Mission

This is a formula used by David La Piana in his book, Nonprofit Strategy Revolution.

Even though the book is about strategy for nonprofits, the concepts apply to the business world as well.

Mission is about your purpose and the impact you want to make with your organization’s services/products/programs.  That is the same in all sectors.

Similarly, all organizations need to understand their Competitive Advantage – from a variety of perspectives.  Conducting a Competitor Analysis – and updating it regularly – is a good way to evaluate your Competitive Advantage, and then sharpen it.

Typically, organizations will only look at other “competitors” who provide the same services/products/programs as they do.  This is a good and important start.  You can learn a lot from studying competitors.  Perhaps you adopt some of their practices that you like or learn better how to differentiate yourselves.

But there are other aspects of “competition” to look at.  How about your employees – and that includes volunteers if you are a nonprofit?  How does your compensation (including benefits) compare to other possible employers?  What about your culture and expectations – including telework options?  If you are not competitive then you may lose people and fail at attracting the best talent.

For nonprofits, you also want to look at who is funding your competitors and other nonprofits, and when you consider individual donors – that can be a long list.  A lot of people in the DC area enjoy going to The Kennedy Center.  But nonprofit fundraisers have double the fun.  They enjoy the show and they enjoy collecting the list of donor names in the program.

Creating your Organization Identity by sharpening your Mission and specifying your Competitive Advantage can be an excellent way to focus your strategy and then communicate it succinctly to your stakeholders.

It’s a good idea to have a quick summary of your mission or new business idea ready to go at a moment’s notice.  But I am going to suggest that you have a longer version ready as well.

In reality, you often get to talk about the mission of your organization with others in various venues – such as a coffee break during a conference or the cocktail reception at a special event – for longer than it takes to go to ten floors on an elevator.  I suggest that you have a few soundbites ready to go for those situations.  I call these “Mission Conversation” soundbites.  They are not a recitation of your mission or vision statements.  They need to happen naturally in a conversation in your own words.

As you think about your “Mission Conversation,” keep the AIM of your organization in mind (for whom you intend to make a difference) and the IMPACT (the difference you intend to make).  For businesses, focus on the Noble Purpose of your company as per this blog.

Here is an example of a what a “Mission Conversation” looked like for me when I worked at LeaderShape.

The setting: a reception prior to a community event.

“It’s nice to meet you Rob, where do you work?”

“I work at LeaderShape.  We are a nonprofit that puts on ethics-based leadership programs for college students across the country.

“Wow. That sounds cool.”

“It is. In fact, I first got involved as a volunteer and was so inspired by the difference it makes in young people’s lives that I jumped at the chance to work there.”

“So, what exactly do you do?”

“Our main program is an intensive, six-day residential program. We run it at various campuses across the country for their students – and we have national sessions that any student can attend. We teach them to have a healthy disregard for the impossible while building a more just, equitable, thriving society.”

I’ll stop there as I think this gives you the idea.  Where do these conversations go next?  You have to go with the flow.  Maybe you have just met a potential new volunteer or donor or customer?  Maybe even a potential new Board member.

Those of us who are staff or volunteers or Board members for organizations are vital Ambassadors who need to tell our story whenever given the opportunity.  You never know where this can go!

Here is an activity for your next staff or Board meeting.  Have people practice the same scenario above – meeting someone new at a community event.  We all need to be ready to articulate our Mission Impact!

We know that mission, vision, and values are core to the identity of any organization.  And I often tell leaders that one of their most important responsibilities is to keep these in the forefront of their coworkers minds.  But how do you do that?

Recently, Dr. Alex Triantis – our Dean at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland – had our marketing/communications and facilities teams work together to post our Mission and Values on nice big signs at the front entrance of our building, right by the elevators.  They have been there for a while now, but the other day I realized how much I liked them there.  What better things to look at to help you focus as you begin another day at work!

Our values include:

*We do the right things the right way.

*We embrace challenges and opportunities.

*We have a collective passion for excellence.

How can you not get fired up looking at that first thing in the morning!?!

And our mission includes the phrase “We equip current and future leaders to assess complex problems and deliver innovative solutions.”  I tell our EMBAs that we expect them to be Innovative, Impact Leaders.

You can read more about our mission and values at this link.

What can you do to help keep your mission, vision, and values in the forefront of people's minds in your organization?  Big signs may not be the answer for everyone.  But there are ways – big and small – that you can help keep the importance of your Mission Impact alive for people.  You are only limited by your creativity.

I most often hear “non-profit” or “not-for-profit, ” but both describe what we are NOT – not what we are FOR.

We certainly aren’t for loss – though some organizations are mistakenly managed this way!

We have tried so many alternative labels:  philanthropic, independent sector, social sector, non-governmental, mission-based, charity, etc.

Part of the challenge is that we are FOR so many things.

We’re for healthy kids, for a green planet, for well-educated young people, for the arts, for cures to illnesses, for everyone being well-nourished, for the humanities, for everyone having safe affordable housing, and the list goes on and on and on.

Here’s an idea, let’s try “Mission Impact Organizations.”  That’s what we are and what we are FOR.  We all have that in common!  No?  You don’t think it would catch on?

Hmmm.  Well, while it would be nice to come up with a new label for our sector, maybe we just need to make sure that each organization clearly communicates what they are here FOR.  And this is communicated in our mission statements.

We need to be clear on our IMPACT (the difference we make) and AIM (for whom/what) when we state our mission.  For a mission statement mini-case, check this link.  Make sure that you are clear on your Mission Impact so people know what you are here FOR.

How did this happen?

To me, it was like a beautiful tattoo . . . . . on the forehead of a gorgeous woman.  Out of place and disturbing.

But what do I know?  As most of you are aware, The Louvre is one of the world’s largest and most important museums.  And I am certainly not an expert on art, architecture, or museums.

I decided to do some research.  Why would a museum of such historical significance do such a thing?  How could they stray from their mission?

First, I thought, let’s hear what the people think.  Maybe my reaction is totally off base.  I decided to research the opinions of Parisians.  What did they think of the pyramid?  Fifty percent of all the people I interviewed hated the pyramid, and fifty percent loved it!  There was no middle ground.  Curious.  What’s going on here?  How could there be such disagreement over such an important strategic decision?  Could this be a “mission” problem?

I decided to research the missions of museums.  Why are they here, what do they stand for, what is their intended Aim & Impact?  It turns out that this issue has already been researched.  In his article, “Sixty Museums in Search of a Purpose,” Andras Szanto points out that most museum mission statements are vague.  And a number are quite long, including MoMA’s 420 words and the National Gallery of Art’s 403.

So here’s my conclusion.  The vague mission of The Louvre itself, and museums in general, made this a difficult decision to make.  And then, add to that the fact that The Louvre is far more than a museum.  It is an historical landmark, having first been a fortress and then the palace of kings before it was turned into a museum.  I realize that is the basis of my reaction.  I felt like the pyramid desecrated a landmark.  But, looking at The Louvre more like a museum and piece of art itself, I can see how the pyramid adds to its beauty.  And it is beautiful, especially at night.

The bottom line.  I think it shows again how important it is to get the Aim & Impact of a mission statement right.  Without that, it makes decision-making difficult and can lead to a variety of opinions on what Mission Impact you are trying to make.

Is your mission clear on the Aim & Impact you intend to make?

Recently, my friends in the Office of Career Services at the Smith School of Business at Maryland asked me to do some strategy work with them.  The first thing we reviewed was their mission.

Here is the Mission exercise I take organizations through:

*AIM:  Specify exactly what “persons, places, or things” the organization aims to impact

*IMPACT:  Specify the difference your organization intends to make in the condition of those your organization is aiming for.

We did this exercise in small groups at a retreat and they came up with lots of “Aims” – students, faculty, employers, alumni, staff, and more.  And they came up with lots of “Impacts” for the different “Aims.”  It provided a good start to work we then did with a sub-group.

I pushed: “What are your priority ‘Aims?’”  They pretty quickly identified students and employers.

“What are the most important ‘Impacts’ you want to make on each?”  We started with students and they came up with a long list of impacts they want to make.  “What’s most important?  What most inspires you?”  After lots of good discussion, here is what they came up with:

“To provide students with transformational experiences that launch extraordinary career journeys.”

I thought that was pretty cool – I want all of our students to be launched into an extraordinary career journey!

What about employers?  They were in a groove and came up with this pretty quickly:

“To partner with employers to infuse talent pipelines with exceptional Smith Terps.”

Another great one!  (FYI that we are the Maryland Terrapins, “Terps”).

These two statements now make up their mission.  One of the things to underscore about each of these statements is that it goes beyond helping a student find a job or helping an employer fill a job vacancy.  The group really dug deep to ask themselves what inspired them and identified far-reaching “impacts” that really enthused them.

Need to give your mission statement an overhaul?  Start with getting specific about your “Aim” and then on what “Impacts” really inspire you.  Focusing your team on Aim & Impact will, indeed, allow your organization to make an even greater Mission Impact.