Empty Words and Mission Statements
Have you grown cynical of all the time you’ve wasted developing meaningless mission statements? Me too. You might want to take a look at Dilbert’s Mission Statement Generator. It’s got all the words, all you have to do is plug it in. (Thanks to my buddy LeRoy Pingho for telling me about this site.)
August 7th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Rick and all,
I enjoyed the sarcasm and humor. I am grateful we work hard to struggle through the trap of platitudes and get at words that really describe what we are trying to do here at our company. Sometimes participants get discouraged and frustrated. When this happens the platitudes come out and everyone knows the words mean nothing. As a Catalyst/Facilitator/Consultant (whatever you would like to call the role) it is my job to see it happening and to do something so as to change this energy.
What would be really helpful would be some examples of mission statements that do work and that do focus energy for positive change. A lot of business literature does a pretty good job finding examples of what fails to work. Finding what does takes a lot more work, I think.
Recently I visited a company profiled in the book “Good to Great”. One thing that stood out was the simplicity of the key messages. Purpose, Strategy, Values, Vision, etc., were all visible everywhere in simple and straightforward language. Beyond that, organizational behaviors were in line with stated values. It was this simple, direct, no frills approach that left a very positive impression with me.
By the way, I really like your new pictre and the look of your electronic home.
Tom
August 9th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Once again, thanks for your thoughtful response, Tom. . . And I agree that it would be great to see examples of companies that actually paid attention to and were influenced by their mission statements. . . I worked with a plant that developed a vision statement that included its enduring values. I think it has done a good job of using it as a guide. I think two things contributed to its success: 1. the words are their own and came from thoughtful work developing the statement, and 2. the leader(s) made a true commitment to keeping those words in front of himself and the rest of the organization. – Rick
August 9th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I’m not a big fan of mission statements; Mantra works much better. Mantra is remembered and repeatable by both customers and employees. I really try to live by the words of Dr. Seuss; “The writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who readsâ€. Getting the point across with the least amount of words, or better yet a visual, is an art form!
August 9th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Thanks, Mike. I like the notion of a mantra provided, of course, that it is something that people feel they own. I think a simple and repeatable phrase can be a powerful statement of intention. – Rick
September 20th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Rick and All,
I can’t agree more with everyone’s posts here. I tell clients that Mission Statements can actually be harmful (rather than simply ineffective) if there is not a way to pay attention to, track, and reward team members who actually help fulfill the statement. Most teams do not have a mechanism of facilitating “Mission Fulfillment,” so most people realize that the creation of these statements are typically not very helpful.
It’s been my experience that the development of Mission Statements without mechanisms of facilitating Mission Fulfillment can communicate two harmful messages to team members:
1. Our team spends time on things that do not matter/effect us (in other words, we are OK with wasting time).
2. We do not have to mean what we say (we can develop statements without any way of knowing whether or not we fulfill the statement).
Obviously, these two messages are very dangerous to teams, in my experience – which is why I appreciate this conversation so immensely. Well done!
December 31st, 2009 at 8:24 am
[...] What is the cost of NOT Activating a Mission? Very often, a non-activated Mission Statement results in what I call “Frenzied Leadership” – leadership (including self-leadership) that often creates confusion and anxiety. Non Activated missions have other ramifications beyond Frenzied Leadership – including cynicism about the statement and the organization, team or individual that developed it. Change management guru Rick Maurer (and his blog’s visitors) express this cynicism quite effectively in his article entitled “Empty Words and Mission Statements”. [...]