A Word About Mission Statements…

The key word is "statement." A mission statement is not a paragraph or two. Unless an organization has a good mission statement already cast in stone, the most challenging step in a serious planning process is the crafting of a sentence that captures the organization's mission. As a matter of fact, it is so challenging that the exercise really calls for a skilled facilitator with no stake in the ultimate outcome.

Everything an organization does should fit within the confines of its stated mission. If the staff can think of an operational area that doesn’t fit then either the mission statement has to be redone, or the area of operation in question needs to be phased out.

Remember, the mission statement is one sentence. If necessary, it can be a compound-complex string of words (with a semicolon separating the clauses). More than likely, over time the semicolon will get dropped in favor of using only the first half of the statement, or people will find creative ways to rephrase the statement into a single abbreviated sentence. Why? Because it’s easier to remember and recite.

Here’s an exercise inspired by something written by Peter Drucker…

Imagine a team working on the mission statement for a new hospital. It's a safe bet that the word "healthcare" makes its way into everyone's thinking and probably every rough draft of the team's work.

Think about the word "healthcare" for a minute. Is it really the job of a hospital to take care of a person's health? Or is it more accurate to think that a person takes care of their health and a hospital takes care of a person's "unhealthiness." Wouldn't it be better to say to say that the mission of a hospital is to eliminate or reduce to the greatest degree possible, the physical and mental effects of illness and injury being experienced by the people entrusted to its care?

Everything turns on the use or nonuse of a single word, "healthcare." A mission statement should be built one word at a time. Each word should be tested against what the organization does. If there’s a conflict, it needs to be resolved.

Test this concept. Try and think of something a hospital does that does not fit within the parameters established by the mission statement suggested above.