One of the most mis-understood and mis-construed concepts in all the business world has to be the concept of “mission.” There are probably as many different takes on “mission” as there are consultants who facilitate strategic plans. Many times the vision and mission are confused. Other times the mission is two-three paragraphs long and no one cares to read it after its created and put on a poster to hang in the hallways, never mind trying to memorize it.

I want to give business leaders a different approach to make the concept more useful and give it greater impact throughout their organization. That is why I am recommending doing away with your company’s “mission.”

Instead of developing a “mission,” business leaders should be focusing on their company’s “purpose.” Your company’s “purpose” is a very simple concept to understand. There should be no confusion.

What is a “purpose”? It is the reason your company’s exists. In eight years of facilitating strategic planning processes this has been the number of concept that has provided the most value to my clients and is something that has been extremely well received and remembered.

This concept was reinforced for me twice last week. The first time was when I was watching the new Ken Burn’s PBS series on “The National Parks.” In reviewing the history of Yellowstone National Park the message over the North Gate was discussed, which states, “For The Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.”

This message over arch of the gate is Yellowstone’s “purpose.” It is simple, easy to recite and remember.  It is also a statement both park employees and visitors can understand and associate to in a very positive way.

Other examples include the first purpose I ever created with my co-workers at my former employer, the Hudson Valley Renegades minor league professional baseball team. There is a long story and a lot of inner-office debate behind the creation of this purpose and it took all of my influencing skills as a leader to help our executive team agree to it, but it is something I believe is the true essence and purpose of the organization to this day:

“Making Magical Moments and Memories for Our Community”

Some other recent clients have developed the following Purpose Statements and are all using them in place of “Mission” which I believe to be an obselete concept, it is time to put it out to pasture:

“Constructing Exceptional Buildings and Exceptional Environments for Our Community”

“Transform the mental health system so that each individual with mental illness

has hope for recovery, choices for quality care, and a sense of empowerment and self-determination.”

If you want to get the most out of your employees, connect at a deep level with your customers and build a brand around something that shows your company makes a difference forget about the mission and find its“Purpose.”

At a recent workshop with a half-dozen business leaders this subject was a hot topic we discussed for at least 30-minutes because they all wanted to know “where to start?”

You start with asking and answering these questions:

“What is the one thing that our company must fulfill for our customers that will absolutely ensure our financial success for the long-term?”

“What is it that we do consistently that makes a difference in our customers lives/businesses every day?”

Even with these questions leadership teams have a challenge in answering them by themselves because internal facilitators fail to push the issue deep enough to get to the core essence of the company’s existence.  What is created is a statement that lacks power and emotion. If you want to create a statement that has power and emotion like the ones above, it helps to have an outside facilitator take the leadership team through the process.