Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM April 2019 | Page 16

FROM THE BUSINESS COACH BY MIKE HILDERBRAND, BS, MBA, CBC ActionCOACH of Galveston [email protected] www.galvestonbizcoach.com What is the Purpose of “PURPOSE STATEMENTS”? N O I S I V N O I S S I M URE T L CU T hese three words are very critical to any business or organization. Even if you are as large as Microsoft or just starting out as a lone ranger, these are purpose statements to run your business by. Unfortunately, many businesses that have taken the time to write their Vision/Mission/Culture statements do so and then they are quickly placed “out of sight, out of mind”. Owners feel better that they have them, but these purpose statements are not used to their fullest potential. The question to ask is “What is the purpose of these purpose statements?” Answering that question will get you a lot more mileage out of them so let’s briefly go over them now. Vision. This is the long-range goal of what you see your business becoming. It’s out there on the horizon as far as you can see. Remember, as you get closer to your ideal your horizon expands, so always re-evaluate your Vision. The Vision of ActionCOACH, for example, is “World Abundance Through Business 14 MOMENTUM Re-education”. Each word has a specific meaning about how ActionCOACH sees the world of business. Mission. This is how you are going to accomplish your Vision. The mission is simply explaining what course the business takes in day-to-day movement towards the horizon. It also plays a defining role and sets forth the values and beliefs that the business holds as most important. Businesses love to hang a paragraph in their lobbies about themselves, but there they sit. Many of the mission statements I have read are subjective; although that is the idea, it’s good to get an objective view. It’s nice to let visitors know what you are supposedly all about but its real use is for you. To truly understand this, you really need to understand yourself. Culture. This is the most overlooked of the three, yet it is the most utilized in day-to-day operations. Simply put, it lays out the rules of the game, defining how you operate as a company. It’s about what you expect from your people, your customers, and your suppliers. It sets behavior standards for your business. It should have tight aspects to it - absolutes and limits of what is tolerable - as well as loose aspects to it to enable innovation. ActionCOACH has a culture statement and embodied in it are 12 distinct points that all coaches should aspire to. It can be found on the ActionCOACH website. Collectively, these statements should be used as benchmarks to measure your strategies against. Does your new chosen business strategy get you closer to your vision of what your ideal company is? (Vision) Does it fit with the path you want to take? (Mission) And finally, is it capable of fitting into the set of rules by which you operate? (Culture). The more clearly you can define your purpose statements, the easier it will be for your employees to follow them. These statements are the primary drivers that run the business when you are not there. Your employees should understand the values inherent in them. Remember, a business should be a profitable, commercial enterprise that works WITHOUT YOU!