The Differences: Mission, Purpose & Vision | The DiJulius Group
Statement overload! When we start working with a consulting client and tell them the first place we start is creating a customer service vision statement, they say, “The last thing we need is another statement, we have mission statements, purpose statements, and our employees can’t even keep them straight.” Good businesses have evolved away from lengthy wordy mission statements that no employee can recite. Today it is okay to have three major company statements, provided it’s clear as to how they differ and how your employees need to decipher them.
What is controllable? While every company needs strong, inspiring mission and purpose statements, they are results, not actions. If your mission is to be the #1 financial institution in the world, what does that tell a bank teller or loan officer to do today, as they interact with each Customer. Even the greatest mission and purpose statements are not actionable by employees. Let’s look at a few great purpose statements:
Starbucks:
To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a timeJohn Robert’s Spa: To enhance the quality of lives around us
The DiJulius Group: Changing the world by creating a customer service revolution
Mission and Purpose Statements – Each of those are strong statements and do excite people about the impact they can eventually have. I believe mission and purpose statements should be shared and discussed at orientation, posted on walls, even displayed on the company’s website. I think employees should be familiar with them, but I do not think it is realistic for them to remember word- for-word your Mission, Purpose and Customer Service Vision Statements, and that is totally okay.
*Related – Creating inspired moments in each customer’s day
Customer Service Vision Statement – Think of a mission statement for a professional football team (certainly not the Cleveland Browns). Is it to win the Super Bowl? However, that is not what the offense or defense says in the huddle: “Let’s win the Super Bowl, ready break.” Winning the Super Bowl is a result, not the action. The Customer Service Vision Statement is the actionable play. This is the one statement I want every employee in the organization to be able to recite and know backwards and forwards. The Customer Service Vision is what each and every employee, regardless of department, level, or pay grade, has to deliver to every Customer every time, that provides a meaningful purpose for your employees. The CSV never gets shared with the outside public, i.e. Customers. It is only to be marketed to the employees. It is the one thing that gets them out of bed in the morning and racing to work.
Make sure your Customer Service Vision Statement is actionable, measurable, observable, and trainable. This means that you can actually watch an employee interact with a Customer face-to-face, read their email or listen to them on a call and be able to say, “yes / no, they did achieve our Customer service vision statement.”
2015 Secret Service Summit recap – I am embarrassed to admit that I have not had time to do a recap of this year’s Secret Service Summit, and I felt that too much time had passed; (lame excuse) that it was too late. However, I received an attendee’s recap and it was excellent. Dr. Mario Pavicic and Dr. Ron Arndt are two well-known leading dental experts/consultants and certified Secret Service Agents. I recommend anyone from any industry to subscribe to their blogs. They have made a living at looking at other industry best practices and applying it to the dental industry. So, thanks to both of these gentlemen. Here is their recap of the 2015 Secret Service Summit. Thank you gentleman!
