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Can you recite your company’s mission statement?

Now, the bigger questions: Can your employees? How do they live the company’s mission through their work each day?

I recently asked a group of nearly 50 local business professionals, representing various industries, if they could state their organization’s mission statement. Though nearly all were “pretty sure” their company had one, not a single person could state it. Companies spend thousands of dollars to clarify their vision and create a mission statement; that investment means little if employees cannot recite it, let alone carry it out in their daily work.

At its core, a mission statement is a concise declaration of your company’s direction, identity and spirit. It should be simple enough that your 7-year-old nephew could state it but inspiring enough to prompt action and engagement.

Why does a mission statement matter? On an organizational level, sharing a common purpose can enhance your success in the market, boost your bottom line, attract quality candidates and help you build your brand through the service you provide. Consider Starbucks Corp., whose mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” When you enter a Starbucks anywhere in the country, you will most likely be greeted with enthusiasm by a barista who lives that mission in her workplace.

When you look to powerhouse companies, you will likely find that they have a clear, compelling mission that is experienced from the bottom up.

On a personal level, many employees feel disengaged from their work because of one significant question: “What’s the point?” When employees cannot see their role in the bigger picture, they lose interest and motivation, often feeling that their work doesn’t matter anyway. Harold Kushner wrote that “burnout results not from hard work – people are capable of working very hard – but from a sense of futility, the fear that all the hard work isn’t making a difference.” If you’ve noticed lackluster involvement within your company, it could very well stem from this.

If your company does not have a gripping mission statement, consider investing some resources into creating one.

• Include employees’ input. Find out what they believe the current mission is – as well as their ideal – and how they would describe it.

• Once identified, provide opportunities for all employees to learn and apply the mission statement in their work.

• Post your mission statement everywhere: on your Web site, in the front office, on business cards.

To make an even more profound cultural impact, go a step above and beyond: Provide training that will help your employees craft their own personal mission statements. When employees see how their missions align with the organization’s, the benefits of this process multiply exponentially.

In the end, we all long for a sense of significance and contribution, and the mission statement allows each individual to declare what we all crave: “What I do matters.”

Dr. Christine Hegstad owns MAP Professional Development Inc., a professional coaching and training firm in Ankeny.