Can you sum up your business’s mission in one short, concise sentence? If so, are you sure all your employees can? When employees are tied to the mission of their employer, they’re more likely to be engaged in the work they’re doing, which boosts productivity and overall morale.
But not all mission statements are equally effective. The first step is getting to know where you want to be as a company, but you may not have kept your employees in mind when you were putting it together. If that’s the case, it may be time to revisit your mission statement through your employees’ eyes and decide if it needs an upgrade.
Interview Your Employees
If you don’t know your workers, you can’t create a company vision that matches their workstyles. Sit down with each team member and determine individual motivations and goals. TTI Success Insights’ D.I.S.C.: The Universal Language of Observable Behavior can also teach you how to monitor body language. Someone whose driving force is Steadiness tends to walk at a steady, easy pace, while Dominance-motivated personalities walk fast and always seem to have a destination in mind.
Creating Individual Mission Statements
Getting to know what drives your team can help you work with them to identify a personal mission statement. An Influence-driven individual is more likely to feel passionate when doing work that benefits others. Through your meeting, you may find that this person needs to gradually move into a position that includes more interaction with others, rather than working solo.
Matching Individuals to the Organization
After you’ve created individual goals for your team, you should carefully read over your mission statement and make sure it matches those personal goals in some way. Nordstrom’s mission “to give customers the most compelling shopping experience possible” has the people element that appeals to Influence-dominated personalities as well as Dominance, who like to see a challenge ahead of them and tackle it.
Communicate the Statement
Creating a good mission statement is only the beginning. It should be communicated with employees regularly to keep it as top-of-mind as possible. Invest in a wall plaque with the statement or, better yet, have an artist paint it on one of your office walls. It should also be included in interoffice communications like newsletters and emails when possible.
Mission statements are designed to help keep an organization’s employees focused, but they can easily become outdated. Make sure you revisit your mission statement occasionally and update it as your business evolves.
