How to Start the Conversation About Mission, Vision & Values, #Hashtags for Equal and Equitable User Experience, A Manifesto for Spring & James Hong’s SAG speech
Aligning multiple humans around one central message is hard. Everyone comes to the writer’s room with different ideas and perspectives, experiences, motivations, or stories, the way they ‘think’ it should be in some cases; what the ‘data’ says in other cases. Just imagine what it’s like to try to get three or four people to land on a company’s tagline - which is only supposed to be three or four words. (Maybe it’s time to assign everyone one word in that tagline, and see what happens.)
As difficult as it is to get to that final product - whether it be a tagline or a one-page marketing slick - the process to get there is a really cool opportunity to bring brains together. That process can look like a couple of different things: weekly sessions to ‘chip’ away at it, intensive weekends, board meetings.
A potential client reached out several weeks ago with a need that’s not new to us in a post-pandemic world as companies and structures continue to shift: she’s at the helm of combining two businesses and needs support combining the messaging, or creating new messaging that’s the best of both businesses and impacts.
She’s starting with the foundational messaging, or what we like to call North Star pieces - messaging components like: mission, vision, and core values. To boot, the newly formed board wants to be a part of the process during their first retreat.
As much as this is about the final product - what mission, vision, and values the board decides on - the set-up to the process for this is more important.
If any of this sounds familiar or sounds like a situation you’re planning for, here’s some advice:
A week or two before the meeting, send out the Agenda for this conversation; if you think I’m bananas to send an Agenda that early, here’s the thought process - you want every person in attendance to do a ‘messaging warm-up lap’ before the meeting. The foundational messaging will impact internal and external communications and sometimes even the business itself - the people who are thinking about these pieces need some time to think.
On the flip side - the last thing you want to do is hand out the agendas on day one, and see that mission, vision, and values conversation is on the docket, and they’re just hearing about it. (If that’s the case, whatever time you allot to discuss and write these pieces during the meeting will never be enough.)In this Agenda communication, give them a heads up that you’ll be discussing mission, vision, and values during the meeting. Share clear definitions of what a mission, vision, and values is/are. These are messaging pieces that can be easily misunderstood across industries and generations, so set the pace and send out definitions ahead of time and bring those same definitions with you to the meeting to set the standard or pace.
As much as we all have a love/hate relationship with examples, I’d include examples of each along with those clear definitions. Maybe there's a brand you're following that's doing it all well; bring that as an example or 'standard of excellence'. And it’s okay if they’re popular examples - you’ll see/hear wheels turn when you share Nike’s mission statement or Patagonia’s core values. You’re not copying anything - you’re just teaching with some examples. I also wouldn’t get caught up trying to find good examples from your industry - cross-pollination thinking (thinking outside your business or industry) will spark an even more interesting conversation.
Give them some old fashioned homework to think through before the meeting. I’d sell it in a more fun way - our company sells it as ‘warm-up’ questions, but, in theory, they’re always things to think about before you walk in the door. Give them big, dreamy questions with one or two detailed questions, so you’re activating both the visionary brains and the tactical brains.
I’m talking about questions like:
What do we look like one year, three years, five years from now?
What's really special about this team and our experience?
What does value and quality look like for us?
Who is at the table with us - and who is missing? Who NEEDS to be here with us?
Coming to the table, what are 3-5 values that are critical to how we operate?
Some notes as you begin or continue this conversation either in the meeting or after:
I’m using verbs like ‘give’ and ‘share’ here - watch how often you use the word ‘have to’ or ‘need to’ - it changes how people show up to the table to discuss and brainstorm. ‘Giving someone something to think about…’ is different from ‘We need to figure this out by the end of this board retreat…”
There needs to be ONE person leading and guiding this discussion. That’s it. This is not a development opportunity for the junior staffer or the last one in. This role needs maturity, experience, and conversation skill.
I mentioned it earlier, and I’ll say it again - if you think you’re going to land on mission, vision, and values in one 60 minute session, you’re wrong. Either give it enough time during the retreat OR break it into installments like: brainstorming, first look, final review. The ticking clock impacts how brains think.
Oftentimes, these meetings become family reunions. What starts as four or five people meeting about this becomes about: ‘let’s share it with so-and-so for his thoughts…’ or ‘let’s send it to these stakeholders…’ - like I said, family reunion. Be really clear from the get-go who is at the table. And that table shouldn’t be all people who look and sound like you. You need your own Avengers team with different skills, perspectives, and experiences with your organization.
Remove the pressure to think there’s a right and wrong answer or message for any of these pieces; unless you’re carving them into stone tablets, they can grow and move and change with your organization. And they will. Because you will. All humans do.
101: Pay attention to how you use hashtags, wherever/however you use them - whether it’s on social media or ironically in other writing such as website copy or emails. Capitalize appropriately to make it easier for your reader to read and understand.
This was a lesson for me this week which I saw via Diane Nutting who shared it from Jamie Shields. Here’s the lesson >> “Your Hashtags Disable me online. When your Hashtags look like this: #puppyslaughter, they're not Accessible for People with Sight Loss, Neurodivergent people and people with Cognitive Disabilities. By using a Capital letter for each new word in your hashtag like this #PuppysLaughter, you are creating an Equal and Equitable user experience for everyone." (See this lesson from Jamie Shields on LinkedIn here.)
Good read: Has spring sprung? I guess it depends on where you live. Regardless, here’s Mindful and Good’s Manifesto to get you thinking green
Good listen: James Hong’s SAG speech