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A Clear Mission and Vision Provide Strong Foundation During Turbulent Times
A CLEAR MISSION & VISION PROVIDE STRONG FOUNDATION DURING TURBULENT TIMES
Events of the past two years have shaken business organizations to their foundations. From disrupting operational models and sales channels to altering the labor market and slowing the supply chain, the restaurant industry has been particularly affected by the events caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s in times of change that having a set of core principles and overarching sense of purpose can be more valuable than any other. Yes, flexibility and agility are important, and the hospitality industry, particularly, learned that over the last 18 months. Restaurants and brands that quickly leaned into digital sales channels to augment takeout and delivery certainly carried the day better than those that didn’t have that infrastructure in place.
But the ability to pivot quickly when the worst of the pandemic restrictions took effect in 2020 may have also been a good measure of whether an organization is built upon a firm foundation with a solidly defined and well-rooted mission statement.
Mission statements define a company’s business, its objectives and its approach to reaching those objectives. Vision statements describe the desired future position of a company. Elements of both statements are often combined to define the company’s purposes, goals and values.
Mission and vision statements guide the people who lead and staff an organization on what and where it is and where it should be going. Companies that focus on the organizational definition and purpose they have established in their statements are often the ones that manage business disruption the best.
That’s not to say that the challenges those organizations face are any smaller because they have developed guiding statements. Labor shortages and supply chain issues are just as challenging for them as any other organization. However, companies founded with a clear idea of what they are and what they want to become have an established culture that gives them a leg up when navigating the turbulence and keeping their teams moving forward together.
A great case study is BWW Southern Management Inc., a Buffalo Wild Wings® franchise company with two sports bars in Panama City Beach and Fort Walton Beach, Florida. As franchisee Joshua Theiss opened the company’s second BWW® location, he wanted to have a well-developed and clear mission
statement.
“Back in 2008, when we opened our Panama City Beach location, we felt it necessary to create something simple and to the point that our entire team could rally behind,” he said.
“It was important because it was a new store opening, and I wanted to set a benchmark right away, something that was applicable both to Panama and that could be adopted in Fort Walton as well; something to set the tone for the store in its early days, that we could step off from into the future,” Theiss added.
The mission statement that the company adopted and maintains to this day: “From the top down, we will be the most hospitality-driven, sports-themed restaurant in our market.” In 17 words, the company’s purpose and goal are set forward in a way that clearly defines for everyone from the executive office to the restaurant teams what they should strive to be and how they can contribute to the goal in their assigned roles.
“I had just finished the book, ‘Good to Great,’ by Jim Collins, and I liked the idea of the Hedgehog Concept, so the creation of our mission statement stemmed from that lesson in the book,” Theiss said.
Transformation from good to great comes when decisions are made using the intersection of the answers to these three questions as a guide consistently over time, with no scattering of interests to cause a lack of focus on the core proposition.
Good mission statements use clear and simple language to succinctly define what an organization does. They avoid vague pronouncements and can be easily understood and recited. Similarly, good vision statements are specific and short, but they focus on what the company’s long-term goals are and what it wants to accomplish to guide the decisions of leadership.
Of course, good mission and vision statements only go as far as they are implemented and ingrained into company culture. If the restaurant teams don’t learn and understand the messages in them or take them to heart, they are meaningless. Teaching the message takes concerted effort and emphasis over time. “It must be translated into action. It can’t just be words on a poster or piece of paper or web lesson,” Theiss said. “It’s difficult but not impossible.
“We have laminated signs scattered throughout the restaurant: Velcro-ed to doors, tacked to bulletin boards, etc. It’s also emphasized, in a perfect world, through the actions of our team leaders and managers and explained to new hires when they first start.”
It must be a constant and ongoing process. BWW Southern Management recognizes that the ability of its managers and leaders to inspire team members to achieve excellence is an area that will always need scrutiny and improvement. “The past year, everybody seems to be huddled under this malaise,” Theiss said. “We’re working to improve the motivation, desire and people skills of team leaders so they can align workers with our mission statement and turn the words of it into action that translates into better experiences for our guests. This is all easier said than done, of course.”
While it’s a challenge in normal times, the pandemic made things even more difficult, but the last 18 months have emphasized to Theiss the value of the sports bars’ front-line troops. “We can create all the initiatives, programs, specials and procedures we want but without people to execute them, they’re all for naught. We’re still learning what really makes hourly employees tick, too. It’s about much more than just money: respect, quality of life, benefits, appreciation, fitting in.
“I like to believe we’re gradually learning how to better retain quality staff, whether it’s through higher wages, more flexible schedules, paid time off, which we’ve not yet implemented but are working on, or just plain empathy. It’s a tough labor market that is likely to endure for some time, if not indefinitely, so organizations, if they want to succeed, are going to have to figure out how to satisfy their workers’ desires without going broke in the process.”
While the company makes those changes, one thing that will not change is BWW Southern Management’s mission statement. Throughout the disruption that has occurred since March of 2020, the message in that statement has stood as a beacon to everyone in the organization. “The pandemic has not altered our desire for excellence in hospitality,” Theiss said. “If anything, COVID-19 has reinforced our need for it.”
