In business (and organizations more generally), much is touted about mission statements. Every organizational entity seems to have one (see examples here and here). Departments within organizations often have them. Individual leaders even create them for their particular teams. Popular business magazines like Forbes, Inc., and Entrepreneur offer how-to articles to help business create them in just a few “easy steps.”
Having a mission is one thing. Expressing it may be quite another. Perhaps organizations express a mission statement through the goods/services offered. Some may express it through customer services practices. In other cases, the mission is demonstrated through the treatment of employees: which are retained, promoted, and given raises versus those who are ignored or laid off. My guess is, in most cases it’s some combination of all of these, and more.
This week I find myself wondering: must the stated mission and expressed mission align? What if they don’t? What if the goods/services, customer services practices, and/or treatment of employees indicate a true mission that differs in stark contrast with the organization’s stated purpose?
In curriculum development work, educators speak of the hidden curriculum. I suggest there is also a hidden mission statement: the underlying (and perhaps true) mission that comes through an organization’s actions and behaviors. As a member of the organization, one has the choice to buy into the mission and align professional outcomes with the organizational outcomes. One has a similar choice to buy into the hidden mission as well.
What would you do if your organization’s “hidden mission statement” doesn’t match the stated one? What if that hidden mission statement is so far from your own professional goals and needs that you find yourself in conflict with the organization?
Charity Jennings 