Creating and Adopting a Mission and Vision

When I arrived at Typenex Medical, many attempts had been made to implement mission and vision statements. The main obstacle was not all departments felt the same level of need nor attachment to a company wide focus. Overseeing the company branding and feeling a need for a cultural unifier, I was determined to bring focusing statements to the company.

Because of the limited reach of Typenex Medical and budget constraints, I focused on the perceptions from those internal to the company and chose to save external research for future evolutions. To avoid perceived bias and keep the project moving, I hired a copywriter to help facilitate conversations and brainstorms.

Mind Mapping

Second, each of the departments were brought in for a mind mapping exercise. I asked each director to join and bring a small group of people whom they felt could actively participate in discussion. Each department group was asked a series of questions to identify how they viewed Typenex Medical, both current state and in the future. These sessions were led by the copywriter to best encourage freedom of speech. I was not made aware of who said what - only what each department collectively finished.

Pulling It Together

Third, all themes and key phrases that were mentioned were counted and ranked based on their tally. The top themes were then strung together to create both mission and vision statements, as diagramed below. The mission statement was designed to be an external facing embodiment of who Typenex Medical is and what they are doing in the market. The vision statement was designed to be a key focus for the internal teams to work towards a common goal.

The Bandwagon

Lastly, the director team, the governing body of Typenex Medical, was presented with the process and final statements for review. Because of the equal inclusion of all departments and data driven approach, there was universal acceptance of the statements sans a single synonym swap, cost-effective to value-driven, in the mission statement.

With an unbiased strategy, everyone felt heard and appreciated making the approval process seamless. The statements were implemented and revealed at the company wide annual kickoff meeting. In addition, posters of the statements along with a few questions were printed and placed in each conference room. This was to remind all employees to question if their decisions and conduct related back to the entire company vision.

Summary

The real challenge with this project was not developing statements, but navigating the perceived biases and feelings of exclusion to get all teams on board. Mission and especially vision statements are meant to help guide the entire company toward one goal. Every role should be able to see their decisions and contributions in those statements for it to be successful. By using employees from every department in an equal and consistent quantity, it removed the emotional aspect of approvals. It said to the decision makers, “this is what your team thinks, feels, and believes.” It was also humbling to recognize that for this project to be successful, I needed to remove myself from facilitating, a task I very much enjoy. By allowing someone else to be the face of discussion, it further solidified a feeling of unbiasedness. The real feeling of success was knowing that I strategically built a plan and used my resources intelligently to reach my goal.