We recently finished a Value Opportunity Diagnostic Assessment that included preliminary strategic planning elements with ACGI, an impressive association management and credentialing software company outside of Baltimore.

We were so impressed with an email the president of the company wrote to his team after our sessions that we wanted to share it with you.

He has fully embraced the amazing benefits that come to managers who lead with a purpose, mission and vision.

We think you’ll agree and will find up some ideas for your business. See below.

An excerpt of an email from Kevin Hostutler to his team after sessions with Emerge Dynamics:

“As part of the final report from the management consultants we brought in (Eric and David from Emerge Dynamics), they made some strong recommendations regarding our planning process (not EGR planning, but general business planning). They asked us to align, focus, and execute on business plans, operational plans, strategic plans, marketing plans, etc. A big part of the alignment and focus of those specific plans starts with defining, articulating, and understanding our mission. We also need to know what differentiates us from our competition, in essence: what are our competitive advantages? what do we do better than everyone else? A solid understanding of our strengths that we need to build upon and our weaknesses that we need to shore up also helps shape our path forward. Operating within and towards building upon our core values helps define what we want to be now and in the future.

MISSION

Through our feedback tool (propfuel) over the past few months, I have been asking everyone some of these basic questions about mission, core values, strengths, weaknesses, and competitive advantage to get a sense of who we (as staff) think we are in those respects. That feedback has been helpful in so many ways. It confirms we have a general sense of mission, purpose, and values that reflects who we are. It also confirms that we definitely need to articulate it better so that we have more clarity. As we move into 2019, I’d like to move us from a general sense of mission to specific understanding and articulation of our mission. From our mission we can align our objectives that help us accomplish our mission, build our strategies to support those objectives, and execute on the tactics that bring the strategies to fruition. Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics flow not just from a vague sense of mission, but from a clear understanding of mission.

Lest you think this is just a bunch of management consultant mumbo jumbo, what we do has meaningful purpose. What we do matters! It matters to our customers, it matters to those our customers exist on behalf of. Let us reflect that meaningful purpose in who we are, what we do, and how we do it. Let us reflect that meaningful purpose in our mission statement.

To that end…we have defined our mission as:

We don’t change the world…we help our customers change the world through our delivery of innovative software and outstanding services.

“Changing the world”…may just be metaphorical to us and perhaps even to our customers but to the members and the constituents that our customers serve it can have significant impact on their “world”…on their lives, their health, their employment, their interests, and their families. We want that pediatric nurse or emergency room nurse to be current in their field so that they CAN save lives. We need that safety inspector to be effective in their job ensuring that the workers at the construction site aren’t put in harms way. We hope that dental assistant passes the RHS exam (Radiation Health and Safety) so they know how to effectively take X-rays of our kids teeth and limit their exposure to unnecessary radiation. Who wouldn’t want that neurological surgeon certified and current in best practices before they go into the operating room for brain surgery on a loved one? The lab and the analysts that test for asbestos or lead in paint or in air samples needs to be proficient in their testing for the health and safety of those that may find themselves in those high-risk environments. Each and every one of our customers has a meaningful purpose with regards to their existence as an organization…to “change the world”. We help them do that…to whatever extent “changing the world” means to them and their constituents.

This, I assure you, is worth doing! This is our mission.

Everyone of us has a role to play in accomplishing this mission…”