[MUSIC]
Welcome back, in our last lesson,
we talked about the three primary elements for performance.
Process, People, & Practice.
In this lesson, I want to start to really fold in what some of those elements are,
particularly around process.
We're going to start by talking about Mission, Purpose, & Vision.
We learned in our last course,
Managing as Coach, that the primary focus of the manager
role is too ensure that an organization is meeting its goals and is successful.
But how do you know if an organization is meeting its goals?
And what does it mean to be successful?
These are things that are typically laid out for us in an organization's mission
and vision statement, which ultimately defines the organization's purpose.
In this lesson, you'll learn what a mission and vision statement are.
You'll be able to articulate the differences between the two and
we'll discuss some examples of each.
Mission and purpose and vision sit at the top of what I call a performance funnel.
They're the first element that is most required to make sure that everyone in
an organization knows which way they're going.
The other elements of the funnel are vision, our expectations as leaders,
KPI, which stands for Key Performance Indicators.
Individual commitments or goals, activity management,
which is really where coaching sits.
And lastly, results.
You're going to go through all of those of elements as we go through the next
few lessons.
But right now, I want to spend some time talking about mission and purpose.
Here's the thing, every company that exists, exist to do something.
If we can't define why a company exists,
then we have to wonder really what is it there to do.
Now many companies have formal mission statements, and
my guess is the company that you work for, if you dig enough, you'll find it.
Unfortunately, sometimes they're overly complex, they're very long,
they try and include a lot of stakeholders and a lot of people, a lot of roles.
And sometimes that can be a little confusing.
And what I want for you through this exercise is as a manager,
I'd like to make sure that you can really reflect on and
be clear on what it is that your company does.
So here are some questions to think about.
A company is supposed to do something, what does your company do?
What is the purpose that your company serves?
Why does it exist?
What does your organization do in the world that is unique?
What or who would go unserved if your organization didn’t exist?
And lastly, what I ask my clients and
students to do all the time is can you put it in a bumper sticker?
And what I mean by that is can you put it in one sentence?
The reason why it's so important to be able to define a company's mission or
purpose in one sentence, that it means then it's clear, it's concise and
it's understandable.
When we make mission and purpose statements really long,
it can get very confusing.
Now the reason why a mission and purpose statement is so
important to managers and to employees is it helps us really understand,
at the end of the day, why are we all here.
We know that we get pulled in a ton of directions every day, but
what we mostly need to remember is what is it that this organization is here to do?
If we can stay that course and stay clear on that, it helps us all perform better.
The second layer to this exercise is for you as a manager.
Many times the mission statement is cultivated for
us already, it may have been in place for years.
But when you take over as a manager of a team or a department,
you have an opportunity to clarify what is the purpose of this team?
Why does this team exist?
And that helps employees get even clearer about what it is they're supposed to be
doing everyday.
So, those same questions that I just invited you to consider for mission and
purpose of an organization, I'd like to invite you to think about for your team.
What is the purpose that your department or team serves?
Why does it exist?
What does your department do that is unique?
Who or what would go unserved if your department or team didn't exist?
And can you put that in a bumper sticker?
Can you put that in one simple statement?
When we think about a mission and
purpose, here's what's most important, it doesn't change.
A mission and purpose is the original
design of why a group of people are working together every day.
So as you think about the purpose of your team, getting this really,
really clear helps everyone that you work with.
And frankly, probably even you get really,
really clear about what is most important, what requires your attention every day.
And at the end of the day, that's what really helps people stay focused
on the elements of their role and the responsibilities that they have
that drive key performance to help an organization thrive.
Now you've probably also heard people talk about vision, and
I delineate the difference between a mission and purpose and
a vision between these two things.
A mission or purpose is something that is static, it remains constant.
So for example, we provide financial services to internal and
external clients around the world, that could be a purpose statement.
We offer healthy alternatives for food ingredients for
clients around the world, that also could be a purpose statement.
It doesn't change.
The heart of the business, the purpose,
the reason the business exists stays the same.
A vision is something that changes from year to year and
it helps an organization achieve its purpose.
So for example, a vision could be that we will identify five new opportunities
to provide healthy food alternatives to our clients by the end of 2016.
We will generate $4 million in revenue by the end of 2016.
A vision is a goal.
A vision is something that is measurable.
Now it doesn't have to be a financial goal, but
it is something that helps serve the overall purpose of an organization.
So the way that I like to think about this, a vision is something that says
the company will achieve or accomplish something this year.
What will your company accomplish this year?
Now you may not know that for the business that you work for,
the company you work for.
If you do, this is a great exercise for you to really cultivate that.
The same thing is true for your department, so some key questions to ask.
What will your company accomplish this year?
What will your department accomplish this year, or team accomplish this year?
And can you put each of those vision statements into a bumper sticker,
into one sentence?
Again, if I'm managing a team, and my product is financial services,
and at the end of the day, the vision for my team is to increase our client
database by 2,000 new clients by the end of the year 2016.
That helps my team have a very clear picture of how to win of how to be
successful.
Often times, this is something that managers are either unaware of that they
should do or uncomfortable doing because so
many people are afraid to set big visions for fear of failure.
But I always argue it's much better to set a vision that might feel like a stretch
and work towards it than to not set one and
come in way below where you would have come otherwise.
So a mission and purpose to find who the organization is and those remain static.
The mission and purpose needs to be clear and concise and
relevant to the work that's done everyday.
A vision statement is something that defines what we will accomplish this year.
It needs to be measurable, something that everyone has access to and is transparent,
so that everyone can see how the progress is being made on the vision.
These are the elements that sit at the top of a performance funnel,
that I've mentioned, and
help us then define the rest of the work that employees are going to do.
Because ultimately as a manager, that's your role, right?
Is to oversee the scope and the performance of the work so
that the results are achieved.
So I'm looking forward to inviting you to work on your mission, purpose and
Vision statements, and see how those come together to help you with
the overall performance management of your team.
Kris PlachyCEO and Founder & Instructor, Leadership Coach, LLC &
