Do you know what the mission of your company is?
Clear focus helps employees to prioritize things easily, especially when one finds himself in a complex situation. For example, at the airport every employee from ground staff to flight crew knows that his primary focus is passengers’ safety. Thanks to focus, flight safety is at the highest level right now and we can easily travel.
However, not every organization has a clear focus. Usually, strategy comes down to the very general and vague expression, such as “grow and remain the most profitable” or “grow and optimize”. As a result, people have to deal with everything at once: scale both vertically and horizontally, improve quality, launch new services and products, and remain the most convenient and most accessible service on the market at the same time.
The root cause of the problem is the absence of the company’s mission. Organizations cannot answer the simple question of why do they exist. Do they work just for money? Or do they exist just to do something not to get bored? Or they happen to be here just because particular industry is trendy? Today, the ‘mission’ concept seems outdated. It is believed that mission is mostly a pathetic speech of large organizations to soften the status of the oppressor and the one who poisons the environment. In fact, the mission can make companies work like the very airport where every employee understands that safety comes first.
Mission is passion, a big idea. Like doctors have a mission to treat, teachers to teach, and companies are here to make the world and people’s lives better. “Democratize the automobile” is the mission of Ford, “become the Harvard of the West” is the mission of Stanford University. The mission has no end goal, it cannot be achieved. The mission is what you dedicate your life to.
If a company has a mission, it goes through crises and context changes with dignity. If there is no mission, the company falls apart facing the first difficulties, new shareholders, and any other shocking issues. Mission bears new strategies and, consequently, day-to-day tasks. It gives particular company a focus, so everyone knows what and why to do it.
Do you know what the mission of your company is?
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