What's Your Mission?
Does anyone know WTF our mission is?
(No really, leaders. Ask.)
Mission problems lead to business problems. When people don’t know what the point is, how can they do work that serves it? Or be excited to get out of bed in the morning? Some of the best intended businesses founded by some of the smartest people lose the mission along the way. We’ve seen it. And we’re digging into why.
Mission Stress: 2 Kinds
There are two main kinds of founding-a-business situations we’ve encountered: sweaty-massive-rush, and thinking-and-thinking-and-bottlenecking. Both result in mission problems.
Let’s start with sweaty-massive-rush. These are the businesses we’ve worked in or with that are racing against time. The money’s running out and they need to sell something. Or they’ve gotten wind that a competitor’s about to launch and they want to be first. Or there’s an unfair advantage but it’s time sensitive and the clock’s ticking. They launch without thinking through their mission. (It’s ok; we can work backwards.)
Then there are the thinking-and-thinking-and-bottlenecking ones. It’s often the first time launching or being involved in the launch of a new business, and every decision feels magnified and hard. The result: a bottleneck. Sometimes one that loses you that advantage. Strong leaders have the confidence to push through.
Bottlenecking often happens at the messaging stage. Laboring over the mission. Taking what should be a concise statement and making it long. And watered down. Adding other statements (values, positioning, and, and …). Bottlenecked businesses often have trouble getting a handle on their brand without constantly turning it upside down and backtracking. They are waylaid by internal conflict around whether this is “us” or not. And there are so many “things” flying around and changing that no one knows what the mission is. (If you let us, we can help here, too. But it takes some discipline to let go and trust.)
Operation Rallying Cry
If you’re running a business, anyone you ask, anywhere in the org should know your mission. Why? Because a mission statement isn’t an empty pre-launch exercise. It’s the rallying cry across the entire org that gives an answer at every fork in the road long after launch. Whether that product is right. Whether that hire is right. Whether you should have open offices or flex time. All of it.
If done right, a mission statement is important because it inspires, rallies people together toward a common purpose and serves as the organization's ‘north star’.
Just ask some of the experts we love to work with most. “The mission statement is the brand's driving force. It flows from the vision and guides the brand's decisions every day,” says Michelle Heath, founder & CEO of Growth Street.
“If done right, a mission statement is important because it inspires, rallies people together toward a common purpose and serves as the organization's ‘north star,’” says Zamawa Arenas, founder & CEO of Flowetik.
Epic to Haiku
One of the main reasons people don’t know your mission statement is that there are too many brand “things” in general, and the statement itself is too long. We see this a lot at HCC. In the discovery phase of an engagement, we ask that brands share anything brand related they’ve already done. And there’s either nothing or SO.MUCH.STUFF. Matrixes. Different adjective lists for voice, visuals, values. Long mission statement. Positioning statement. Etc. You get our drift.
“A mission statement should be a statement of purpose. ‘The Why’ your organization exists stated in a very succinct sentence. I find mission statements that are long paragraphs about ‘The What’ the organization does lack focus and end up being just a laundry list of activities,” Zamawa adds. Same.
A while back, we launched Great in 8, where, after being in so many DNA exercises in past lives on the brand side, we distilled all things DNA into 8 sleek hours with two founders, with the deliverable being 3--5 adjectives plus a paragraph and mood board on each. These are THE adjectives. One set. Visual. Voice. And values. These are your brand’s essence - how you speak, look and operate.
We’ve also figured out how to get a tight mission statement that everyone in the organization can remember, something with enough oomph to get people out of bed in the morning and ready to go.
We call this hIQ. It’s about distilling all (ALL) the stuff into a single, memorable statement that often can be internal or external and that is toothsome enough to drive any decision. It’s incredibly freeing to know what’s you (or not). And it’s incredibly inspiring to know why.