Your Mission May Be Crystal Clear, But is Your Mission Statement?
My wife and I met with the director of a nonprofit recently where my wife is a board member. She wanted me to go along to provide some input on organization and leadership within a particular area of this group where I have some prior experience. I was there first of all to listen, since I was not as knowledgeable on the company as they both were, and then to contribute any way possible. Before too long, it was apparent that while this leader had tremendous passion for the outreach and impact of this organization, it wasn’t crystal clear to me what the leader felt the true mission of the group was. The leader expressed with much heart-felt excitement all the wonderful things they did, and conveyed with animation the impact their group had on many people’s lives, but the more I heard, the more I was convinced that the mission wasn’t crystal clear. See, it is not that the leader didn’t know what they did, or certainly that they did not know why they were in existence – those things were very clear. Rather, the leader could not express it in clear, concise terms that conveyed the absolute and repeatable mission of the organization. So I felt that she must give a lot of thought to developing a mission statement.
Two challenges will emerge very soon if you are not crystal clear in expressing your mission: the first is that your staff and others around you will not be certain of what is expected from them. You could soon find them working in areas that are admirable and impactful, but they aren’t necessarily what your organization wants to do “better than anyone else in the world”. Your mission is specific to your company or organization, and it should differentiate you so that it is ever present and repeatable exactly the way you want it. It doesn’t imply that you’ll never try new things or think of additional means to work toward your impact, but those things should always assist your team toward this unambiguous purpose.
The second issue is that as you express to those who don’t have first-hand knowledge of the group, you must use direct and concise language, or you will clutter their understanding of your exact purpose. You speak with countless stakeholders or potential stakeholders, all who need to fully comprehend, for their own benefit and reason, exactly what you do. If it’s a prospective family interested in your team or school, or a potential donor who can impact deeply with financial resources, clarity of your mission is what will compel them to come on board with you and your work.
So back to my earlier example of my meeting with this organization. I encouraged the leader to use clear and brief wording to develop a powerful mission statement for her company, and to use memorable language to help others visualize the amazing work they performed. Before you think this will require a full paragraph to expound, I did an internet search on purposeful mission statements and found that the average length of 100 top non-profit mission statements is 15.3 words! Brevity allows for everyone to remember it more effectively, and remembering allows for better execution.
When our friend, and you as the leader of your group, can develop a potent mission statement, everyone on your team will be more mission-focused, and those you want to support your group will be more inclined to do that. So go forth and create a mission statement, or look at your existing one to be sure it says what it should in clear, brief, and memorable language!