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Tips for a Creating a Compelling Mission Statement
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By Lisa Hochgraf

You can’t always be the best, so be really great at being you, Michael Neill, CSE, told attendees of CUES Symposium: A CEO/Chairman Exchange. To do this, credit unions need mission statements that the whole organization can rally around.

"When you have a compelling mission, every single thing ties back to it," explained Neill, president of Michael Neill and Associates, Atlanta, CUES' partner in ServiStar.

For example, a credt union implementing a change should talk with employees about the need for the new system in terms of the mission. A mission-driven CEO might say to staff, "In our continuing effort to [FILL IN MISSION], we’re going to [FILL IN PLANNED ACTION] so that [FILL IN REASON, DESCRIBED IN TERMS OF FULFILLING THE MISSION].

In the case of a new loan system, this might come out like this: "In our continuing effort to improve the financial lives of our members, we're going to implement a new loan system so that we can save members time and money by serving their loan needs more effiiciently."

When an organization does this, "you’ll be amazed how much more buy-in you’ll get," Neill said. "And you’ll get much more advice on how to implement it."

Neill offered these tips for creating a good mission statement:

  • Make it short enough to be on a bumper sticker, but not a slogan.
  • Create one that makes the reader think, "I want to be a part of that."
  • Look to write a mission statement that explains the need to do something different, so something hard to do.

He offered a several mission statements he thinks work well, including these two:

  1. We exist to help our members achieve their goals and realize their dreams" is the mission of $2.9 million Tinker Federal Credit Union, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.
  2. "To improve the quality of life in the communities we serve" is the mission statement of $461 million SeaComm Federal Credit Union, Massena, N.Y.

Neill emphasized that the staff at these credit unions live their missions every day.

“It’s embedded in their behaviors and not just hanging on the wall,” he said.

Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.

Learn more about ServiStar, a joint offering of CUES and Michael Neill and Associates.

Read another post about strong credit union mission statements.

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