I've been through the process about 4 times. A mission statement is important but in my opinion I don't think it's something that needs to be group written; your leaders should give that direction top down.

Vision Statements are often to broad and something that gets shoved in a drawer then forgotten.

When I worked at Hallmark Cards as a Manager we were asked to write monthly status reports and categorize each departmental item under the company Business Objectives. While I don't think it was done right at the time (too mechanical) it was a solid attempt to get a large company on the same page. I don't know what they do now.

As for value statements, they usually end up sounding very similar so feel free to copy and paste rather than spend two 9 hour days creating a similar document.

* Our employees are the most valued assets of our company, essential participants with a shared responsibility in fulfilling our mission.
* We recognize that the quality, motivation and performance of our employees are the key factors in achieving our success.
* Dedication to assisting every employee in reaching his or her full potential in both performance and reward.
* Commitment to diversity, equal opportunity and fair treatment.
* Promotion based on merit and from within whenever possible.
* We want our organizational structure and culture to promote employee involvement, open communication, teamwork and cooperation."

Reading this made me smile. If there's one thing we've seemed to take on more frequently than anything else in the past 10 years or so, it's been helping clients communicate their mass of mission / vision / values statements with some clarity -- and more important -- credibility.

And it's almost always the same story: a wave of consultants comes in, puts the leadership team (and sometimes, the entire organization) into a room for 9 hours, and has them hash out -- word by word -- some form of message that is meant to reflect the "big picture" for the organization. The consultants then leave, the Marketing Dept. puts the messages on posters and mouse pads, and the energy and intent of the exercise starts to dissipate.

What's often left is a set of cultural artifacts about which nobody really knows what to make ("That poster? That's our value statement, but it's the only place I ever see it mentioned.")

Here's the thumbnail of how we ask folks to think about it: The issue is one of "connecting the dots." In most organizations, employees see the mission, vision, and values not as connected, but rather, as competing with each other in the same cognitive space: "We have a mission statement and a vision statement, but I don't know on which one I'm supposed to focus."

The answer is both, and the key is to connect them so they don't compete. Think about it this way:

* Talk about "our mission" as "why we're in business"

* Talk about "vision" as "where we want to be in 3 / 5/ 10 / however many years"

* Talk about "values" as "how we work" or "how we play"

* Connect all three as a single message (that we call the "strategic message hierarchy")

Example (using our own hierarchy): "We're in business to do three things: apply communication theory, have great relationships with people we want to work with, and make money doing it. That's our mission. And in doing that, in 10 years we want to have the reputation of being the best in the world at what we do. That's our vision for the firm. And as we get there, here's how we intend to play: With teamwork, financial responsibility, quality in our work, quality in our lives ... (there are several more) ... those are our values, and if you want to succeed here, that's how we need you to play, too."

There are two reasons this works: (1) We've taken some obscure terminology ("mission," "vision") and made it less obscure, and (2) we've crafted a narrative out of messages that would otherwise be disconnected. The strategic message set is now a story, one easily told -- in less than 30 seconds -- by any leader or manager. It also encourages that the big picture becomes a conversation, rather than mouse pads, which is essential to people seeing it as relevant.

Of course this is the easy part: the tough part is communicating these messages with consistency over time and ensuring they're reflected in leadership decision-making and corporate policy. Also missing (and this is key): a strong "strategy message," which must be equally simple and connected, and which says "how we're going to get there." Most organizations don't have such a message, and it's a key part of creating alignment and action toward the vision in the organization. Ours (as an example) is "How are we going to get there? By focusing on four things: Building relationships for life, recruiting fanatical employees, delivering experiences to clients, and maintaining an entrepreneurial culture. Now let me tell you what those mean to you ..."

Apologies if this was too long winded ...

I manage WSVM, a small town radio station in Valdese, NC. Below is our mission statement....but we just call it "Our Purpose". It's simple. It's to the point. It's achievable. And it's not original.
In the 1960's I was blessed to work in Winston-Salem, NC at, what then was, the dominant broadcast facility in the area. On reflection, it was one of the best organizations at which one could ever hope to work. The management knew what they were doing. WSJS was a big company with a big conscience, and WSJS was a good citizen.
Hanging on the wall in every office and studio of WSJS, WSJS-FM, and WSJS-TV was this "Our Purpose" statement to remind us of what we were working to accomplish. You see, WSJS didn't have a "mission", they had a PURPOSE. They lived it and they achieved it every day. It wasn't just something to hang on the wall that just reads and sounds good. Everything WSJS did was to be viewed through this "Our Purpose" statement.
I don't know who wrote it, but I can guarantee that it didn't need a committee and a day to write it. In my opinion, this is the best mission statement you will ever read. After this you don't need anything else, except a great company to live it.

Our Purpose:
1. Make a profit. This must lead the list of aims of any business that hopes to survive as a free enterprise.
2. Provide worthwhile radio fare. A proper balance of entertainment, information and education...for the people who live and work in the area we are privileged to serve.
3. Exercise our best judgement to avoid overemphasis of number one at the expense of number two and vice versa.

I noticed you didn't share that mission statement. For that much agony, your blog should have been the text of the mission statement. It would if you were satisfied with it.

9 hours; Hashing over every word; You have too much time on your hands. Mincing over words on a mission statement also communicate to me that's a mission not shared by everyone.

The simple kind ala WSJS (great station...I grew up next door in Greensboro.) are the real ones.

Alan nailed it in the above comment in my opinion. He stated exaclty what the three statements should be and should be used for. If a company invests that much time in forming the three statements, make sure the employees can relate to then and that they unify the core values.

The most efficient way to produce a corporate mission stagtement is to use to use the Mission Statement Generator at www.dilbert.com

The whole "mission" and "vision" thing is dead. Read "The Cluetrain Manifesto" and you'll see why.

All great corporate visions, the sort you see mentioned in marketing books (Sony, Disney, etc.) are really personal visions of the prime mover, and that's either the owner or the person given the mandate.

It is, after all, a vision: one person's dream of where the company should be in the future. Its values will be those of the prime mover, and, if successfully implemented, the company will take on the traits and even the personality of that person.

As above, so below.

The reason why you see so many enshrined visions or mission statements sounding alike, with the same core values and the same (sorry to say) cliches, is because they were created with consensus as a qualifier.

If I may suggest, allow the prime mover to write his vision, let him sell it as best he can, after which all are expected to commit to it wholeheartedly.

While the mission statement is still a work in progress, I thought it would be helpful for our readers to see the result of our recent work Best, John.

Fast Company is for people who are passionate about their work and want to do it better. Our readers are mavericks, innovators and business builders who are driven to succeed by working and leading differently. They see work as a source of personal growth and an opportunity to make a positive impact on the world around them.

Only Fast Company gives them the ideas, insights and tools they must have to do those things in an unpredictable, fast-moving, and fiercely competitive world. Our hallmark is the “thought service” story—useful and cutting-edge ideas packaged in a richly reported and compellingly written narrative. Bold design captures the energy, the drama, and the excitement of business.

Fast Company is provocative, accessible, surprising, and fun. We challenge the conventional wisdom about business and inspire readers to learn more. Reading Fast Company is like sitting down for an intimate chat with a smart and trusted friend.

"Only Fast Company gives them the ideas, insights and tools they must have to do those things in an unpredictable, fast-moving, and fiercely competitive world."

.... which is not really on target...

FC is good but FC is not "only."

I sorry to say that these responses reek of rhetoric... with not one original idea.

While corporate consulting has its own vernacular as well as best practices, no one mentioned why an organization would choose to endure 9 hours of down time with their staff.

Why would any organization subject their employees to such a grueling task... unless in some direct/indirect way it would dramatically impact the bottom-line.

Any seasoned over-achiever knows that words have power... real power. So spending any time on the words that shape the direction of the organization is valuable... as long as there exists systems of communication that create "buy-in" throughout the organization and over time.

And with that last statement I fall prey to the rhetoric that perpetuates the status-quo. Buy-in... Any kind of corporate mission statement, value statement, purpose statement, governing objectives etc. are fundamentally designed to get the entire organization moving in the same direction.

Today's corporate climate is full of motivated professionals jockeying for position, in pursuit of the kind of acknowledgement that carries with it an illusion to future promotion. Take a look at The Apprentice and how difficult it is getting team buy-in. People are not interested in helping you, me or "the organization" unless something in it gives them an advantage. The thought of having the big guy declare the mission and then sell it illustrates Vincent's ignorance to the real trend of business. Selling is changing... selling is about involving people in the process of what they want... and this goes for corporate mission statements just as much as it does any consumer product or service. Businesses are starting to wake up and see their employees as just as valuable as their customers.

No matter how compelling or thought provoking a mission statement might be... people only operate out of self interest. But involving them is the process is just the beginning... systems that re-enforce the values must be in place and this takes us into the realm of corporate culture. But I’ll save that piece of rhetoric for another day.

Fast Company gets it.. and as an authority in business development they should. The most important line in their mission statement.

"They see work as a source of personal growth and an opportunity to make a positive impact on the world around them."

This my friends... is a statement that can create buy-in from the boardroom to the bathroom... as long as the right business model and commitment to live the statement is illustrated and re-enforced by those with the insight and courage to speak it.

Mark Allen Grainger
All About Teamwork.com

It might help if your feedback form about a webpage problem from the magazine side didn't go into an infinite loop of "page not found". Your form is broken. The means to inform you that you have a problem is the problem. Heh. I hope somebody from FC World HQ is reading this.

FC is to be commended for making one of the best investments that a team of leaders can make. Clearly, a group of people that are willing to shack up for two days to negotiate a war of words must desire something truly great for their company. I think we all have spent days in meet-a-thons with substantially fewer results.

I am sorry to see that some of the others view this as a waste of time. I suggest they get dropped off in the middle of Denali with a map and no compass as see how they fair. Myself however, will take the bearings of a truly inspiring mission and apply it to the brand and business plan to plot my course. Even better, I can provide bearings for the entire fleet, regardless if they are leading or following.

I agree with Bruce on the structure and roles of the mission, vision etc...I agree with Mark on the architecture and philosophy of the rhetoric (I mean this in the true sense of the word) and dissemination within the organization.

My primary suggestion is simplicity. Challenge yourself to make the mission 10-15 words or less. I know, not many words with which to work, but it makes so much more memorable by your audience. The ones that stick in my head, I heard several years ago. I think from Guy Kawasaki. Honda's mission statement at one time was "We convert fuel to energy efficiently" and Apple's Lisa product "Personal productivity tool for knowledge workers".

These icons of are truly actionable and speak to the respective company's philosophy and core business. More importantly, they are easy to remember. I think I need to write a mission about my wife's birthday, because I just can't remember it.

Great work and I look forward to seeing the final result.

Great thread here.

Mark wrote:

"Businesses are starting to wake up and see their employees as just as valuable as their customers."

A great point. It's here that a non-BS, non-spun, non-consultant-esque mission / vision / values message set ... one that's credible ... adds value beyond acting as a supposed screen through which the senior leadership should be making decisions: It might actually help cast the organization as one worth working in.

I've taken to calling the sentiment that can evolve when this is done well "second generation loyalty" (buzzword alert). The era of the Company Man engendered loyalty through the promises of life-long employment and the gold watch. The 80s and 90s saw much of that ethos dissolve, and there are few employees today who don't think of themselves as a commodity in a commodity market.

But if you can credibly and consistently communicate a compelling reason for being in business, and an equally compelling place the organization is trying to go, employees often will be more likely to stick around because the place is simply a place worth working for. All compensation packages being equal, they come to respect what the company stands for and enjoy being a part of those goals and values.

I see examples of this in my own work (companies I'm not at liberty to name), but there are other examples out there. Southwest comes first to mind, and FC might be as well (you tell me). They're big organizations big and small, and in them the "reason for being" of the place, its culture (which reflects its values), where it's headed -- they all conspire to make the place an organization in which people will choose to stay and work. They make the employees, in essence, more loyal.

Rare, yes. Impossible, no. And a hook for capturing talent organizations should be taking seriously in a world of short tenure: certainly.

Of course, after the messages are crafted it takes authenticity, consistency, and action among leadership to pull second generation loyalty off, and there's the rub.

Just my two cents ...

For me, no artful expression or crafted words, can shake a company loose from the behaviours that hold it fast against every moment.

Can a mission change organisational behaviour ? ( thinking of this months lead article )

Could behavioural change be an unintended consequence of drafting mission statements but not the mission statement itself.

Maybe 9 hours spent in reflection influences organizational behavior. Maybe the purpose of the mission is served not by the words but by the process of conversation ( or not as the case may be). Maybe the mission statement is a destraction and what is important is the missioning.

Good post. I started a blog dedicated solely to mission statements. It's called Man on a Mission. My goal is to make it one place for people to go to read mission statements of different companies, charities, and individuals.

JLP