Strong Mission & Concrete Values

I read "Winning" by Jack Welch a year or so ago. The first section of the book talks about 4 things:

1) Mission & Values
2) Candor
3) Differentiation
4) Voice & Dignity

I plan to address all four areas in some degree or another, but for now I want to address "Mission & Values" The company I work for has been in business for a number of years. There is no mission statement, vision, values, or anything else modern businesses today espouse as their "guiding oracles". This is okay with me, as I don't necessarily believe a mission statement makes a business successful. I do, however, believe that a company and its employees need to know where they are going, and clearly understand the plans for how they will arrive at their destination (goals). Absent this information, people tend to lack vision, and work on what they feel is most important, not what actually might be most important and vital to the overall success of the company.

Experts often provide conflicting insights regarding the merits of mission statements. Some believe in them, others don't. Some say that in order to make the mission statement effective there has to be participation and buy-in from all levels of the organization. This would suggest assembling a cross-functional team and crafting the mission with broad employee representation from all levels. Jack Welch states in his book;

"Setting the mission is top management's responsibility. A mission cannot, and must not, be delegated to anyone except the people ultimately held accountable for it. In fact, a mission is the defining moment for a company's leadership."

Jack Welch makes clear that he believes the mission is the responsibility of leadership. Do his statements mean that he believes broad representation is not necessary, or even desired? I'm not sure. So what is the best format for building a mission statement? I don't know...and therein lies the problem.

About a year ago I was tasked to head up a team to "create the company's mission, vision, & values". I actually thought it would be a fun project to work on. I had previously worked for FranklinCovey, and so I had been inculcated into the "lore of mission statements" to some degree. I did some research, assembled some articles and other reference materials for the senior leadership team and went about trying to get the project underway.

Each time I attempted to garner enthusiasm and guidance from the leadership team (of which I am a part) for the project I was met with lukewarm (at best) indifference. Participation generally revolved around them wanting me to bring back the recommendations of the cross-functional team. I was able to get more than enough people to express interest in being on the team, which consisted of newer employees, well-tenured employees, and some in-between. I have no doubt that the team would have done an exceptional job at crafting a mission statement. A mission statement employees could have rallied around, something some could have at least used as a guidepost, and something that some could have memorized, and spouted off at the drop of a hat just for the illusion. After all, it is difficult to get everyone engaged in the vision of the vision...

So what's the problem? Leadership! Until the leadership of the company collectively feels that a mission/vision/values project is important, it won't be. It must start at top and cascade throughout the company. I simply lost the will to drive the project after feeling there was no support from my peers on the leadership team. Perhaps that is my short-coming for not pushing the project harder, or for not pinning them down. Perhaps I simply did not do a good enough job helping them understand the company needed their guidance and support first.

I've been thinking about that mission statement project of late, wondering what would happen if I proceeded with the original team, and simply completed the project without my the other members of the leadership team. After all, many political careers, initiatives, and business ideas start at the "grass roots" level. I wonder how it would turn out if I assembled the team, created something great, and allowed the team to push the accountability UP instead of having it flow down??? Could the mission, vision, and values provide the value coming from this team? Or could it possibly provide more credibility and value coming from this team? It is worth consideration. And I just might re-assemble that team to see what nuggets of gold can be sifted.