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
