Let me share with you where I came down on
>the matter of mission and mission statements.
>
>The first thing to do is to draw a distinction between the two.
>
>A company's mission is its purpose, its reason for being. It
>is the organizational equivalent of what an individual might
>refer to as "a calling" -- one's mission in life -- the grand
>purpose one is to fulfill.
>
>A mission statement is a high-level control device. On the
>one hand, it is an attempt to communicate the mission. On
>the other hand, communicating the mission is done to provide
>guidance and direction -- to channel organizational energy
>along desired lines.
>
>Efforts to write mission statements without first clarifying and
>gaining consensus regarding the organization's mission are
>bound to result in empty mission statements. In trying times,
>an empty mission statement can also be dysfunctional.
>
Fred
I found your posting very helpful in thinking about the
difficult issuses around mission statements. I particularly liked
your definitions of 'mission' and 'mission statement'.
We are currently working with an organisation on these issues and
your posting is a helpful clarification.
We are using Real Time Strategic Change (see the book of this name
by Robert W. Jacobs) to get consensus around the mission. This
involves getting together the whole of an organisation or a
representative slice (up to 800 or more people if necssary)in one
room to work togther over two or three days in mapping out the
organisation's future path. This way you can get consensus from the
whole system.
martin
--Martin Raff VISTA Consulting - for a better future martin@vistaraff.win-uk.net phone and fax: +44-1789 840418
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>