Every company it seems has a mission statement. A mission statement is intended to be what the company is all about. Yet I find that most employees and executives cannot recite the mission statement of their own company.
I could be wrong but I think that most of them were written by low level clerks in the Human Resources department who had nothing else to do.
A mission statement should be something that can be viewed passionately. It should be a real action plan. Whenever a new issue comes up it should be run past the mission statement.
While he did not call it as such, the following can be viewed as the Mission Statement of William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army. Note that it is expressed in terms of the problems to be solved. It is short, specific and leaves room to cover other social ills by inference.
While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight; while little children go hungry, as they do now, I'll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight-I'll fight to the very end!
From: BOOTH THE BELOVED, by J Evan Smith (Oxford University Press, 1949), pages 123-124
Think of different issues that could arise. With this as a part of his whole being it became quite easy to stay focused.
A vast amount of money is spent in safety for things that have no real connection with the safety mission. By having a mission statement and then by constantly asking the question "How does this activity or expenditure achieve our safety mission.
Cowboy Safety includes a tool for developing the safety mission statement in a believable way.
Comments