E03: Why Your Mission Statement Probably Stinks
Struggling to get your team aligned with your company's goals?
It's probably because your mission statement feels more like an empty promise than a clear directive.
Find out why most mission statements fail and how to craft one that not only communicates your vision clearly but actually drives results and team engagement.
📒 Show Notes and Resources 📒
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Kellen Ketchersid
Kellen is a co-founder of Stag Business Coaching, business strategist, and a systems thinker. He leverages his extensive experience in biotech and consulting to empower entrepreneurs to navigate complex challenges with strategic growth solutions.
Albert Gillispie
Albert is a serial entrepreneur, business efficiency expert and co-founder of Stag Business Coaching who has founded several multimillion-dollar companies. With expertise in optimizing operations and innovative systems, he mentors business leaders who want to unlock their business’s full potential.
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BUSINESS GROWTH MASTERCLASS PODCAST
Introduction to Business Growth Masterclass
[00:00] Albert Gillispie:
Welcome to the Business Growth Masterclass where business growth is made simple. Listen as we discuss best practices to streamline your business, increase your profits, and ultimately create healthier, more stable, and valuable companies. Hear from experts on how they grew their businesses, learn from their wins, their losses, and their successes and everything in between.
Can you clearly articulate your vision for your company to your employees? How can you expect your teams to make great decisions if they don't know where the company is going and why?
Today, we're going to teach you how to use a simple and concise tool to communicate your vision for your business with your team. Learn how to unlock your team's creativity with a simple and effective tool.
What's Wrong with Most Mission Statements?
[00:46] Kellen Ketchersid:
So I'm Kellen. I'm one of the co-hosts here and a business coach at Stag Business Coaching. And here with Albert. Hello, Albert, when business owners hear about a mission statement, I think they often roll their eyes or at least employees do.
They're thinking some fluffy words and, you know, maybe good sounding, but not the thing you think about day to day. You know, most people don't have the mission statement memorized for the business that they're in. So can you explain to the people listening what we mean when we are talking about a mission statement here at Stag Business Coaching?
What a Good Mission Statement Looks Like
[01:23] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah, and that, I mean, you hit the nail on the head, what everyone's opinion of what a mission statement is, some, you know, meaningless, poetic words that, you know, the, the owners go off on some retreat and some Island and come home, come down from on high. Yeah. Very idealistic. Yeah. Yeah, just, just. You know, ridiculously hard to apply.
No one remembers it. Doesn't always feel connected to reality on the ground. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And what we mean by that is something a lot more tactical, a lot more practical. Yes. You know, what we call a mission statement is something that contains three economic objectives, a deadline and a clear reason why the mission is important.
Your Three Economic Objectives
[02:13]
So, can you say three economic objectives?
Can you explain what that means? Yeah. So it's something, something that is measurable that is tied to the performance of the business, the bottom line, the revenue, the income, you know, number of customers, something that, that drives the company revenue and drives the company profit.
You know, businesses exist to make money, right? You know, we're there to solve a problem, to create value for our customers, to deliver value for our customers. But at the end of the day, that has to mean something. You know, it has to be a certain level of profitability. It has to make a certain amount of revenue.
And so really, you know, we will accomplish X by Y date because of Z. And so a mission isn't forever. You know, it isn't if it's, if it's 10 years and you're on some mission that's hard to get inspired. That's hard to be like, okay, I'm going to go today and, and I need to deliver this, you know, I need to get this client and serve this client so that I can get this result 10 years down the road.
[03:16] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah, I think that's what a lot of people miss about mission statements, or I guess what people think of with mission statements, like, again, going back to the example of a generic, you know, idealistic sounding phrase. It doesn't seem like it's tied to any deadline and it doesn't seem like, Oh, let's get, let's get these numbers by this date.
Why Your Mission Statement Should Have a Deadline
[03:37] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. And, and I think that like, when you think about a mission, you're on a mission. You're there's a purpose behind this. There's like an intention. We're here to do something, accomplish our mission, and then let's go to the next one. And so I think that's an important point in this is that mission statements aren't forever.
They're not etched in stone and put on the wall, right? It's a mission that has a clear measurable completion. Yeah. Beginning and end. Beginning and end. And, and, and the deadline, you know, I, I think within two years, for sure. Anything longer than two years and you kind of start to lose urgency. And so we, we typically like to, to steer our clients towards something 12 to 24 months.
[04:25] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. And 24 months is even like stretching it. I think, because two years from now, who knows what can happen? I mean, it's, it's still good to set a goal within that, but I'm thinking that's definitely the outer edge of what makes sense in terms of a mission. A true mission for sure. For sure. Well, I guess we've already talked about that a little bit.
Why are this question? Why do those mission statements or why does a mission statement have value in an organization? I mean, we've already spoken to that a little bit, but for someone who's skeptical out there, it's like, you know, Mission statements just don't make sense for my business. What would you say to that?
[05:06] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. And, and, and most owners are, you know, their response to that is like, my people know I want them to sell more.
I want them to get more clients. I want them to sell more widgets. I want them to, you know, go out, do their job.
[05:18] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. Make more sales or yeah.
[05:20] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. And I think that's misguided. If people know, because people want feedback, people want to know, am I doing a good job?
And if you can give them something measurable, like this is where the company is growing, is going, and this is what you need to do in your role to help us get there.
[05:40] Kellen Ketchersid: Yeah.
[05:41] Albert Gillispie:
You have, you create this clarity and that's so much of what this is doing and is forcing the business leaders and the business owners to, is to get really clear.
Where is the business going in the next two years? And if, if the owner can articulate that, which a lot of times they can't.
[06:01] Kellen Ketchersid:
Which is a problem by itself, right?
Creating Clear Goals for Your Team
[06:03] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah, that's a problem. Like, how can you possibly be able to tell your team and employees they're doing a good job if you don't know where specifically you want to be in two years?
Yeah. And, and this sounds so, you know, NBA. Master's degree, but, but this is just a very practical thing that you can communicate from, you know, your most senior managers down to, you know, your, your part time hourly help. Hey, this is what we're trying to do in the next 2 years. And, and if you can articulate that to what that means for their role.
You unlock so much creativity in your people because they're thinking like owners and that is important.
[06:48] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. One of my, just, you just brought this idea to mind. One of my early mentors was, , talking to me when I was struggling with some of the people I was managing my first role, , over a group of people.
And one of the things he said is most people want to do a good job. But most people don't know what that looks like or how to define that. And that all goes to the leadership, right? If I, as a business owner, don't even know what targets I have for the business in general, how in the world am I going to tell anybody in a specific role, what success looks like?
For them that then ties to that overall business goal. So I love that because just the idea that our people will be motivated if we can point them to that North star and say, this is what we're headed towards. And specifically, these measurables are, these are the targets that we need to hit. And here's what your part in that means, , it's just a really powerful way to lead a team.
So, do you update, I mean, we've already touched on this a bit, but how often would you update your mission statement if you're a small business owner?
Regularly Updating Mission Statements
[07:57] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. I, I think when the deadline, when you hit that either, either you accomplish the mission. Yeah. Early or when that deadline comes, you know, you, you hit that, that time point.
And so they are revised and renewed, you know, every 12 to 24 months based on the results of the business. And it's, it's an exercise, an important exercise to go through every so often. Where do I want to be in the next two years? And then you go two years down the road and your, your horizon is much broader or maybe it's not.
But, but yeah, it's something, it's a mission and missions have beginning and end endings.
[08:42] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah.
[08:42] Albert Gillispie:
And then once you get to the end, we need to go on another mission.
How to Hold Your Team Accountable
[08:44] Kellen Ketchersid:
And when we're doing this mission, we're not just checking in, you know, we're not just having the initial meeting and setting these targets and then.
And you know, two years from now or a year from now, we're checking in to see, did we hit the targets? That's not how it works. Right. So can you talk a little bit about how you hold people accountable and how often you're checking in and just what that looks like? Absolutely. Yeah.
Breaking Down Goals Into Actionable Steps
[09:07] Albert Gillispie:
And so you have these broader, you know, two year targets that are, that are big.
Yeah. And you know, it's, it's, I'm going to use the cliche analogy, but it's this big elephant and how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And so what we, how we operate and how we coach businesses to operate is to set 90 day targets. Okay. That's three months. Yep. That's quarter that, that creates urgency.
You can go into your office every day and, and you can see 90 days, 89 days, 88 days. It creates a sense of urgency. And so what we do is we huddle the troops every 90 days and say, okay, what do we need to get done in the next 90 days for each department, for each role? So that we are moving closer towards that vision.
And then we're meeting with our people. That's our all staff meeting every Monday morning. That's the purpose of that is to review. Okay, here's our 90 day targets. What did we do last week to move closer to that? What went good? What went bad? What obstacles are in your way? What do you need help with?
[10:20]
And then what are we going to do the next week? And, and each, each department head. You know, comes prepared with the results and plans to solve problems and actions planned for the next week. And it's just a really, you know, it's, it's a formal thing, but just. Having to come prepared with the results, explanations for what went wrong and a few things that you're going to try to address that.
And then if needed, you've got the group there to help problem solve together, but it's just, it gets really, really clear on where a results-oriented approach is going to work.
[10:58] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah, rather than people just being busy because everyone's busy.
[10:58] Albert Gillispie:
Everyone, everyone's working hard. Everyone's putting in their time, but if we can be really intentional and make sure that our, our people are doing the things that bring results that deliver value to our customers that deliver value to our business and hold people accountable to that, that's just how you do business.
[11:20] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. That's it. I think that's so insightful about people being busy. Even if you, if you don't give people something to do or a clear target, usually they're going to find something to be busy with. I mean, hopefully it's not scrolling social media all day, but oftentimes if you have a good employee, they're still going to find something to do, but it may not be tied to what you're hoping the business will accomplish, or it won't drive bottom line results.
So, busyness is not the same thing as productivity towards the goal. And, I just, I feel like that's a regular problem that you see in businesses is people who are busy, but not really productive in terms of what's going to help the business achieve its goals. So can you give an example of. What a business's mission statement might sound like the kind of mission statement we're talking about that's going to drive that bottom line result.
Example of an Effective Mission Statement
[12:14] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah, I've got one written down right here. That is specific to not, not our, our coaching company, but just a coaching company in general. So it reads “We will serve 30 new clients, sell five new retainer packages and receive 98% client satisfaction survey results by December 31st, because everybody deserves the help they need to grow their business.”
Okay. And so you can see that there's, yeah, there's three measurable targets, 30 new clients, five new retainer packages, and a 98 percent client satisfaction.
[12:54] Kellen Ketchersid:
Okay. So if I'm out there, you know, if I'm a salesman for this hypothetical business, now I've got a number and I can break that down into 90 day targets.
And I can even break that down further into, okay, if that's my 90 day number, then maybe this month I need to hit at least this many. Right. So this is so powerful to do it that way and just makes everybody know what success looks like. So, I love it. The other thing that when you're reading that I was thinking about is, you know, you have three different economic objectives that are in different parts of the business.
I know you said that at least that first number was more sales oriented. And then what was the last one?
[13:40] Albert Gillispie:
Receiving 98% client satisfaction.
[13:43] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. So maybe then that's like, how did we do, you know, and so that's more tied to the actual execution, you know, after the sale, but when we're providing the service or the product, whatever it is that we do now, I have an economic objective.
That's more in that zone. Right? Um. So, would you say that, depending on what my business type is, those economic objectives, maybe I need to think carefully about which, You know, buckets they fall into, which categories of the business they fall into.
How Every Role Contributes to Business Success
[14:15] Albert Gillispie:
You, I mean, ultimately you want each of those to drive revenue and drive profit.
And within that, you know, marketing plays a role. Sales plays a role in operations, like actually delivering this, the goods or service, like. That's implied with all, all of that. But, we need to think about our business as revenue driving, you know, there are certain roles that aren't necessarily revenue.
They're not, they're not revenue creating, but if we can frame them in a way that they're playing the same game, they're trying to affect the profitability and the revenue growth of the, of the business, you have everybody.
On the boat rowing in the same direction. Yeah, and, and that is your, your job as the business leader is to, you know, you're, you're the pilot flying the plane and you know, the destination, the destination are these 3 economic objectives and your, your role as the leader is to reverse engineer.
[15:22]
The safe arrival of that airplane. And so if you can communicate that clearly to your people, they have clarity. They know what it means to do a good job. And then they can use their creativity within their role. They're really good at what they do. And if they can, then they know where they need to go.
They can use their creative brain, their experiences, their know-how and problem-solving to solve things that you don't know how to solve, but they're moving towards the same target. That you, that the business is going towards.
[15:55] Kellen Ketchersid:
So if I'm in charge of social media at a company, or if I'm a graphic designer, if I know that maybe these big economic objectives in the mission statement are directly tied to me, but I can see how these posts that I make need to get so much engagement because that in turn leads to more, you know, leads coming into the business, which in turn leads to sales.
So as a business owner, I'm thinking about these big goals in the mission statement and then working my way backward into every person, every role on the team and what their goals need to be in order for all of us to achieve that big mission statement. Would you say that's exactly that?
[16:38] Albert Gillispie:
That is your role as a business leader, that this is a tool. You're saying where we're going. And when I say reverse engineering, you're breaking that down in teaching. If we can be teachers and teach our teams and our employees what it means, how to do business, what it means to be profitable, to look at the profit and loss statement and know how their role affects that.
And if you can break that down, you're educating them on a sales funnel that, you know, each gate within this funnel has a certain yield percent, 20 percent of the leads go to this point, then from that 60 percent of those leads go here. And then you can kind of reverse, help them reverse engineer that to see what they are doing and how that affects the rest of the business and that's our job as business leaders is to continue to be teachers and continue to pour into our people.
[17:40] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah so that they get it they get the game of business and they have that owner mindset of like This part that I play actually is going to make a difference in the business. And I know why that's, I think that's something that a lot of people are just not able to articulate.
And then it's, this is why they need to have this big picture vision that they can share with everyone, and then you can communicate what that means to everyone else.
Well, if I'm a business owner and I'm, you know, I bought in, I want to do this. Where can they start? How do they go about this process?
Call To Action
[18:21] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. And I would send them to our website. We have a free business assessment that is step one. You fill out this business assessment and it basically works through each area of your business and helps you really discern where are my weaknesses and where are my strengths? And then from that, you get a really detailed and really valuable report.
And then let's get on a call. Let's schedule a meeting and talk through that and talk through where you are weak as a business. And then you can engage us at Stag Business Coaching to work through that, to give you some tools and walk alongside you and execute this together and get your business healthier, more streamlined, more profitable, and ultimately more valuable.
[19:20] Kellen Ketchersid:
Absolutely. We would love to do it. We would be excited to speak with anyone about this in particular mission statement, and all the other things that we have to offer with Stag Business Coaching.
So, Albert, thank you for breaking this down for us and talking about a mission statement today. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Business Growth Masterclass and we'll talk to you next time.
[19:42] Albert Gillispie:
If you enjoyed this podcast, if you got value out of this podcast, go ahead and click the subscribe button. We would love for you to continue listening and get more value from this. Thanks. Thank you.
