The much maligned mission statement

There is a communications aphorism that says:

Communication is not what you transmit, it's what the audience receive.

The reality is that the audience doesn't always hear what you think you told them. The biggest reason for this mistake is that average communicators (and PLC internal communications departments are crammed to bursting with such demons) are good at asking the question:

"who is the audience?"

But appalling at taking the next step and actually thinking like the audience, or seeing the audience's perspective. The big problem is that average professional communicators, (and executives going it alone without communications support) make a very common mistake. They communicate in ways that impress each other, and not in ways that have real impact on the audience.

Bozo has an aphorism that says:

Great Communication involves selecting the mot juste, the apposite word.
But for most audiences, apposite is almost never the appposite word.

Which brings me to the much maligned mission statement.This has a reputation as a load of touchy feely nonsense that has no meaning for employees (or customers for that matter). This is a tragedy that is not  the fault of the concept, but the fault of its applicators.

This has become a box that needs ticking. In ticking the box, large organisations surgically remove the value.

• Internal communications write snappy statements.
• They have them printed up on handy little cards.
• They deliver them to everyone in the organisation.
• They become really handy bookmarks or coffee coasters.

And no one in the organisation outside internal communications can ever tell you what the statement is.

Creating and Communicating your mission statement is a world class exercise in how well you communicate.

Here's why:

The purpose of a mission statement is to empower the employees to make decisions. (really!) It means that sat in a silo a million miles from the nearest customer an employee can look at a problem and say "which of my options keeps me closer to our mission?" (and surely your mission involves serving your customers?)

Does your very apposite and cleverly worded snappy mission statement really allow your people to serve your customers? Or is it merely trite and clever?

Did you communicate it in a way that knowing and understanding it and believing in it is second nature to everyone you employ?

Or is it just a bookmark or a coffee coaster?

Comments

[Riccardo Monti]

in Dubai at the IFS and i am surrounded by coffee coasters.. am not in starbucks. we live in coffee coaster times.. shall leave some with UBS for the partnership they talk about in their ads. Juts you and us Bozo.. just you and us. I have post failed IPO dissonance i know. Thanks. bye