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Most organizations
would have something at
the very top of what they do
that they may call a
mission statement.
A mission statement
typically is the
main purpose of
the organization.
This may be in line
with the values or
the expectation of stakeholders
or shareholders and so on.
Just to make fun of
this a little bit,
this is a vignette
that shows how
sometimes mission
statements are created.
There is a sense that
we need to create
something that is heartfelt
and aspirational,
but sometimes we get
entangled in jargon, so
we struggle to do this.
In the vignette guided by a
relentless focus on quality
then the people trying
to come up with it
struggle with something and
the person there
says quality again,
but it's been already used.
Sometimes these
mission statements
are just a collection
of buzzwords.
Other times instead,
they can actually be
something that express
a sense of purpose,
a sense of aspiration,
which is sometimes
accompanied by
vision statements that relate
to a desired future state.
These too can be very powerful.
There's recent
research that shows
how these statements
can be powerful,
particularly in moments
of change and disruption.
There's been a study
looking at COVID and
the impact of mission/vision
statements and
purposes and so on,
and how they've actually
made people feel
more connected with
their employer because,
of course, the sense of
aspiration and belonging
was challenged.
These statements can
make a difference,
but they have to be
connected to the rest.
In other words,
they don't tell us
what to do on a Monday morning,
but they can give us a sense
of what we want to do.
These then connect
to the strategy of
the organization.
In essence, a set of
choices that should make
sense and be coherent so that
the organization
accomplishes its main goals.
I want to show you one
example and comment on this.
