Service Quality

by Karl Albrecht
"Mission Statement Blues"

Dr. Hans Selye, the famous medical researcher and father of the stress concept, said: "To make a great dream come true, you must first have a great dream." This problem faces all executives today.

Creating a meaningful mission statement for an enterprise seems to be one of the most frustrating and least enjoyable tasks executives must perform. And judging by the dearth of really effective mission statements, we have to conclude most don't face it very well. Countless executives and leadership teams have wrestled with the task and come away confused, disappointed or exasperated.

Others may think they've accomplished it, but the fruits of their labors are singularly ineffectual and unimpressive. Their mission statements tend to be either vague, fluffy platitudes or simplistic statements of the obvious. Relatively few succeed in crafting a statement that has meaning and power. There are mission statements and then there are mission statements.

Some executives have had such unsatisfying experiences with vision and mission statements that they don't want to tangle with the problem again. Very often during a strategy formulation process, when the time comes for drafting or redrafting them, all kinds of avoidance behavior arises. "We already have a mission statement; we don't need to go through that again," they'll say. Or, "Our mission statement isn't perfect, but let's not waste time tinkering with it." In the extreme case, one or more executives might grumble: "This mission statement business is a big waste of time. We always get into big debates and split hairs about the meaning of each word or whose magic words are the best. Let's just get on with our business." These feelings are understandable. Executives see themselves as skilled thinkers, and the thinking process involved in crafting a vision or mission statement is difficult and frustrating. It is one of the most challenging intellectual processes leaders ever must face, and many come up dry. They don't enjoy being frustrated or feeling like they don't know how to solve the puzzle. So they just declare it "no problem" and keep on moving. They've got the "mission statement blues." But it's a mistake to just push on without a clear statement of direction. If the leaders can't come to consensus among themselves on a statement that expresses the meaning of their enterprise-their northbound train-then what can they hope to say to the rest of the people in the organization that will make any sense to them? If all they have is platitudes, then they have no message at all. They might just as well put up signs all over the organization that say "Work Hard," "Do a Good Job," "We're a Team" and the timeless "The Customer Is King." In many ways, the vision or mission statement is a test of whether the organization really has a message.

There is a cure for the mission statement blues. It's a very simple trick. It doesn't guarantee you a powerful mission statement, but it will eliminate the major mistake that executive teams make in trying to draft mission statements. Here it is: Separate the thinking from the "wordsmithing."

The most common cause of these wrangles is confusing the journalism with the thinking. When executives start out trying to draft a mission statement directly, they are almost sure to get into debates about the best choice of words. The better way is to work out the basic idea of the mission statement first and then have somebody put some compelling words around that idea.

You're not ready to start drafting the language of your vision or mission statement until you have settled on a driving idea-the organizing principle behind the way you want to do business-and you can write the essence of that idea on the back of a business card. Once you gain consensus on the core concept of your business, verbalizing it becomes much easier. I've often witnessed the sudden rise in energy and enthusiasm among an executive team at the point when they break through to the enterprise's critical premise. After that, they're much more willing to push on with the process of getting the language right.

In relation to a vision statement, which presents an image of what we aspire to be or become, the mission statement tells how we are going to do business in order to fulfill the vision. The vision is the place we want to go to or the journey we want to take; the mission is the means for traveling. In order to achieve the state of affairs projected by the vision, the enterprise must create value in its chosen way, thereby succeeding in its environment.

Although not all authors may agree exactly on the best form for an effective mission statement, I believe it should define at least the following three things: *The customer-Defined not in terms of some market segment or statistical category, but in terms of a basic need premise that leads that person (or entity) to consider doing business with our enterprise.

The value premise-Defined not in terms of what your organization does, makes, sells or delivers, but in terms of the fundamental value it represents in matching the customer's need premise.
* What makes you special-Your special means for creating value in order to win and keep the customer's business.

A mission statement doesn't have to follow any particular format or contain any particular magic words. But the words need to carry a strong underlying message. It should say more than "we sell such-and-such a product," or "we operate in such-and-such markets," or "we will be the best doer of such-and-such in the world." Anybody can simply write down the organization's activity statement. But it takes a bit of insight to work backward from what you do and find the essential premise that makes you different from others. An effective mission statement should be:
* Definitive-Defines the customer and his or her need premise, defines the value delivery premise to be offered and defines the means for putting the two together; it tells the story of our way of doing business.
* Identifying-Makes it clear which enterprise it refers to, or at least narrows it down to a well-defined kind of enterprise; interchangeable platitudes won't do.
* Concise-Makes the point in about one fairly simple paragraph; the only exception might be a statement that combines a sense of vision, mission and values into one, in which case it might well be somewhat longer. A basic mission statement should be something you can easily recite from memory.
* Actionable-A person reading it should be able to get some idea of what it looks like in operation; what kinds of actions are involved in delivering on it.
* Memorable-"Land a man on the moon within this decade."

After drafting the mission statement, it makes sense to evaluate it carefully using these five criteria. And after the executives decide it sounds great, take it to a sample of ordinary humans, including middle managers, unit leaders and working people. Ask them to evaluate it against the five criteria, and ask them to describe the kind of organization that might have and live by such a mission statement. If it makes good sense to them and says something worth saying, it could become one of the most useful management tools you have.

About the author . . .
Karl Albrecht is a management consultant, speaker and a prolific author. He is Chairman of The TQS Group, based in Chicago, which implements his Total Quality Service approach. His 20 books on management and organizational effectiveness include the best-seller Service America!: Doing Business in the New Economy, as well as The Only Thing That Matters: Bringing the Power of the Customer Into the Center of Your Business. His latest book is The Northbound Train: . . . Shaping the Destiny of Your Organization.


© 1995 Karl Albrecht. For reprint permission, telephone (619) 622-4884 or fax 622-4885.
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