Introduction

As the Head of Business Development at TONIC; a company that delivers high-quality research for public sector clients, and a former public sector employee, I have seen how clear mission and core values support staff to achieve their goals and build trust with the communities they serve. As part of my role, I have been working with the TONIC team to ensure that as we expand, we maintain a focus on our mission and adhere to our core values.

The Role of a Mission Statement

Some may ask, ‘Why is a mission statement important?’ A mission statement can help you clarify the organisation's purpose and aims, providing not only direction to staff but stakeholders as well. A mission statement orientates an organisation towards a common goal, setting the standard to which employees can align their work. Many public sector organisations have mission statements grounded in social impact which focus efforts on creating real and lasting change. They also often emphasise social value and the need for high-quality evidence to ensure that communities are well served. It is important then for organisations, like TONIC, who work with a large variety of public sector clients to have a clear mission statement and a strong set of core values.

Why Create a Mission Statement and Values

A strong and clear mission statement and core set of values allows clients to better understand your stance as a provider of research services. At a glance, they are able to see if values align and how your offer may differ from other similar organisations. As such it can provide reassurance to clients that organisations they may commission to undertaken research share the same commitment to making a lasting difference to communities served in the way that TONIC does.

Whilst a strong and clear mission statement can strengthen brand reputation, signalling to clients that the organisation is aligned with their own ethical standards and social objectives. It can also help attract clients and tenders from public sector bodies that prioritise social value, such as local authorities and government departments. Which from a business perspective is vital, however, at TONIC our commitment to our mission and our values runs deeper than these reasons.

Our shared mission and values foster a positive work culture, inspiring and retaining employees who are motivated by the same principles. We believe in and live our core values day to day and embed across all of our work. In an SME like TONIC, this shared commitment is especially vital to maintaining team cohesion and quality standards. It creates a shared sense of purpose that motivates staff, leading to higher morale and commitment.

Our Approach

Over the last few weeks, we have come together as a team to review and refresh our mission statement and core values. It is important that this process involves the whole team as it is imperative that we share a set of common values and pull together to achieve our stated goals. As part of this process staff have been involved in workshop sessions, an internal survey and feedback sessions. We focused not only on our strengths and what we do now, but also where we would like to be in the future.

These sessions were vital to ensure that our mission statement and core values really are commonly shared amongst the team who then, have real ownership of what has been developed. If you are thinking about reviewing or refreshing your own mission, vision and values I urge you to involve as many of your team as possible to achieve real buy-in. Our next steps involve sharing our draft statement and values with key clients to gain additional feedback before sharing this more widely… so watch this space there will be an update soon!

Final Thoughts

At TONIC our mission and values are not just words on paper—they are the foundation of our approach to research. By committing ourselves to these principles, we not only enhance our credibility, fostering trust and providing high quality evidenced based research but also ensuring that we are making a positive, lasting difference in the lives of those we seek to serve.

Why don’t you take a few moments to reflect on the following:

• What is your organisation’s mission statement and core values?

• When was it last reviewed and what does it mean to you?

• How do you and your colleagues embed these core values in your day-to-day practice?

• Is it time for a review or refresh?