Missions Statements, does anyone care?

Do you know the mission statement of the company you work for? Do you know the mission statements of the various groups you may be a member of? Did you know that your college probably has a mission statement? Do you care?

I was in a strategic planning session yesterday and a recurring theme that rose to the top from the over six hours of dialog was a need for programs. Good programs with value that will bring out the current members and inspire others to join. But when I said we should be sure to target programs that fortify our mission (which we had reviewed five hours prior) I was given the “are you kidding me” look. No, I’m not kidding you, our organization is here to further our mission. Why wouldn’t we go back to that very mission for everything we do? Perhaps I’m too idealist, but what’s the point in having a mission if we don’t use it as at least a starting point for directing the message we send to our members and the many more non-members?

At InterDesign, our mission statement is long, but I truly believe it does a good job capturing the goal of our corporate owners. It includes our high quality standards, integrity, respect, and a few other concepts that we try to embody.

In preparation for my year as president of the CSI Indianapolis Chapter I’ve begun dialogs with the members I hope to empower to do great things to achieve my goals and ultimately strengthen the chapter in furthering the current mission of CSI: “Advance the process of creating and sustaining the built environment.” And the new mission of CSI, but you’ll have to wait for that one to be adopted before I’ll share it here on my blog.

I charge you to find the mission statement for the groups you are associated with. Make a conscious decision to either ignore it because it is irrelevant or to embrace it. If you want to ignore the mission, you should consider whether or not you want to be associated. Good luck!