Mission Accomplished?

The mission statement is often misunderstood and poorly written.  This is unfortunate because the mission statement is the organization’s raison d’etre.  Simply put, the mission statement describes what the organization is charged with doing, or the reason for its existence.  The mission statement is not a philosophical statement about the organization; that’s the purpose of the vision. The mission describes what the organization is supposed to do.  The mission keeps the organization oriented toward its goal.  Whereas the vision is analogous to the engine in a car, the mission (and requisite objectives) is analogous to the transmission.  You can have a very powerful vision, but if there is no mission to transfer that power, you have no movement.

Here are some examples of clear mission statements:

Kennametal is a global, customer-needs-driven provider of tools, tooling systems, supplies, and services to the metalworking industry.

The mission of ACG is to help organizations improve their performance by enhancing the effectiveness of the people in those organizations. We do this by applying the principles of behavioral science to the demands of organizations.  We specialize in performance improvement regarding:

• Individuals, work groups and teams

• Thought processes and interpersonal skills

• Competencies of leaders, managers and supervisors.

KLA’s major mission is to be the premier yield monitoring and process control systems supplier to the semi-conductor industry.  KLA will achieve this objective by building reliable state-of-the art, yield-influencing data gathering and analysis systems, which can be networked into a total yield management information system.

At this writing, I was sitting in the airport lounge in the Hong Kong airport, enroute to SFO from a business engagement in Kunming, China.  This was my second trip to China; the first was to Shanghai about a year ago.  China is unbelievable.  It is astounding what this country has established in a short while.  And it attests to the power of a clear mission that harnesses human energy, thereby providing focus to accomplish dramatic results.

China under the rule of Mao Tse Tung had a different mission than today, i.e., to dominate Asia under Chinese Communist rule.  To do that, a vast internal education program was implemented.  Known as the Cultural Revolution, millions of people were killed.  Some historians say more than Stalin.  Brutal.  A government of ideologues. And a massive failure.

Today, the mission is different.  It is simply to bring China into economic parity with the West, enabling it to become an economic powerhouse in Asia, and the world.  China’s desire to become a super power partly depends on its industrial policy; all driven from its mission.  China’s progress since it first opened to foreign investment and reform in 1978 has been dazzling.  Over the past 25 years, its real domestic product has expanded at an average of 9% a year.  China’s leaders still call themselves communists, but they have become pragmatic capitalists in practice.  If they have a guiding philosophy, it owes nothing to Chairman Mao (who once said power comes from the barrel of a gun), but is best summed up by the previous premier of China, Deng Xiaoping’s famous dictum: “It doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches the mouse.”

A clear vision gets people stirred up and excited.  It gets the emotional juices flowing. However, a vision without a mission is but a dream.  And we all know what happens to ill-defined dreams.  A mission is needed to harness the energy and provide focus, just as a magnifying glass focuses the sun’s energy to burn paper.  A clear mission can do just that.  And China is a stellar example.

Construct a mission for your team.  Keep in mind that a mission statement is precise, to the point, no “fluff.”  Hazy mission statement = hazy goal = poor performance.  A mission statement should answer the following three questions:

WHAT?   

·  what is the purpose of this organization?

·  what is the nature of this organizations business?

·  which functions does our organization wish to perform?

·  what customer needs are we attempting to fulfill?

WHO?

·  who are our customers/clients?

·  who do we perform these functions for?

·  which organizations of customers/clients do we wish to attract?

HOW?

·  how do we operationalize our purpose?

·  how do we perform these functions?

·  what is the primary method through which we intend to fulfill our purpose?

·  how do we meet the needs of our customers/clients?

I find this exercise works best by having individuals discuss each of these mission elements amongst themselves.  After a half hour or so of discussion, thoughts should be captured on the flip chart.  Gradually, through the process of discussion and consensus, a clear mission should emerge.  Don’t get too hung up on "word smithing", but don’t trounce on members ideas, either.  Remember a mission works only to the degree that the members buy into it, and the leader embodies it. 

The next column will discuss how to develop goals, milestones and objectives which give traction to the mission.