Mission impossible: here’s one way big companies try to motivate their workers<\/p>\n
Hi there everyone, it’s Jeff and this is Plain English lesson number 465. JR is the producer and he has uploaded the full lesson to PlainEnglish.com\/465. Remember, the full lesson includes the full transcript, translations of key words into nine languages, a step-by-step video, a whole page of exercises, and much more\u2014so thanks JR for taking care of all that.<\/p>\n
Coming up on today’s lesson: company mission statements. At their best, they can inspire employees and present a good face to the world. At their worst, they can be unbelievable, confusing, or boring. We’ll take a look at some examples of the good and the bad today. In the second half of the lesson, I’ll show you how to use the English phrasal verb “come away.” And JR has an excellent song of the week\u2014my favorite song in a long time, I’ve been playing it a lot lately, so you won’t want to miss it. Let’s get going.<\/p>\n
When done well, a company’s mission statement articulates what a company does and it hints at the reason that company’s products or services help the world. The mission statement answers the question, “Why does this company exist?”<\/p>\n
Companies create these statements for a couple of reasons. First, it sends a public signal to the outside world. Companies want to have good reputations; they want outsiders to think of them as virtuous. So this is a commercial explaining why they are doing good work. Second, missions can guide decision-making within the company. Large companies can get distracted by lots of side projects; a mission statement should help guide the priorities and minimize distractions.<\/p>\n
Finally\u2014and this is probably the most important\u2014a mission statement can inspire workers. An individual employee may have only a small, specialized job, but when put together with all the other employees, the work matters. The mission statement says, “This what we’re doing as a team, and what we do as a team helps the world.” This helps motivate existing employees and recruit people who want to feel that their work makes the world a better place. <\/p>\n
At least<\/a> that’s the idea.<\/p>\n Some company mission statements are better than others. In my mind, a good mission statement is connected directly to the product or service and is realistic. There are many kinds of bad mission statements. Some are vague or uninspiring; one wonders why a company would even bother to write a boring one. Many use confusing jargon or try to say too much, the result of a roomful of executives succumbing to groupthink. Others\u2014and I think this is the worst kind\u2014they talk in grandiose terms about saving the world. Often, these mission statements are simply not believable.<\/p>\n So let’s take a look at some good ones and some bad ones. Here are a few good ones. Google’s mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” I like this one because it’s clear, it’s believable, and it’s connected to the product. Sure, not everyone in the world can access Google. And not all information is useful. But whatever else you might think about the company, Google is doing a pretty good job of organizing the world’s information.<\/p>\n Have you heard a TED talk before? TED’s mission is two words: spread ideas. I love that one\u2014simple, clear, powerful, ambitious but not unrealistic. PayPal: “to build the web’s most convenient, secure, cost-effective payment solution.” Walmart’s mission statement is to “save people money so they can live better.” That might be light on<\/a> inspiration, but that’s a pretty good description of Walmart’s business.<\/p>\n Now for<\/a> some that don’t earn the Plain English seal of approval. Jet Blue is a discount airline in the U.S. Its mission is to “inspire humanity\u2014both in the air and on the ground.” Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, confined its mission to saving its customers money. But Jet Blue, America’s seventh-biggest airline, aims to “inspire humanity.” This is an unbelievable statement; humanity\u2014all 7 billion people\u2014are not going to be inspired by an airline. It’s even questionable for customers: I’ve sat in a Jet Blue economy seat before and I didn’t come away<\/a> inspired. I have, however, saved money at Walmart.<\/p>\n Starbucks aims to “inspire and nurture the human spirit.” PepsiCo’s mission is to “create more smiles with every sip and every bite.” If you smile after every sip of a 12-ounce Pepsi, you’ll start to get strange looks. People might wonder if they added a new ingredient!<\/p>\n On the flip side, some are boring and full of jargon; they make you wonder why the company bothered to publish a mission statement at all. This one is straight from a large conference room full of executives wearing suits. This is from Air Products, a chemical company: “Our mission is to achieve growth and cost competitiveness by identifying, developing and integrating external technologies through technology acquisition, joint ventures, collaborative R&D projects and licensing with prospective industry, government and university partners.”<\/p>\n Wake up! <\/p>\n I don’t know about some of these. I feel like it’s enough to just make a product or provide a service that people want or need. If you’re Starbucks, you make good coffee and give people a comfortable place to drink it\u2014that should be enough, right? They’re not nurturing the human spirit!<\/p>\n We don’t have a mission statement here at Plain English, but I guess the closest would be that we help you upgrade your English. That’s enough for me; I don’t need to pretend I’m changing the world. You all are going to do that with your upgraded English, not me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Company mission statements are supposed to articulate what a company does and how it helps the world. Ideally, mission statements should send a positive public signal and also motivate employees \u2013 at least that\u2019s the idea. But some company mission statements really miss the mark, and we have some examples of both the good and the bad today. Plus, learn \u201ccome away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":13414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"lesson_category":[31],"lesson_number":[1875],"terminology_tag":[],"content_tag":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSimple is better<\/h3>\n