quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile.”
Google Mission Statement
“To make the world’s information universally accessible and useful”
Mission Statement (from a small builder)
To be the preeminent provider of superior construction services by consistently improving the quality of our product; to add value for clients through innovation, foresight, integrity, and aggressive performance; and to serve with character and purpose.
We have added additional examples on our website if you need more guidance. Please visit www.The10DayTurnaround.com/ resources.
These examples serve as a way to guide you in concisely articulating your mission, vision and values, and are not for you to blindly adopt or follow. You should not only craft your own mission, vision and values statements, but they should be written in a way that inspires you, guides you and helps you turn your business into what you want from this day forward.
Interesting exercise, isn’t it? If you are like many, you are probably a little surprised, even shocked right now by how much has changed in actuality since you originally planned your business identity. That’s okay, because we will be fixing that shortly.
This brings us to the end of the “night before” your 10 Day Turnaround. Tomorrow begins your first full day of work. Congratulations for taking these first important steps towards the re-engineering of your business and getting into the right mindset. You’re on your way to recapturing the potential and maximizing the performance of your business. More success awaits!
Reflect on your achievement and celebrate your accomplishment. This day will be a defining moment in your life and your business.
What follows from here in this book will take you ten days to complete. Continue to read one chapter each day and complete all—yes I mean all—of the questions and homework in each chapter on the day that you read it.
It will not be enough just to read this book with good intentions. You need to have your pen and paper at the ready and harness all your energy and the other resources you will need to address the questions that each chapter will raise for your business. You must dedicate the next 10 days to the turnaround of your business. The rewards you stand to reap will repay your efforts countless times over. So rest well, Day 1 is a powerful stepping stone on your path to progress.
Chapter 1
Planning For Change
Right now, take out a clean sheet of paper and either write or revise your Mission, Vision, and Value statements. As you see, they don’t have to be long, and you don’t have to be William Shakespeare or John Grisham to craft them. Just a few sentences on each topic; you can expand upon each area later. As Crosby, Stills, and Nash sang, “You… who are on the road… must have a code that you can live by.” That’s what you’re drafting here. A code to live by on the road to success and significance.
By the time you finish your work on Day 1, you will end up with a mission to live for, a vision to work for and values to fight for. In short, you will end up with what matters most for you and your business.
Redefine Yourself and Realign Your Company
Now it’s time to get active. It’s time to actually take steps that will lead right into the turnaround process.
The first thing you need to do - and you need to do it right now - is articulate your Mission. It may be that you want to draw up a brand new Mission Statement. On the other hand, you may be inspired by and committed to your existing Mission Statement. Still, you may also want to refine your existing Mission Statement to take into account new factors or conditions that exist today that were not present when you started or thought deeply about the plan for your business.
Bear in mind that what you decide upon here is actually the beginning of your new business plan, so give it careful thought. These first few exercises will affect the rest of your business plan and with it the structure of your turnaround process and the results you achieve.
At this point, it’s important to emphasize the importance of writing down your thoughts and filling in each section of this book as you move along. It is not good enough to simply think about it and form the statements in your mind. By taking the time to physically write down the required information in each section of this book you will vastly improve your chances of achieving what you plan. By having a visual written record of this information you will be able to revisit it regularly, further increasing your chances of achieving exactly what you set out to accomplish and more.
Write your Mission Statement in the block below:
Mission Statement.
Describe the purpose of the business and its reason for existence; focus on the primary beneficiaries and the value created for all.
Does your Mission Statement reflect the reason(s) you started the business or the reason why you are in business? Does it take into account the market and the people you intend to serve? Is your Mission Statement consistent with who you are and your personal purpose? Does your Mission Statement reflect who and what you aspire to be? What you desire to contribute to the world around you? Does living, breathing, supporting and advancing this mission for your business create the value you want others to receive? Can you embrace this mission over time and use it as a guiding principle and document for your business, yourself, and your organization? Does pursuing this mission get you up and out of bed in the morning with a burning desire to see it through? If not, keep working on your Mission Statement until it reflects not only what you want to do, but what you want your business to “be”.
When you’re working to turn around your business, the most “actionable” concept we will be working with is your vision for your business.
Vision is the ability to articulate and clearly see what’s possible. It’s a critical component of leadership, and will help you avoid the “drift effect”, which is the temptation to veer from course and head off in another direction. If you know where you want to go and what you want, any time you get off course you’ll have a focal point to temper you back on track.
Your vision is the key to creating effective change. Basic change is easy, and anyone can
