The reason so many mission statements are dumb is because the idea that every company needs one is dumb.
There are some organizations that need to decide who they are, why they are here, and what they do. Salt of the earth stuff. For them mission statements make sense.
Some companies are fueled by vision, and are attracted to vision statements. Specifically, what they aim to concretely manifest in the future.
Others are driven by their values, so doing their corporate values makes perfect sense.
Purely competitive firms can focus their day around their positioning statement.
Passionate firms can seek a statement that combines their passion with their customer's need. They are perfect candidates for a brand promise statement.
But does a company need all of the above to succeed?
I believe that marketers and branders must be pragmatic. Understand the culture, the need, and only then recommend the simplest thing that will work.
As I mentioned in my last post, Mission Statements make me cry.
They are typically misunderstood, impractical, and poorly facilitated. Nobody remembers them except those that have the misfortune of having them mounted on a plaque in their lobby. And frankly, even they don't remember it.
So what do I do when someone comes to our firm and says they need a Mission Statement? I sell them a brand promise, brand positioning and brand personality instead.
Unlike Mission Statements, these can galvanize an organization or team.
The brand promise is the fusion of the customer's need and your team's passion.
The brand position is why the customer should resolve their need with your brand, instead of the competition.
The brand personality is how you deliver.
I'd like to see Mission Statements become the exception, not the rule. Use them infrequently and use them well for organizations that are so large they need to institutionalize common sense. But for everyone else? Seriously, is it what you really need?
Mission Statements make me cry. And not in a good way like at the end of Star Wars. (Don't tell anyone).
Pass me a tissue and I'll tell you why...
Mission Statements trick teams. Teams desire cohesion. They long for alignment. When it is missing, they seek to fill that void - urgently. Since the "mission statement" is probably the most firmly entrenched meme in business, they say "We need one!" And then the fun begins. Legion are the times I've heard horror stories about the creation of mission statements, from the front line to mahogany row. Mission statements are supposed to focus an organization, give it purpose, but usually they lead teams to sad, forgotten places.
Mission Statements are mangled. The other day, someone told me that the FedEx mission statement is "The World on Time." Sorry, this is the FedEx Mission Statement. People routinely mix-up mission statements, vision statements, positioning statements, you name it statements. It amazes me that a business idea can be so routinely mangled, and yet still live on.
Mission Statements are impractical. The ultra-rare quality mission statement is a mash up of "What is our purpose?" "Why do we exist?" "How do we achieve our vision?" Try and answer these questions for yourself in one to three sentences. Good luck! The very idea of a mission statement is too big to metabolize and operationalize. Only when you take the time to unpack the mission statement into its component parts, does it become meaningful - if you are lucky. That's why so few people know the Mission Statement of their firm.
Mission Statements are innately hard to facilitate. As with brand development, the more people you add to the decision making team, the higher the likelihood of a host of decision making pathologies that can sabotage the best intended project. That's the reason you can get ten brilliant team members in a room and come out with a mission statement that is as dumb as a rock.
In my next post, I'll let you in on my dirty little Mission Statement secret.