Monday, April 25, 2011

What is a “mission”? (Think Progress, not Posters).

Jesus had one (Happy Easter folks!). Michael Jordan does too. And so does (or did) Bill Gates, Luciano Pavarotti, Elvis, Mother Theresa and most other people we look up to in some fashion or another. Would you agree with me that all of these individuals have demonstrated a very clear sense of purpose in their lives?

What about internationally recognized organizations like Coca-Cola or The Red Cross, without even reading their corporate literature can you picture in your own mind the core mission behind their actions?

A “mission” is simply a clear and focused sense of direction and purpose. And understanding your direction and purpose is infinitely more important than trying to craft the perfect statement to describe it.

There are countless books written about how to write vision and mission statements. And organizations big and small spend a lot of time and money trying to develop crafty statements that they can turn into posters and witty tag lines. In my view, attempting to write these formal vision and mission statements, while important at some point, too often become a stumbling block for leaders and teams.

Here’s a challenge for you…take a blank piece of paper and write down, straight from the gut, what you are working towards, your purpose. Go ahead. Try it right now. Use as many words as you need and don’t over-think the phrases or try to be fancy. Bullet points are fine. (You can do this exercise for both your own personal/professional mission or for your business/organization.)

Now read over the words you put down. How did you do? Do the words capture your inner thoughts accurately? If yes, keep that piece of paper somewhere where you can refer to it often. That is your “true north”. Check in with these words regularly to make sure you don’t get distracted and off-course.

If what you wrote down on paper doesn’t quite capture what you believe is your purpose and direction then you are like most of us. It is an incredible challenge to put these kinds of thoughts down on paper. (That’s why we admire brilliant writers, poets and songwriters!) Somewhere between our gut our brain and our writing hand, things get muddied by our own baggage and memories, fear and anxieties, and an assorted mix of other barriers.

Now imagine the challenge of trying to do this type of exercise in a group setting and formal meeting. How much more difficult is it to get a group of smart people, with different personalities/egos, skill sets, responsibilities and personal circumstances to craft organizational mission statements that they all agree and buy into wholeheartedly?

Here’s a trick I’ve learned in my work…don’t confuse understanding your purpose and direction with the act of writing a “vision” or “mission statement”. Vision and mission statements are just one format for formally communicating your purpose and direction. Contrary to what you may read, editing and crafting these statements should not be the starting point of your strategic planning.

I’ve worked with many groups, small and large, for-profit and not-for-profit, volunteer-based and professional and most of these groups tell me that their mission and vision statements are inadequate, incomplete and/or incorrect. Rather than try to make editorial improvements (which is sure to derail any meaningful strategic planning session), we dig deeper, looking past the formal mission and vision statements to define that elusive sense of organizational purpose and direction.
Bottom-line: Don’t spend time trying to group-write a “mission statement” as a start to your strategic planning process. Let the writers do that part later. Use your time as a group to agree to a clear and unified sense of purpose and direction, no matter how many words or bullet points it takes. Once you have that, it will be easier to work through your strategic priorities, goals and actions. (More about the strategic planning approach we use at StrategyMakers Consulting)

Remember, well-crafted mission statements make for good posters but a clear and focused sense of direction and purpose makes for a unified and progress-oriented culture. Posters or progress, which one would you rather have in your business/organization?

Simon Sinek's book Start with Why is a fantastic resource to drive this point home. If you are in any way interested in leading a mission-centered organization, start with Simon. (See right of page for links).
A final thought...
Missions do evolve and often uncover themselves over time. Don’t get discouraged if you struggle putting your own purpose and direction into words. It’s easier to see someone’s mission in retrospect than up front. Consider this (entirely speculative and unauthorized) evolution of Michael Jordan’s “mission”…

Mike as a tike – “I want to play with that ball.”
Little Mikey – “I want to play basketball with my friends.”
Mikey – “I want to play on a basketball team.”
Young Mike – “I want to be the best basketball player on my team.”
Mike the young adult – “I want to play professional basketball.”
Mike the man – “I want to win a championship.”
Mike the all-star – “I want to win the championship AND be the best basketball player in the league!”
Mike the legend – “I want to be the best basketball player in history.”

I’ll pick up on this next time.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

It's Not Good to Be Anti-Social...Friend me. Follow me. Like me

For some reason, “social media” seems to be percolating into the mindset of my province’s business and organizational community these days.

By “social media” I’m referring to things like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Youtube and generally any other Internet-based tool that allows you to communicate with other people via your computer, smart phone, latest i-gadget, etc.

I've had more discussions about the pros and cons of social media over the past six months than probably all other areas of business and organizational life combined. In fact, I will be on a panel next month at the 2011 QNET Excellence Conference sharing my perspective on, yup, you guessed it...social media. (PS Mitch Joel, Canada's own social media guru, is the keynote speaker for the conference so it should be very interesting and enlightening. If you're in Winnipeg, make sure you go!)


Let's explore this hot topic from a strategic perspective...
When it comes to social media, it seems to me that individuals generally fall into two camps. The first group dislikes/mistrusts/fears social media and/or sees it as completely useless. The second group includes those who love it, live it and even evangelize it. My take is that both camps are part right, and both are also partly wrong.

I’ve come to realize in my own work that social media is a valuable set of tools for businesses and organizations (hence this new blog). I’ve also come to believe that social media, while game-changing in many ways, are simply the latest in the evolution of tools that allow people to connect with one another (i.e. it’s networking, just through a different channel).

 

A Message to the Skeptics...
If you’re one of those people who fall in the first group - those who dislike or remain skeptical about social media, my advice is that you shouldn’t limit your view of social media based only on how your teenage kids use it (or your friends who still act like teenagers for that matter).

Let’s face it, teenagers goals, needs and priorities are very different from yours. The fact that they use Facebook to loiter around with their friends shouldn’t taint your judgment. And just because their Tweets are mainly updates on where they are in the shopping mall doesn't mean Twitter is for nothing other than mind-numbing updates. When we were teenagers we spent A LOT of time loitering and talking about nothing with our friends too. The only difference is that we didn’t say things like “OMG ur tweet made me lmao”.

Now that you and I are grown up and managing businesses or teams, our approach to things like social media has to match our goals, needs and priorities. And we need to view these new tools as valuable additions to our communications strategy.

Social Media Evangelists Beware too...

For those in the other camp - the ones who think social media is the new wave that makes all other media obsolete, I have news for you too. While you’re busy trying to get everyone and their dog to “friend” you on Facebook, “follow you” on Twitter, or “like” you on LinkedIn, most of the decision makers who ultimately sign the checks don’t spend a lot of their waking hours online (yet).

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the Internet community isn’t growing exponentially everyday (it is). It’s just that if you want to be successful, you have to go where your “right buyer” is. And for many businesses and organizations, that “right buyer” is still the over 40 crowd and many of them are not spending a lot of time watching for your latest Tweet.


A Balanced, Strategic View of Social Media for your organization...

It comes down to this - if (when!) you’re going to add social media to your business/organization’s communication mix, do it purposefully. In other words, be strategic about it. Start with a clear understanding of how social media can help you move your mission/purpose and strategic priorities forward. (Don’t have a clear sense of your mission/purpose and strategic goals/priorities? We can help.) Once you’re clear on your mission/purpose and goals/priorities then you’ll be in a much better position to figure who you need to connect with and which social media tools can best help you do that. (After all, it's not just about Facebook and Twitter. There are many other social media tools to consider, and for many organizations tools like Youtube and blogs may be a more beneficial investment of your time).  

Take Action!
Just as a final caution however, don’t wait until you have a “perfect” strategy lined up. There’s no such thing. Despite what you may have been led to believe, strategy is all about action. In real life, you usually have to dive in at some point and learn as you go. My advice to you is to invest time and energy into figuring out how you should be participating online and then get moving.

The bad news is that you will make mistakes. I know I'm making a few (ex. not enough graphics in my blog, Linkedin profile not completed yet, etc. etc). The good news is that you'll figure it out and you can learn as you go, and bonus, you will likely be viewed as a leader for making the attempt. 

I recently did a short (6 slides) presentation for a group of Winnipeg entrepreneurs entitled Social Media Strategy – A Few Considerations. Slide #4 contains some questions that I’ve found helpful. Here’s a link to the presentation if you’re interested… http://www.winnipegentrepreneurs.com/pdf/presentations/02222011-Social-Media-for-Biz.pdf

If you’re looking for a fantastic and very comprehensive book about social media, make sure you get a copy of Mitch Joel’s book Six Pixels of Separation. Although Mitch leans towards the social media evangelist camp, he definitely “gets it” and his approach is wonderfully strategic (i.e. purposeful). I still consider myself a newbie at this, but Mitch’s ideas have become a central part of my approach to social media and Internet-based communications.



Finally, here’s a practical takeaway…

Google your personal name and your company’s name. What comes up? If you don’t see anything about yourself or your business, none of the other billions of people online will see it either. Not only that but you’re being crowded out and someone else with the same name as you or your business name is staking out your space online. This was a revelation for me when I first tried it and noticed that there are many different Mike Fernandes’ in the world (and many of them aren’t very nice).

Here’s some more good news, as I’ve started to develop and use a few of the more popular social media tools, I’ve experienced the added bonus of seeing my messages and online profile makes its way higher up in the search engines. The best part is that I don’t advertise at all, I just go about my regular business, but now I use the social media and online channels in addition to my real life networking and email-based communications (less paper too!). This may not seem like much but I am a small business owner too and making people aware of who I am and what I can offer them is essential.

So please go ahead and "friend" me, "follow" me and "like" me wherever you find me online.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic too so please comment. Think of it as an easy way to experiment with social media!