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[/custom_frame_center] You are sitting in a climate-controlled room decked out with a white board and a rainbow of dry-erase markers. Your boss has called this mandatory meeting to talk about the company’s mission, vision and values. Your task is to agree (mostly) with your co-workers and bosses on all three statements. Hopefully there are bottles of water, coffee and snacks, because this is going to be a long meeting.
What is a mission statement anyway? The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) defines a mission statement as a company’s “reason for existence. It describes the company (or department), what it does and its overall intention.” If you enjoy brainstorming, this exercise will fit you well. The purpose of a mission statement is to efficiently define the company.
Take this exercise to a personal level – how would you define your mission? For your personal mission statement, think about your everyday life. Your mission is how you relate to the world and everything in it, as well as what you do everyday. This includes work and personal life as you know it, not planning your future.
The next phase is creating a vision statement. You’re probably on your third cup of coffee and your boss has gone through two markers, because creating the mission statement can be an arduous process. The vision statement is more palatable. SHRM recommends using this question to develop a vision statement: “If the organization were to achieve all of its strategic goals, what would it look like 10 years from now?” If you like your company, it is an opportunity to dream out loud and give management some creative ideas. If you don’t already have a good sense of your company’s big picture plan, you should learn it here.
In your life, have you considered a 2-, 5- or 10-year plan? (Or anything beyond just getting through a company meeting?) Your goals can be as big or small as you wish and documented in any way. There’s not going to be a right or wrong. It is crucial to have something to look forward to. A vacation, adding someone to your family, finding a new job…you get the idea. If you don’t dream and make your own vision, who will?
The final step is deciding on values. Harvard Business Review’s Graham Kenny says “Values describe the desired culture.” We’ve all worked in different places where the culture left something to be desired. If you now work somewhere with a great company culture, I bet the management has set the value statement already. SHRM says, “A values statement describes what the organization believes in and how it will behave…This compass guides decision-making and establishes a standard that actions can be assessed against.”
This may be the easiest statement to make for your personal life. Sharon John, Build-A-Bear’s CEO, says strong core values are unshakable. “These are life values as well as company values,” she says, “They are unifying for our organization.” They also unify every aspect of your personal life to create a strong sense of virtue and balance. If your core values are being compromised in any area, take time to reevaluate your mission and vision statements.
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By Melissa Hardin Baysinger
