A company’s mission, values, and employees are essential components that contribute to its success. These elements are interconnected and are critical in shaping the company’s culture, guiding its decisions, and driving its performance. In this article, we will discuss the importance of a company’s mission, values, and employees in detail, and how they work together to create a successful organization.

 

As mentioned in the Harvard Business Review article “Crucibles of Leadership“, it is harsh times that allow for growth, and that is when great leaders to emerge. Research aims to identify the traits that allow leaders and organizations to thrive in disruption. In the upcoming book “The Tranformation Myth”, the author finds common qualities among those organizations such as being constantly “sensing, testing and adapting” in order to keep progressing in an ever-evolving business environment. Following, a subset of 50 interviews conducted with tens of executives in the period spanning from March to October 2020 examining their “deep self-reflection”. It has been observed how the concepts of purpose, values and mission have been consistent parts of their thought processes.

 

 

In “Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action”, Simon Sinek underlines a mistake many leaders make; starting by asking themselves what they wish to accomplish, instead of why their organization exists. Mr. Sinek proceeds then to explain how, backed by statistics, companies who define themselves as being driven by clear purposes can create better connections with customers, employees and society to the point where they experience clear economic gains.

 

Having in mind a clear purpose for one’s organization has been gaining an increasing societal importance, to the point where hundreds of CEOs signed the “Statement on the Purpose of an Organization”, recognizing the importance of needing a purpose beyond products and services.

 

A positive example of what has been explained so far has been provided by the team of physicians at Envision Healthcare, who knew they had to “do everything they could to slow the spread of COVID-19”. Eric Schuetzler, again driven by a purpose-driven approach, helped shift the Beam Suntory factory lines to the production of hand sanitizer for hospitals.

 

Identifying a purpose helps companies and individuals to focus on what’s important. Purpose-oriented environments helps employees persist through challenges and go the extra mile. It also helps to build customer trust in brands.

 

 

 

Values operate as guideposts for a company’s actions, dictating how it will act. Brian King, Global Officer of Digital, Distribution, Venues Strategy and Global Sales at Marriott International explained how through a rigid value system, based on taking care of associates and guests, the company has been able to build unprecedented trust and loyalty from its customers.

 

The lack of clearly defined values may lead to rushed or questionable decisions in times of uncertainty. Such is the case of Uber, that when faced with hypergrowth, had to quickly promote many employees with no clear directives coming from the organization’s leadership creating a toxic culture to develop within parts of the company.

 

In another example, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi spent months documenting what worked for the company and what didn’t. During the process, he worked to develop a set of values together with Uber’s employees, not believing in values written “in a closed room” pushed from the top down.

 

Lastly, true and strong values hold even in times of crisis. When asked about their concerns in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, Brian Baker, the Global People Strategy Business Partner at the WPP Conglomerate talked about his fear of losing out on the efforts put towards cultivating diversity within the company. The company managed however to stay focused on DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) and pushed through.

 

 

 

“Mission” describes what the organization wishes to accomplish. While this seems of higher immediate importance, it comes last as it’s only by knowing the why and how that one may clearly find their goals.

 

Many executives interviewed reported employees using the organization’s mission to better understand how to do their best work. David Quigley, Provost and Dean of Faculties at Boston College, said the role of the mission was of great importance in deciding to return to in-person learning during the fall of 2020.

 

The military term “commander’s intent” represents the description and definition of what a successful mission will look like. It’s of vital importance in guiding an organization through the fog of disruption faced during the harrowing times brought upon by the pandemic. Resilient organizations operate like military units in that they provide their employees with the freedom, within boundaries, to make decisions. With clearly defined missions, teams can understand their objectives and creatively adapt to crisis.

 

Michael Aldridge, Associate Vice President of Experience at health insurer Humana, explained the role of commander’s intent in adapting to the new circumstances being faced. Humana tackled customers’ food insecurity issues instituting a new program, “Basic Needs”. By putting huge effort the small Humanita team was able to increase their impact on a large scale.

 

 

A company’s mission is its purpose, which defines why it exists and what it aims to achieve. It is a statement that communicates the organization’s fundamental reason for being, and what it intends to accomplish in the long-term. Some of the key reasons why a company’s mission is essential include:

 

 

 

A company’s mission, values, and employees are interconnected and essential components that contribute to its success. A clear and well-defined mission statement provides direction and focus, builds credibility and reputation, and inspires and motivates employees. Values shape company culture, build trust and loyalty, and attract and retain employees who share the organization’s beliefs and principles.

 

Finding or forming a set of purposes, values or missions in one’s work environment may not always be easy. However, taking the first step can lead to great long term results. Leaders and employees should use this crisis for personal growth and revisiting of these key points.