our mission as a statement or are we “living” it out every business day?

 

If you need assistance in bringing your organization’s vision, mission and people to life, we’re here to help.

Copyright © 2016 Developing Forward Leadership | Thomas H. Swank, CBC