John and I recently met with an HR consultant about our perpetually next-on-the-list employee handbook. She started by asking us if we had established our mission statement and values. John and I looked at each other and said, “sort of.”
Back on December 9, 2016, there was an email thread about our mission statement and we made some good progress. Good enough that I wrote it on my office window for all passers-by to marvel at. But if I’m being honest, we really need a vision to give the mission its context, and we need the mission to drive a core set of values that we as employees can operate by.
As the meeting with the HR consultant went on, it became obvious why she started the way she did. It may seem like a stuffy corporate strategy thing to do, but a company’s vision, mission, and values are the foundation of its culture and our employee handbook should be a reflection of our culture. I’m using this blog post as a way to draft these things for our employee handbook.
Vision
Per the SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management), “a vision statement describes the organization as it would appear in a future successful state. When developing a vision statement, try to answer this question: If the organization were to achieve all of its strategic goals, what would it look like 10 years from now? An effective vision statement is inspirational and aspirational. It creates a mental image of the future state that the organization wishes to achieve. A vision statement should challenge and inspire employees.”
For Simplifya, our vision statement might look like this:
One day, marijuana business owners around the world will have the peace of mind that comes from knowing they are operating in complete regulatory compliance. We are the company that will make this happen.
Mission
From the SHRM, “a mission statement explains the company’s reason for existence. It describes the company, what it does and its overall intention. The mission statement supports the vision and serves to communicate purpose and direction to employees, customers, vendors and other stakeholders. The mission can change to reflect a company’s priorities and methods to accomplish its vision.”
For Simplifya, our mission statement might look like this:
Our innovative combination of software and regulatory content makes compliance easy.
Values
From the SHRM, “a values statement describes what the organization believes in and how it will behave. Not all organizations create or are able to uphold a values statement. In a values-led company, the values create a moral compass for the company and its employees. This compass guides decision-making and establishes a standard that actions can be assessed against. A values statement defines the deeply held beliefs and principles of the organizational culture. These core values are an internalized framework that is shared and acted on by leadership.”
For Simplifya, our values statement might look like this:
We believe in being accountable. To the mission, to each other, and to our clients.
We are part of the compliance solution for the marijuana industry.
Kudos to Shaughnessy for helping brainstorm the mission statement as part of the product management work she’s doing for us. And a shout out to Emily for helping brainstorm all of these statements. These statements should always be a reflection of the employees, so they should “live and breathe” as our staff changes and grows. If anybody wants to contribute, I’m all ears – throw a comment in below to get the process started!