Successful Mission and Vision Statements and Why

Doug Campbell, an author and a fire systems analyst in Ventura, CA has always been a passionate man. Anyone who knows him knows that he is passionate about his time, his choices and his career in training firefighters. It did not take him long to see the importance of having a mission statement. Campbell saw the value in recognizing strengths in his organization, clarity of his purpose, and a detailed description and answer as to why he was in the business.

How it would affect his firefighters and the community they served, plus the values it would instill were vital to him; and above all, successful and safe firefighters. His statement answers all 7 questions needed to build a successful mission statement.

Mission Statement for a Firefighter Team:
“We meet the fire at its weak points, knocking it out, not giving it a chance. We know the fire and use the knowledge of its behavior patterns to snuff it out. We are tough and do not waste our strength. We plan our tactics and anticipate the fires’ moves. We use proven tactics and avoid bad ones. We engage the fire when we know we will prevail over the fire. We do not repeat the mistakes of other encounters.”

Here are the exercises he would perform to complete his mission statement: #1 List the strengths of your business or organization - Campbell knows his team’s strength and states that they are “tough and do not waste our strength” #2 Describe your shared values - the shared values in firefighting are “we plan our tactics and anticipate the fire’s moves” #3 Describe the business or organization you are in - “we meet the fire at its weak points, and know the fire, and engage the fire when we know we will prevail over the fire” #4 Describe why you are in the business you are in - “to snuff it out” and “knocking it out, not giving it a chance” #5 What are you going to do in this business and how are you going to do it? - Campbell states, “use the knowledge of its behavior patterns to snuff it out” #6 What do you offer and what does today’s market want? - “not repeat the mistakes of other encounters” #7 Address all appropriate audiences for why your business or organization exists - “use proven tactics and avoid bad ones”

There would be checks and balances of his mission statement in the building of his vision for his training. He had more than answered the why of his future work, the personnel he would seek to train, and the service and value that his training would provide. Next would be how it would be the foundation in building his vision statement. You should now know his passion as well. It is obvious he will succeed, don’t you think?

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