5 Essential Tips for Crafting Effective Mission Statements in Higher Ed
We’ve decided that mission statements are important enough to warrant their own series. Our first post in the series, Mission Possible: 4 Secrets to Building and Achieving Big Missions, discussed the rationale behind creating a mission statement—i.e., how a mission should serve as a guide as you navigate future challenges and choices. We also briefly touched on my neighbor Carl’s slightly passive-aggressive communication style, but you’ll have to read the blog to find out more about that.
If your institution is far enough along in its development that you’re discussing mission statements, hopefully you already have a vision of where you’re going and why. As you sit down to pen your insitution-defining mission, here are 5 things to keep in mind:
1. Give the process the time and consideration it deserves.
You’re getting ready to make a vow to the world. Your mission is a public declaration about how you will spend your time, money, manpower, and other resources. This is and should feel like a very big deal. A mission should never be written to meet a requirement. Your institution should exist because of your mission, not the other way around. Hammering out an institutional mission should involve much thought, many conversations, and, probably, at least one knock-down, drag-out argument. This is how you know you’re on the right track. Your vision is something you should be willing to go to the mat on, and articulating it clearly is challenging. Commit to hashing it out with like-minded hashers, or, in the case of an institution specializing in trail running, hike-minded dashers. (No need to get up. I’ll see myself out.)
2. Be Specific.
If your mission can apply to multiple other institutions, it’s not a good mission. Most of us could claim that our mission is something along the lines of, “Making the world a better place,” or even, “Saving the world, one student at a time,” but these statements are vague to the point of meaninglessness. Of course, your mission should endeavor to improve life on earth, unless you’re the head of a nihilist enclave, but these overly generalized missions have approximately the same appeal of a stranger telling you that they’re a nice person, in that it might be true, but 1) it’s boring, 2) I’m not sure I believe you, and 3) that still doesn’t give you permission to ride the subway without pants, sir. Here are some questions to consider to help you avoid vague, generic statements:
If your institution could fix a single problem in the world, what would it be?
What can you do that no one else can do?
What need are you addressing that others aren’t?
What population are you driven to serve?
Why should that population choose to seek out your institution?
What unique elements of your history or background inform the creation of your quality product?
3. Choose your words carefully.
Words come loaded with complex etymologies, connotations, associations, and nuances. It’s tempting to treat synonyms as though they are fully interchangeable, but they aren’t. “Encourage” isn’t the same as “inspire” (example: my neighbor, Carl, can encourage me to run a 5k while he sits on his couch eating Cheetos, but this probably won’t inspire me to do it), so don’t treat them like they’re the same. Every individual word you employ in your mission should be selected for a reason. Don’t say “great” if you mean “remarkable;” don’t use “succeed” if you mean “thrive.” I wish there was a nicer way to say it, but there isn’t, so: don’t be boring. The words of your mission should leap off the page and demand that people care about them. If you don’t put your time and energy into making sure that each word conveys your institution’s drive and intent, why should anyone else invest their time and energy in enrolling in your institution or buying your product?
4. Don’t overlook tone and style.
Second to word choice, but just barely, is tone and style, and these will vary depending on your institution’s identity and intended audience. Tone and style should reflect and enhance a mission’s meaning. For example, let’s say we’re opening “Pirate University.” Our main goals are to steal as much as we can from the East India Company and similar, get rich, and not get scurvy. Let’s look at a few different styles in which we can convey that mission.
Formal: “The Mission of Pirate University is to instruct future piracy practitioners throughout the international community in effective larceny, wealth accrual, and ascorbic acid consumption.”
Less formal: “Pirate University: Teaching theft, prosperity, and the importance of oranges to aspiring pirates everywhere.”
Informal: “We’re driven to help the next generation of intercontinental pirates steal, invest, and supplement their way to the good life.”
Super informal: “PU: Swabbin’ decks, global effects, gold objects, citrus checks.”
These examples are silly, but hopefully illustrate an important point. Style and tone convey a lot about how your institution views both itself and its audience. As you begin to dial in your style, consider the following questions:
Who is your target audience and how do they communicate?
Where are you publishing this message? Using what medium?
Are you writing in first or third person? Why?
Are you implementing passive voice?
Will you use contractions?
Will you write intricate sentences or bold fragments?
If your mission contains a list (or multiple goals), what order will you put them in? Why?
After you’ve written your mission and are happy with its sentiment, read it out loud. Does it inadvertently rhyme? Are the sounds forming an accidental tongue-twister? Can you remember what you read five minutes later, or is the statement too long or complicated?
5. Get feedback.
Try as we may, we can’t think of everything all the time—true in making grocery lists; true in mission statements. Are you really saying what you want to say in the way you want to say it? Unfortunately, you might not be the best judge of that. Of course, you know what you mean, but the whole point of a mission statement is to convey that message to others, so round up some others! Have people read your mission statement and tell you how they interpret it. After reading it, what do they think your goals are; who do they think your audience is? If you don’t like their answers, it’s editing time!
A dynamic mission statement does more than just convey your ultimate goal. When written correctly, it also serves as your institution’s identity, defines your culture, informs your strategy, inspires your audience, and reminds even you of what you’re working toward. Don’t short-cut this process. Give your mission the time, careful thought, discussion it deserves. This is a lot of information, we know that, but here’s the thing: if you do this work up-front, you will avoid so many headaches (scurvy-related and otherwise) later.
