Display it for all to see
After Sanderson received responses from everyone on his leadership team and after he called each of his top customers, he was finally ready to sit down and polish the draft. He had enough confidence
in his and his colleague’s writing abilities, so the pair simply spun it
out together.
If the art of prose is a craft beyond your comprehension,
Sanderson says not to fret. Look to a peer for help.
“What you need to think of is who has good written communication skills in your company,” he says. “Look to an outside colleague.
Maybe it’s a faculty member at a university, or maybe it’s a boss you
had in a former job, or maybe it’s an administrative assistant you had
in a former job.”
Once they help you produce a final draft, the only thing left to do
is share it for all to see. Sanderson suggests using multiple channels
of communication when doing so. At Transplace, he shared it at his
monthly teleconference call with the entire company. He published
it on both the company’s intranet and the Internet. He even put it on
a business card with the company’s annual goals and then distributed it to employees so they would have a copy on hand at all times.
Despite this multilatitudinal barrage, Sanderson says to avoid sensational proclamations of the dawning of a new age.
“You have to be a little cautious about overplaying it,” he says. “It’s
absolutely important to what you’re doing, but it doesn’t mean that
the day that, that comes out, the company is suddenly a new company.”
Sanderson says that approach would not only send mixed signals
to employees, but it also may prove confusing to customers, as well.
When it comes to these external constituents, it’s best to share the
new mission statement throughout the course of your normal interactions. Include it in PowerPoint presentations. Display it prominently on the Internet. Include it in your business reviews. Just don’t
hit them over the heads with it like a sledgehammer. If the mission
statement is strong enough, you won’t need to force it down the
throats of your constituents. Those three or four carefully crafted
sentences will do most of the work for you.
That was certainly the case at Transplace, where Sanderson heard
immediate feedback from his employees.
“The employees certainly felt it was much more meaningful that
what it replaced,” he says. “There was a lot of positive feedback that,
‘It makes more sense to me as an employee. It makes more sense to
our customers. It’s easier to talk about.’”
By conducting a little research, seeking the appropriate feedback
and communicating it effectively, your mission statement should
produce the same results for you. What’s more, it will serve as a
guide for your company for years to come.
“You have to think about what’s right for your own situation, for
your own company, for your own employee base and leadership
team,” Sanderson says. “A well-crafted statement should stand the
test of time. Everyone in the company will understand at a very
basic level why the company is in business and what their activities
should be focused toward accomplishing.”
HOW TO REACH: Transplace Inc., (888) 445-9425 or www.transplace.com