Down with Generic Mission Statements - Up with "Essential Intent"

I’m over generic broadly-stated mission statements.  Aren’t you?  

I  mean, come on.  How many of us have come across (or perhaps even written) mission statements that say:  “We want to be the premier service provider in our industry as we serve our customers with integrity, innovation, and  quality.”  Ugh.  That doesn’t articulate mission - it generically embraces mediocrity!

On the other hand specific quarterly goals don’t always float my boat either.  While they may be clear, they don’t always help see the big picture about why you exist.  Wells Fargo gave their banking employees very concrete goals - we saw how that worked out for them!

What if instead of generic mission statements and disconnected goals, we created an "Essential Intent" for our organizations that clearly spells out what it looks like for our organization to “win."

Some examples of Essential Intent might be:

• Every opioid addict in the City of Richmond to have access to treatment by 2020
• Every veteran to have access to quality housing by 2022
• Every Richmonder will be within 2 miles of healthy food options in the next 10 years
• Every start-up in Virginia will have a stage appropriate place to go for help in 5 years
• High-speed internet is available to every Virginian by 2025

In his book titled Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown says “essential intent” is a clear statement that is more specific and measurable than a mission statement and at the same time more inspiring than quarterly goals.  When we boil our work down to essential intent, we make the “one decision that makes 1,000 decisions.”

Essential intent offers clarity to our work and teams that both inspires and focuses us on that which is essential.  Essential intent clarifies what it looks like for our organizations to “win.”

Imagine how that kind of clarity would transform your daily work! Not only does it give clarity to what is essential, it also gives permission to STOP DOING that which is NOT essential.  Yeah, those TPS reports that don’t contribute to the “win,” stop doing them and stop making your employees do them.  Why pay people to do work that isn’t essential to your organization’s “win?"

Just imagine how your work, your team, your organization would be different if we made "the one decision that makes 1,000 decisions”.  When we articulate and then act on our Essential Intent, not only does the organization “win”, but our clients our customers, our guests, our community wins.