On a recent visit to San Francisco Bay area, I had the opportunity to visit some very innovative labs that were designed by Johnson and Johnson. While the labs were interesting, what galvanized my attention was the Johnson and Johnson Credo on a plaque on one of walls. I read it carefully and was (perhaps naively) stunned that a private sector company would come up with this in 1943 and were still working to live by it now.
Here it is:
“We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services. In meeting their needs everything we do must be of high quality. We must constantly strive to reduce our costs in order to maintain reasonable prices. Customers’ orders must be serviced promptly and accurately. Our suppliers and distributors must have an opportunity to make a fair profit.
We are responsible to our employees, the men and women who work with us throughout the world. Everyone must be considered as an individual. We must respect their dignity and recognize their merit. They must have a sense of security in their jobs. Compensation must be fair and adequate, and working conditions clean, orderly and safe. We must be mindful of ways to help our employees fulfill their family responsibilities. Employees must feel free to make suggestions and complaints. There must be equal opportunity for employment, development and advancement for those qualified. We must provide competent management, and their actions must be just and ethical.
We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as well. We must be good citizens – support good works and charities and bear our fair share of taxes. We must encourage civic improvements and better health and education. We must maintain in good order the property we are privileged to use, protecting the environment and natural resources.
Our final responsibility is to our stockholders. Business must make a sound profit. We must experiment with new ideas. Research must be carried on, innovative programs developed and mistakes paid for. New equipment must be purchased, new facilities provided and new products launched. Reserves must be created to provide for adverse times. When we operate according to these principles, the stockholders should realize a fair return.”
It got me thinking about how mission statements seem inadequate to capture what an organization does and what it cares about and yet we have been forced by the strategic planning process into creating mission, vision and values statements that are never as singularly powerful as that J and J credo.
In “The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business” Patrick Lencioni writes:
“Though I can’t be sure, I suspect that at some point about thirty years ago a cleverly sadistic and antibusiness consultant decided that the best way to really screw up companies was to convince them that what they needed was a convoluted, jargony, and all-encompassing declaration of intent. The more times those declarations used phrases like “world class,” “shareholder value,” and “adding value,” the better. And if companies would actually print those declarations and hang them in their lobbies and break rooms for public viewing, well, that would be a real coup.
Even if my historical suspicions are untrue, it can’t be denied that most mission statements have neither inspired people to change the world nor provided them with an accurate description of what an organization actually does for a living. They certainly haven’t created alignment and clarity among employees. What they have done is make many leadership teams look foolish.”
In “Change Leadership in Higher Education” Jeffery Buller suggests going through your mission statement and eliminating anything that would apply to most other colleges and universities. “In particular be sure to eliminate any phrasing that mentions:
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- The importance of teaching, research (including making discoveries or discovering new ideas or knowledge) and service,
- The quality of the faculty,
- A dedication to students, we care, students come first, and so on,
- The excellence of the curriculum,
- The idea that you are a community, a family, or partnership,
- Your school’s strong commitment to helping students reach their goals or dreams,
- The diversity of your community,
- Preparation of students for life in a global economy or environment”
The RRU Mission Statement is:
We are leaders and partners creating an enduring prosperity. Transformation in career and life results from our teaching and research applied to solve problems and create opportunities in the world.
Going through Buller’s rules we are pretty much left with only leaders, enduring prosperity, problem solving and transformation. I think we can safely get rid of transformation since it is also in hundreds of university mission statements. Camosun College our nearest post-secondary institution has the tag line “a life changing experience” and the following explanation “From accountants to welders, professional chefs to nurses and engineering technologists, Camosun College helps transform lives to build a better future.”
So our mission statement, while sounding great, does not really help us to define who we are and what is different about us. So what do we actually do? This is where you have to be honest and not aspirational.
Firstly, we provide a pathway for students to get a post-secondary education that may be difficult for them to obtain elsewhere by providing a high degree of flexibility in our admissions and program delivery. Secondly, we do it quite well and our students and graduates tell us that. Thirdly, we concentrate in the applied and professional program areas. Fourthly, we are primarily a graduate school.
Doing research in a doctoral level university is table stakes, in my view, and so need not be profiled in what differentiates us.
Buller suggests that rather than spending a huge amount of time on strategic planning, you should try to craft an identity statement that captures your core values, strengths and distinction that acts as a strategic compass. So how about:
We provide flexible pathways for highly motivated students to achieve their educational goals in select applied and professional fields primarily at the graduate level.
Or a bit more value laden:
We collaboratively design creative pathways for our students to realize their educational goals in a flexible way that recognizes their circumstances and background.
Or a bit more mandate laden:
We help students take advantage of opportunities in the BC Labour market by providing accessible and innovative applied and professional programs primarily at the graduate level for working professionals.
Or being maybe overly simplistic:
We prepare the leaders of today and tomorrow.
The point is that this strategic compass should help you to direct resources and develop a culture of innovation without altering your identity which is exactly what the J and J credo does.