WRITE OR REWRITE THE MISSION STATEMENT

The old joke about how hard it is to remember the mission of emptying the swamp when up to your chin (or whatever) in alligators still applies when discussing a company or personal mission statement. Most human beings can quickly get distressed when they forget their goals. Distressed people are at risk for emotional spinning. When employees begin asking, "Why am I doing this?" they may also begin to ask questions like, "What else could I be doing?" They begin to question authority. Loyalties start to shift. Perceptions of success and failure begin to distort. In other words, when employees cannot see where they are going and why, they start to look around for direction. Managers can be leaders or absent when this happens. A good leader gives mission direction frequently.

Because people and life and work are living forces it is necessary to review and revise a team mission on a regular basis. People change, business changes, communities change and the mission should reflect the most current language, concepts, ideas and visionary goals. If the mission is old and wonderful it can remain the same as it is given a fresh paint job of words and language. If the mission is truly based on solid ground it should survive the changes of time. Knowing that there are subtle changes in language every few years and that even the meanings of words themselves change will keep the mission alive and contemporary. Monitoring a mission statement asks if everyone is still on board. It seeks to know if everyone in the same book. It is hard to get employees on the same page if they aren't even in the same book!

Your personal or company mission statement can be as simple or as complicated as necessary to define and elaborate the reasons you are doing what you do. It's up to you after all, it is your organization. It is useful to write your own mission statement. Why are YOU doing what you are doing?

A Mission Statement can be simple:

The Acme Widget Company Mission Statement:

We Travel to Other Places and Do Nifty Stuff!!!

A mission statement can also be poetic and complicated:

The Kirsha Foundation Mission Statement

• Provides children and adolescents, birth to twenty six, free access to the Arts, Education, and Creative Envisioning activities in order to encourage , enhance, and expand the belief, participation, protection, and understanding that young people have a vital role in the Universe.

• The Kirsha Foundation institutes and funds programs, projects, and activities that enlighten, launch, protect, vitalize, educate, exchange, and celebrate contributions which transform Fear into Hope, Loss into Meaning, Aloneness into Collaboration, Conflict into Peace, and Ideas into Masterpieces.

What are the Mission Statements of These Companies?

IBM

APPLE

WALMART

DISNEY