BusinessForward

Author:  Candice Liozu has more than 17 years of international business experience. She is also a certified life coach. A multi-lingual Client Executive, she helps BusinessForward customers by viewing their challenges through a lens of empathy and a profound understanding of the importance of human nature in shaping organizational success.

First, let us agree on what an internal  Mission Statement is and what purpose it serves…I view it as the backbone of a team and work that is aligned with the overall corporate mission. Without it, you will soon see a bunch of lost souls trying to function in a world of chaos.

Well, maybe not that dramatic, but it’s pretty tough to function without one.

In my years of experience as a consultant and most recently as a life coach, I firmly believe that failure to define an organization’s mission early on will lead to high levels of inefficiency, redundancy and turnover which will ultimately end up being very costly. For example, let’s say a master data management team doesn’t have a mission. In their exceptionally demanding work environment, this delays projects, protracts time-to-market and increases costs to the tune of some pretty dissatisfied customers. This is where collaboration among the team, and a firm grasp of where the business is going will help develop an internal organization mission statement that is right for your team and is in alignment with the overall business.

It happens more often than we think, but it’s not all doom and gloom. It’s fixable and it’s OK to fail at this often overlooked piece of your strategic plan. The main thing is to just do it. Develop a mission that fosters total buy-in from your stakeholders. People at any level of the organization can refer to it and embrace it in their day-to-day job. And, it’s the role of the leader of this organization to continuously reinforce and advocate it throughout other business units corporation-wide.

Having a clear Mission Statement will serve you and your organization.

It will:

1. Provide a vision to the entire organization allowing each and every team member, regardless of their level, to look in the same direction and share common values.
2. Allow future employees to evaluate whether or not your mission resonates with their personal values and culture. This empowers you to feel confident in hiring the right people for the right roles.
3. Create a collective behavior that fosters empathy when faced with a challenging situation. This doesn’t prevent us from having those dreaded “difficult” conversations, but as individuals we know that we approached it the way we were supposed to, in alignment with the mission.
4. Unify your organization. A well thought-out Mission will most likely prompt a sense of loyalty to the company, making team members feel like they work in an intellectually safe environment.

Like children, we tend to feel safer in predictable environments. When we feel safe, we don’t leave. It’s often as simple as that.

In my experience, I have seen many companies displaying elaborate Mission Statements across banners in their corporate offices. Unfortunately, I have seen too often that the actions of the company’s internal organizations were not aligned with the business mission, leading to those lost souls and lack of clarity. In such cases, I repeatedly caught myself thinking that they would be better off without a mission in the first place.

At a recent seminar as part of my continuing training as a life coach, I learned the importance of being congruent in your thinking, acting and feeling. Failing at it puts you in a state of imbalance, causes you to make wrong decisions and makes you come across as inauthentic. This is no different from organizations who are not congruent with their Mission Statements…

So ask yourself the right questions…

1. What is your purpose?
2. As an organization, what do you ultimately want to accomplish?
3. How much do you know yourself as a company?
4. What values does your organization live by?
5. What will you NOT compromise on? No matter what!
6. What characteristics should your current or prospective employees show to be a great fit with your organization?
7. Who do you want to serve? Look at it from different perspectives: Geography, Culture, Size, Industry.
8. Why oh why do you do what you do? What ultimately drives you to live your purpose? Ask yourself the “Why” question 5 times in a row….the deeper you go, the better as it will mainly represent a fundamental motivation which you can compare to your purpose above and make sure they are aligned.

If you are able to clearly answer these questions, then you are in good shape to craft a powerful, meaningful and purposeful Mission Statement. Congrats! If not, get to work with your team and find these answers.

Now in closing, I would like to invite you to a simple yet powerful exercise…..Apply these questions to you personally. Yes, I mean YOU! Forget about work for a second.

How does it feel? I would love to hear from you. Send me a tweet @BUSFWD #missionstatement or shoot me an email at cliozu@businessforward.com

I’d love to hear from you and incorporate your feedback into future blogs about balance, authenticity and the fundamental importance of knowing who you are and where you are going.