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Clive Shearer
Management
by Design
By Clive Shearer

September 11, 1996

BEWARE THE LURE OF MISSION STATEMENTS

By CLIVE SHEARER
Special to the Journal

Imagine a military commander who develops the following battle mission plan: "We will exhibit the finest discipline as we prepare unique strategies, and strive for excellence during our mission. Our men, with their unexcelled marksmanship and experience, will accomplish their tasks on time and on schedule." This is hardly inspiring. I have studied dozens of mission statements and they all seem much the same. Their words are overused and diluted to the point of meaninglessness. Politicians typically try to convince others through rhetoric, and we all know about the inaction, changes of direction and confusion that so often results from their grand phrases.

In preparing for a mission, as a military commander you will more likely say: "The men in D Company will commence movement at 06:00 hours and reach the tree line by 06:15. Dig in and hold until the tank brigade reaches you by 07:45. Then move with them on a bearing due West providing tactical support. If they have not arrived by 08:05 then advance to the top of Hill 249 and hold it until reinforced by A and C companies of the 344th Regiment." This is a clear and concise mission statement, and even contains a contingency back-up plan.

It is frightening to think of the hours of deliberation and thousands of dollars involved in the creation of company mission statements. Who reads them more than once anyway? How frequently are people, other than the creators, inspired enough by the words to make a significant difference? If there is a value in the mission statement, it is in the camaraderie that evolves along with the creation of the statement. But surely something more meaningful could be the genesis of this camaraderie?

Here is an opportunity to save hours of time, agonizing over words, grammatical composition and syntax. Save yourself those thousands of dollars perhaps spend them on a company picnic instead? The following exercise will enable you to compose your Mission Statement in three minutes.

We create for, provide for, enhance our clients, community (select one) with excellent, timely, responsive, commited, dedicated, unique, competitive, cost-effective, world class (select several) service, in order to help them achieve their mission, goals, commitments, expectations, vision (select one or two).

In the author's opinion, selecting any of these words will have the same effect. No new clients will be enticed by the mission, unhappy clients won't come back, and staff won't either stay with you or leave because of your fine words. After the mission statement the profit margin won't change, and it will be business as usual.

Rather focus your time on comparing your company strengths to market realities, looking at your profit margin per project type, and creating an action plan with accountability and deadlines to enforce it. Then before you know it, you have created a viable strategic plan. Now you can draft a meaningful mission statement that will provide a succinct summary of your plan.

For example, a practical mission statement, written after the strategic plan might read: "Our mission is to expand our manufacturing segment by 15% before the end of 1997. We will open up a new office in Boise by July of 1997 and strive for a 5% return on investment on this expansion within 12 months. We will profile our current clients, and our goal is to retain every one that consistently gives us profitable work. We are looking to capture a minimum of 5 new clients in the biotechnology industry by April of 1997."

This will be followed by milestone deadlines and names of the people who will be charged with implementation. This mission will get attention and will be used as a guiding light to future action, as it reveals exactly what is expected and inspires the staff to meet the challenge.


Clive Shearer is a professional trainer, educator and retreat facilitator and can be reached at cgb9@yahoo.com


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