By Ward Morrison, President, Motto Franchising, LLC
How much good can established mission, vision, and values do for a company? Obviously, there isn’t an empirical answer to that question, but there is a relevant prototype. Consider the quintessential example of a company’s values driving critical actions that could make or break a brand – I’m talking about Johnson & Johnson’s response to the Tylenol® crisis in 1982.
When poisoned pills killed 7 people, the brand leaders turned to the company’s credo. This credo was established in the 1940s but continued to inform Johnson & Johnson’s operations. In essence the credo identified customer health and safety as a top priorities. Not only did Johnson & Johnson eat millions to pull every bottle from the shelf, they invested heavily in research and development in order to create tamper-free packaging.
Imagine if Johnson & Johnson had said the poisoning occurred due to outside tampering and that the criminal was to blame. They could have saved a fortune in the short term, but their brand may not have made it through the crisis. Johnson & Johnson made a choice informed by their guiding principles to protect their customers. The CEO later said the choice was easy because it was already made for him – as established by the company’s credo.
As a leader, it’s essential that you define both your desired company destinations and the rules of engagement to be followed while striding toward those targets. If you fail to do so, each employee will work toward their own personal mission, vision and values instead. By providing clarity of purpose, not only will your current staff work toward that purpose, you’ll also attract new team members who strive to support those very endeavors. And, more importantly, decision-making will be backed by consistent substance.
The importance of defining direction may be clear, but how do you go about crafting these essential guidelines? The processes outlined below have proved successful in my experience leading the launch of a startup brand in need of clarity and direction.
I recommend using a collaborative brainstorm structure for each element in order to collect expanded ideas from a variety of perspectives. As you brainstorm, remember that no idea is a bad idea. The goal is to start with a large bank of diverse possibilities then narrow down to the concepts that will drive your organization toward success.
Tips for creating a compelling mission statement
- Your mission statement should be service-inspired. It should define what sets you apart from the competition. Begin by considering the needs and desires of your customer(s) and wrap your mission statement entirely around these ideas.
- Constantly check yourself – and your mission statement creation team. There is no room for personal aspirations or personally-desired office outcomes. The mission statement belongs to the company and is driven by the customer.
- As you come closer to honing-in on your mission statement circle back to the question, “what sets us apart?”
Motto Mortgage Mission Statement Example:
To provide a new, valuable business opportunity to franchise owners, loan originators and shareholders through a complementary mortgage brokerage franchise model.
Tips for drafting a moving vision statement
- The vision statement defines what you aspire to be, as a company. This should be the pen and paper ambition that motivates your team in a singular direction.
- Ask yourself where your company is going. The vision statement should answer that question.
- Get specific. The more clarity you provide around your desired destination, the more accurately everyone can work to get there.
- Try to avoid solely quantitative sentiments. These types of vision statements can fail to inspire your team. And, after all, that is the whole point. Your vision should be conceptual so as to be aspirational.
Motto Mortgage Vision Statement Example:
Motto Mortgage becomes a dominant, go-to brand, with wildly successful brokerages offering a top-rated consumer experience, competitive rates and the ideal product mix for loan originators. Owning a Motto Mortgage franchise will always offer entrepreneurs a fully compliant, legally sound affiliated business opportunity.
Tips for outlining values that promote your desired company culture
- Your values will illuminate what your company stands for and believes in. If the mission and vision outline how to “win the game”, the values determine the rules by which to play.
- Your values can be a simple set of behavior-centric nouns. If you create an acronym around these, it can make them much easier for your team to remember (and, therefore, abide by).
Motto Mortgage Values Example:
Ethics, compliance, transparency, expertise, innovation, inspired solutions, professionalism, hard work and enthusiasm.
The great news is that if you’re considering drafting a mission statement, a vision statement and outlining your company’s values, you’re ahead of the game. When taken as a whole, these documents can become the north star for each member of your team, yourself included. You’ll likely never face a crisis as dire as the Tylenol poisoning incident, but every decision your team makes will be that much simpler and will move you all closer to your company goals.
Published on January 6, 2020
