Taking Steps to Improve your Internal Communications: Clarify your Mission, Vision, and Value Statements
This part 2 of our series helping you to improve your internal communications, check out part 1 here.
Before diving into the benefits on internal communications as they relate to your statements, lets first look at what each of these mean. A Mission Statement explains why a company exists, what it does, and its overall intentions. A Vision Statement describes the organization as it would exist in the future, you are recognizing and recording a goal for your company to reach. The Value Statement focuses on what an organization believes and how it will interact with the world.
Now these statements may seem trivial or a waste of time to those more task oriented, but these statements are the foundation for the rest of the company to be built off of. This has become especially important as more employees who care about their company’s public image enter the workforce. 50 years ago most potential employees saw a job as a way to provide for their families and find purpose in life, but over the years that image has drastically altered.
Millennials have reshaped the job market by focusing on ideals like social responsibility or inclusion. In fact, according to a study done by Net Impact, 50% of employees would take a pay cut if they found work that matches their values. This is on top of a astonishing 90% of millennials want to use their skills for good. Young workers are reshaping the very idea behind what we call work, they are molding it to become more attune with their life and goals as they spend more and more time at work.
You see hundreds of companies with exotic break rooms, or amenities stacked on amenities and think, “Wow, I bet everyone loves working there.” the reality is only half of that. Most of those employees do love going into work to drink the complementary gluten free smoothie, or to do their laundry as they work, but they do not love their work just because of the facilities. Truly happy workers are ones who go in every day knowing they will be the change they want the world to see, that they are working towards something larger than them, and when the day ends, they look forward to the next.
To solidify the concepts we will take a quick look at the statements of Netflix, a company we are all familiar with. Their Mission Statement is “Our core strategy is to grow our streaming subscription business domestically and globally. We are continuously improving the customer experience, with a focus on expanding our streaming content, enhancing our user interface and extending our streaming service to even more Internet-connected devices, while staying within the parameters of our consolidated net income and operating segment contribution profit targets.” This statement encompasses their overall intentions.
Their Vision Statement is a combination of these 4 statements, which clearly state their goals across all levels.
- Becoming the best global entertainment distribution service
- Licensing entertainment content around the world
- Creating markets that are accessible to film makers
- Helping content creators around the world to find a global audience
Finally, their Values are comprised of these words; Judgement, Productivity, Creativity, Intelligence, Honesty, Communication, Selflessness, Reliability, and Passion. These words define what Netflix wants to produce and inspire in their employees as well as their customers.
Catering to your employees will create an environment filled with workers who all abide by the same moral code or subscribe to the same philosophy. Regardless of their views, a workplace where everyone shares a common goal creates a very productive and engaging tone. This is what you should be striving for when you write out your organization’s Mission, Value, and Vision statements.
