Missionize your mission statement
Hotels, companies must put purpose behind goals.
For decades now, it has been fashionable for companies from all industries to craft a mission statement to summarize their shared values and to give work more purpose. I first encountered this concept as a college student when my organizational communications professor had us read Tom Peter’s famous business book, "In Search Of Excellence." As a part-time employee of Marriott at the time, I got to see firsthand how great companies were using this concept to build strong cultures. Over the years, the original concept evolved into creating values statements and more forward-looking vision statements.
In my job as a hospitality industry trainer, familiarizing myself with each client’s company culture involves determining what if any statement of mission, values or vision they have in place. As one might expect, managers at branded hotels automatically have a slickly-crafted mission statement, but even my independent hotel clients and small brands are almost always able to immediately produce documentation when I ask for it.
Often, I find that a considerable amount of focused effort has gone into the creation of these "mission, vision, values" statements. Not surprisingly, many top leaders have gone as far as to hire consultants to help their executive teams craft the statement, or perhaps have attended programs such as those offered by the Disney Institute. As a result, the statements themselves are heartfelt, succinct and pithy. Some consist of only a few sentences or a paragraph, but many also include supportive principles, pillars or “keys” that expend the concept into more directly actionable ideas.
During our hospitality workshops, I often refer back to the mission statement, and I always first ask the participants: "Who can tell me what your mission statement is? Who can tell me some of the pillars (or keys)?”
Even at the most service-obsessed client hotels, rarely can anyone recite back anything specific. Usually, with some encouraging facilitation skills and paraphrasing, I can pull-out a few of the key concepts from the document. This experience has helped me realize that most hotels could do a much better job and making their mission statements more relevant to the real world.
Here are some training tips:
Simplify and distill the statement. Take a look at your existing statement through the eyes of those who are supposed to execute it. Is the wording and language easy to understand? Or did top-level leaders and consultants use words that may not be familiar to all workers? Is the statement too long and wordy? If your mission statement is supported by “pillars,” “keys” or “principles,” how many are there? Is it a reasonable number for people to remember, and more importantly, to live by?
Adopt a pillar of the month. If your mission statement has supporting pillars, keys or principles, pick a different one each month on a rotating basis — or select a component or related concept, then ask the team to be particularly cognizant of how they are able to actualize it. Make a visual representation to reinforce that theme — display posters or find memes that relate to the concepts and share those in your company’s inter-company social media channels.
Read from the mission statement prior to the start of each staff meeting.
Print the statement on business card or pocket-size stationary, and have it imprinted on mousepads and coffee mugs.
Establish a “caught in the act” program, whereby employees can recognize their colleagues who demonstrate concepts from the mission statement in action.
These steps will turn your organization’s mission statement from fancy words on a poster in the lunchroom into meaningful daily actions that touch the hearts and minds of all stakeholders, including staff and guests.
Doug Kennedy is President of the Kennedy Training Network, Inc. Since 1996, Doug’s monthly training articles have been published worldwide, making him one of the most widely read hospitality industry authorities. Visit KTN at www.kennedytrainingnetwork.com or email him directly doug@kennedytrainingnetwork.com
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