Here's one. Don't waste your time with mission statements.
If only it were that easy. Some organizations insist that "waste our time" with such statements.
Oh I know. I was asked to join an eLearning standards committee when I first joined one of my previous companies. The committee had been meeting for 4 years and had not produced a thing. At my first meeting they were still working on their mission statement so the first thing I did after leaving the meeting was to get the committee disbanded.
Owen, here are a couple I've come across over the years that I still have on file. I'm not sure I'd say these are "good" examples (I'm with Nancy on the relative value of missions and vision statements, particularly at the departmental level) but maybe they'll give you a starting point or jumpstart some ideas.
EXAMPLE 1
MISSION:
Learning & Development contributes to the success of the organization by partnering with [company] associates and leaders to drive learning that is strategic, measureable, and effective.
VISION:
Strategic: aligned with business objectives
Multiple learning vehicles: considering audience, methods, and styles
Scalable: leverage content across different audiences
Measureable: tied to improved business results
Partnership: shared accountability with the line of business
EXAMPLE 2
VISION:
To be respected and appreciated by our customers for the outstanding quality of our work, creativity, helpfulness, and the effectiveness of our training programs (this one is way too touchy-feely, we-need-validation for me, but it's still an example!)
MISSION:
Working as a unified team, we contribute to the growth and profitability of [company] by providing associates with the tools and training necessary for job excellence and career advancement.
I am actually quite surprised at this thread, I expected more positive feedback as my experience is quite positive.
I suppose, to be fair, there are a LOT of bad mission statements out there. Many are used to describe what a company does for the outsider, or to point out what its good at, or simply a fluff statement met to give the community a "warm fuzzy" feeling about the company. But a good mission statement on the other hand does none of the above.
A good statement describes what winning looks like for your company.
It is the ends, not the means. Its not an emotional appeal for action but a target to aim at. A good statement makes clear the 1 solitary thing that 100% of all effort goes to. Action taken that fulfill that mission statement is a win. Those that do no is a failure.
My companies mission statement is "We put people to work!" That is it, and its adoption has had a profound effect. Every action we take we pause and ask "how does this put people to work?" or "how does this improve our ability to put people to work?" Making decisions has actually never been easier. As long as that simple statement is in the front of mind, we always know what is the correct answer to any problem. And the results have been very measurable. As an organization (since shifting our corporate culture to me more statement focused) we have doubled in size and production in less that a 2 years with no sign of slowing down.
Is developing a clear definition of your organisation’s mission, vision and values a useful business management exercise? Dan Sivak, CEO of CDSM Interactive Solutions Ltd, gives his thoughts… bit.ly/1dPpwTS
9 Replies
We tend to keep things simple around here, so ours is
"Train people for the role they are taking, the role they are in and the role they want"
Here's one. Don't waste your time with mission statements.
If only it were that easy. Some organizations insist that "waste our time" with such statements.
Oh I know. I was asked to join an eLearning standards committee when I first joined one of my previous companies. The committee had been meeting for 4 years and had not produced a thing. At my first meeting they were still working on their mission statement so the first thing I did after leaving the meeting was to get the committee disbanded.
Owen, here are a couple I've come across over the years that I still have on file. I'm not sure I'd say these are "good" examples (I'm with Nancy on the relative value of missions and vision statements, particularly at the departmental level) but maybe they'll give you a starting point or jumpstart some ideas.
EXAMPLE 1
MISSION:
Learning & Development contributes to the success of the organization by partnering with [company] associates and leaders to drive learning that is strategic, measureable, and effective.
EXAMPLE 2
VISION:
To be respected and appreciated by our customers for the outstanding quality of our work, creativity, helpfulness, and the effectiveness of our training programs (this one is way too touchy-feely, we-need-validation for me, but it's still an example!)
MISSION:
Working as a unified team, we contribute to the growth and profitability of [company] by providing associates with the tools and training necessary for job excellence and career advancement.
We like it short and sweet too Sarah.
Our Vision Statement is:
"Empower our people so they can't imagine not succeeding".
It's a bit 'double-negative' - but we like it...
I am actually quite surprised at this thread, I expected more positive feedback as my experience is quite positive.
I suppose, to be fair, there are a LOT of bad mission statements out there. Many are used to describe what a company does for the outsider, or to point out what its good at, or simply a fluff statement met to give the community a "warm fuzzy" feeling about the company. But a good mission statement on the other hand does none of the above.
A good statement describes what winning looks like for your company.
It is the ends, not the means. Its not an emotional appeal for action but a target to aim at. A good statement makes clear the 1 solitary thing that 100% of all effort goes to. Action taken that fulfill that mission statement is a win. Those that do no is a failure.
My companies mission statement is "We put people to work!" That is it, and its adoption has had a profound effect. Every action we take we pause and ask "how does this put people to work?" or "how does this improve our ability to put people to work?" Making decisions has actually never been easier. As long as that simple statement is in the front of mind, we always know what is the correct answer to any problem. And the results have been very measurable. As an organization (since shifting our corporate culture to me more statement focused) we have doubled in size and production in less that a 2 years with no sign of slowing down.
Dan Sivak, CEO of CDSM Interactive Solutions Ltd, gives his thoughts…
bit.ly/1dPpwTS
I love example #1 from Sheila as well as the statement to "Empower our people so they can't imagine not succeeding" Thanks both for sharing!
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