Tips for an arts org collaboratively rewriting a mission statement?

March 23, 2014 9:06 AM

An arts org I work with is seven years old. We've had some success, and we're revisiting our mission statement for the first time in a while. Any tips/ethods for getting a small group of people to work fruitfully on this together?
posted by HeroZero to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Consider getting a professional facilitator, if you can possibly afford it. Between your size and your inexperience with this process, it would probably be helpful to have a trained, impartial person guiding the process.

I say this as both a veteran of small, arts-based nonprofits and someone who has been part of a "re-envisioning" process recently. Making sure that everyone is heard means that the process can get reeeeeally slow and easily led on tangents.
posted by Madamina at 9:38 AM on March 23, 2014

Was just going to say the same thing - hire a facilitator if you can, or see if you have a board member who can help make a connection to someone with experience in strategic planning or consulting who might do it pro-bono. Without outside guidance, the process can become extremely unproductive (she said from experience).
posted by Sweetie Darling at 9:46 AM on March 23, 2014

After going through some painful mission statement planning at various jobs, my personal feeling is that it tends to take a lot of time for little payoff. I like Guy Kawasaki's philosophy (check out Art of the Start, or google various speeches of his online)--he recommends mantras instead of mission statements. Basically, three or four words, maximum, that people can actually remember and that have real meaning.
posted by three_red_balloons at 10:58 AM on March 23, 2014