The development of a mission statement as a contribution to sense orientation

Addressing the meaning of an organisation is more important than ever. In his work "Re-Inventing Organizations", Frederic Laloux identified the sense orientation of companies as one of the three key drivers of motivation of people and groups. Companies whose success depends on the intrinsic motivation of their employees should therefore have a good answer to the question of meaning and make sure that a management process is established for this purpose that prevents meaning orientation from being lost in day-to-day business and money-making.

Giving employees orientation is a management task

How can meaning be grasped and managed? In my view, the questions of the current raison d'être (=MISSION), the future orientation (=VISION), the understanding of VALUES and the LEADERSHIP behaviour must be answered in a way that is comprehensible, attractive and lasting for all stakeholders. However, organisations have been thinking about MISSION, VISION, VALUES and LEADERSHIP for a very long time - long before Re-Inventing Organizations was written - and collectively they call it LEITBILD. Often the mission statement process begins promisingly, participatively and euphorically and ends up in an unsuccessful and agonising appropriation process in which the well-intentioned mission statement eventually turns into a suffering image. The term mission statement also sounds rather dusty.

Now it seems to me that especially in times of complexity, the need for orientation towards MISSION, VISION, VALUES and LEADERSHIP is mission-critical. Do we want to continue to call this a mission statement? There would also be the possibility to call this "North Star", "Compass" or "Lighthouse" as some organisations do. After many discussions with organisational experts and entrepreneurs, I have decided to continue using the word mission statement, to dust it off and give it a new shine. After all, this word is well understood by all stakeholders and customers.

WHY HOW WHAT - Questions for a new mission statement

In organisational development, many companies are currently finding that they either do not have a real mission statement or that it is not up to date or not known or not taken seriously in the company or not established and integrated into the corporate culture, etc., etc. Often the documented version is even largely rejected by the staff, although the contents are worthwhile. Therefore, many companies set out to create a new mission statement with "T" as a component of organisational and cultural development. I personally take great pleasure in these projects, as they start at the core of the company and its contribution to the common good.  

In projects for new mission statement development, we start with questions inspired by Simon Sinek's Golden Circle. We ask about the WHY, the HOW and the WHAT

• What benefits does our organisation bring to our customers?
• Which basic needs of the customer are satisfied?
• What can our organisation do better for its customers than its competitors?
• What benefit does our organisation bring to the world?
• What would the world be missing if our organisation ceased to exist tomorrow?
• What additional benefits will our organisation bring to our customers the day after tomorrow (2030/2050)?
• Which future basic needs of the customer will this satisfy?
• What contribution to world improvement does our organisation want to make?
• What are the most significant changes compared to today?
• What does this mean for the projects of the next three years?
• What can I expect from my colleagues in terms of cooperation and what can my colleagues expect from me?
• What do I expect from my manager?
• How do we want to deal with customers, the business eco-system and the world?
• How can we carry the values into the staff and systematically check whether we live by them?
• Who is responsible for what here?
• What are the decision-making processes and principles?
• Which s.m.a.r.t. en goals describe our success?
• How do we steer effectively by numbers?

Systematic workshop on mission statement identification

The moderated answering of these questions results in a "PPT-One-Pager" for each of the MISSION, VISION, VALUES and LEADERSHIP in the first step within one workshop day. In our projects, this process is usually carried out with the management and those responsible for the company and organisation, i.e. it is not yet participative. The participatory approach is chosen in the second step, with the help of the business game Eigenland® . Here, up to 60 optimistic theses regarding the maturity of MISSION, VISION, VALUES and LEADERSHIP are evaluated in an "impact workshop" on a scale of 1 - 5 or gold - tar. This procedure is barrier-free and entertaining and leads to a concrete discussion of what is still(!) missing to achieve the mission statement in the company and how it can be shaped and by whom. At this point, the mission statement previously developed in a small circle is also "echoed" once again and usually also further developed.

At the end of this two-stage process, on the one hand, there is a mission statement set in stone. Yes, in fact, the mission statement should offer long-term orientation, especially in a volatile world

At the end of this two-stage process, on the one hand, there is a mission statement set in stone. Yes, in fact, the mission statement should offer long-term orientation, especially in a volatile world, and should have a lifespan of at least 5 years in large parts. Secondly, this process ideally results in a "BACKLOG", i.e. a repository of tasks from which actions are taken independently in agile cycles that make the mission statement tangible.     

I have had the opportunity to apply this approach of developing mission statements in many organisations of different sizes and sectors - from car park operators to a savings bank to a tax consultancy firm - and have been able to make a contribution to sense orientation. And of course we have also applied this procedure in our own company noventum. The b.a.w. set in stone result can be found here . As this work dates from 2019, it will soon be time to revise it. However, it has carried us well through very turbulent times in the past 4 years. Quod erat demonstrandum.