A Mission Statement answers the questions, “What is my/our fundamental and unique purpose?” “Why do I/we exist?”
It’s all about how you will uniquely accomplish the values and beliefs of your philosophy in your life and your practice. It’s a description of your purpose as well as a template for making decisions.
The best way I’ve found for discovering a Personal Mission Statement is to set aside some “alone time”, time to reflect without interruption… go to a peaceful, quiet place where you can think, feel and write about what truly gives you joy and holds a special place in your heart and mind.
Here are some questions to get you started:
- What brings me true joy?
- What am I most proud of?
- If I could do anything I wanted with my days, what would it be?
- What do I want my epitaph to say? What legacy do I want to leave?
- Who do I admire most in my life or in history? What qualities do I want to emulate?
- What am I all about? For the practice, What are we all about?
One of the simplest and most powerful ways I’ve seen the “Life Purpose Exercise” done is in Jack Canfield’s book, The Success Principles. Here’s the process as he describes it:
1. List two of your unique personal qualities, such as enthusiasm and creativity.
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2. List one or two ways you enjoy expressing those qualities when interacting with others, such as to support and inspire.
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3. Assume the world is perfect right now. What does the world look like? How is everyone interacting with everyone else? What does it feel like? Write your answer in a statement, in the present tense, describing the ultimate condition, the perfect world as you see it and feel it. Remember, a perfect world is a fun place to be. Example: Everyone is freely expressing their own unique talents. Everyone is working in harmony. Everyone is expressing love.
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4. Combine the three prior subdivisions of this paragraph into a single statement. Example: My purpose is to use my creativity and enthusiasm to support and inspire others to freely express their talents in a harmonious and loving way.
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Another way to clarify your mission is simply answer the questions:
- What/Who do I wish to be/become? This may describe your product, service or function.
- Who am I here to serve? This describes your market/customer.
- How do I wish to serve? What would I like to do? This describes things such as technology, systems and relationships.
Answering these three questions will give you the triad of what many consider a good mission statement, the What, Who and How…
I also thought this excerpt from Andrea Clasen’s article might help. The article is called, “Developing A Mission Statement” and I think will help put everything in context, especially the process of writing a practice Mission Statement with your team.
To begin the process, the dentist must think about and define his or her philosophy. There are many different approaches to dentistry today, resulting in staff that have come to us with many different beliefs. It is the responsibility of the dentist to communicate his or her beliefs and values. It cannot be assumed that new employees will recognize the philosophy simply by spending time in the office. I have consulted in offices in which a staff member has been with the practice for 10 to 15 years and has no clear understanding of the dentist's philosophy. This is especially true in a combined fee-for- service and PPO (preferred provider organization) or capitation practice. Individuals on the team will share with me that they don't understand why patients are treated differently, especially when it comes to a diagnosis or when the patient is to return. When these feelings arise, it can create stress for everyone, including the dentist. This is an absence of harmony within the team.
In some cases, I have found that dentists have difficulty in clarifying their philosophy; some are not even sure what they believe in. They almost feel it isn't something they have the luxury of deciding because of the many outside factors that have attempted to dictate what they should be doing. Practitioners today do have a choice, and if they can get back to their original beliefs and articulate them, they have accomplished the most important step to creating a practice that matches their vision.
Once the dentist has focused on a vision of where the practice is going and clarified a philosophy that can be discussed with the team, it is then appropriate to build on the philosophy with a mission statement. The philosophy is what you believe in, your mission statement is the team's approach to getting there. Consider the following ideas in beginning this process:
Brainstorm words that are meaningful to the team when thinking about their purpose in enhancing dental health. These words will later be incorporated in your statement.
Discuss how each person on the team will execute the mission statement. Their roles are different, therefore they must know how it affects them.
Discuss the team characteristics you feel are necessary to carry out the mission statement: professionalism, integrity, responsibility, credibility, sincerity, etc.
Take time to discuss the values and beliefs of individuals on the team; they will I
inevitably be the same values you will hold as a group.
Be sure that the words in the statement hold meaning to you as a group. Don't just demonstrate values that you think will be impressive to others.
State your purpose in doing your job. Finally, it is important to review your mission statement each year as a group. You may find that you will add, delete or simply change it because, as times change, your purpose will be affected.
Once you have clear personal and practice Mission Statements that feel authentic and inspiring, spend time each day (or at a minimum, each week) reviewing them and intentionally living them.
I really hope you enjoy this process. Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comments section below or on the community Facebook page.
Thanks and here’s to 2014 being the best year yet!!!
See you next week,
Allison Watts
ps … If you would like to download a working copy of this exercise please visit our Resources page.