I was in the back hallways of a convention center recently, making my way through the employee entrance and up the stairs. The company had painted a phrase of their organizational goals related to customer service on each step. Every day when the employees started their work day, they were reminded of the importance of their smiles, a kind word and a helpful attitude. It made me smile just reading it!
“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins
“Stay focused, go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals.” – LL Cool J
“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” – George Washington Carver
“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” – Warren Bennis
There are so many quotes about the need for good vision or the importance of goals, that we probably all understand that they are good to have, but sometimes it is just good to remind ourselves why they are so good to have. A vision or mission statement or organizational goals give us a gauge that we can measure each decision, each task and each relationship with. Regardless of what you lead, it is important to know where you are leading people!
At MOPS International, we build circles of women. We build a sisterhood and we want women to know they are not alone in their mothering.
Have you been in a marathon brainstorming session before? The kind where no idea is a bad idea? Those can be some of the best creative problem-solving opportunities. But they can also lead us down rabbit trails that derail our focus from the main vision. Keeping our vision in front of us helps us stay on track. For the same reason, schools, churches, hospitals and many businesses display their mission statements for all employees to see.
“People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.” – Earl Nightngale
What is your mission statement, goal or organizational commitment?
Do you need to create one?
Do you need to put it somewhere to remind yourself every day?
Jennifer Iverson is the Leadership Content Coordinator at MOPS International. She is an organizer of things and people which also comes in handy as the mother of six children. Jennifer and her husband, Mike, live in central Pennsylvania where you can always find a warm cup of coffee brewing.