A dozen years ago the chairman of Bloomingdales stood in front of a customer acquisition panel and said without blinking: “The most important people are those that go up in the elevator at 9 and leave at around 6.”

It was his fancy way of telling the attendees that his staff needed to be happy before any customer was going to readily spend cash at his beloved place of business.

Too often, the “mission” of a company is to succeed at any cost, probably because of the altogether capricious economy. I’ve often wondered why human resources as a PR tool gets the short end of the corporate stick.

When I think of successful companies, I imagine those few where people within the organization get what they’re doing and why they are there, and what the goal is for everyone in attendance.

Think Apple.

The converse is an employer who says, “Everyone is here to do a job,” and watches his employees head for the exit saying, “I can just do a job anyplace.” Or a guy who learns the extremely hard way that folks can do that any place.

What is it about mission that has made it such an overused, misunderstood word. In PR or marketing you hear people say, “What’s your mission exactly?” like “How’s your soup?” without really caring what the answer is. Yet internally, when people truly understand the core value, statement or motto of their company–what could be written on the bathroom wall in large non graffiti letters–it can effectually make the hard work tons easier.

The whole idea of PR (getting the word out) and HR (human capital handling) being separate and unequal boggles my mind. Why aren’t these two housed in the same office side by side? Ok, so you send a bunch a cool releases and get great stories placed about the firm. But if your people aren’t “in on what’s happening” then why even go outside with the news…?

If you muttered, “To make money,” then you need to put this article on the fridge: Making money is a short-term need and the way to keep it afloat is to have excited humans to pursue goals.

For a lot of super-conscientious firms, after the dot calm set in, circa 01, work/life balance became the noted key to a happy employee. Company managers who learned not to be in it just for their own buck started to imagine a world of “people over product.”

A pal of mine, Mary E. Boone, said in her book Managing Interactively: “The new perception of career is not a straight ladder up. People are building a resume on experience and a body of work.”
The key to everyone wanting to build the same strong, unerring ladder is being on a non clichéd playing field with full open-book knowledge of what’s REALLY happening and where daily responsibilities of one’s job are leading the company. Why do anything unless you are keenly aware of what the outcome will be for your colleagues?

For me, visions of Mission: Impossible churn up memories of the 90’s, in a roomful of client team members while I ask them straight out what the purpose of their firm is…followed by frustrating experience of getting 12 completely different and distinct answers! Obviously the managers at those thinly-run companies never talked cohesively about their views or – ahem – visions of what’s on deck over six months, a year or G-d forbid two, what group efforts might mean for everyone… especially the much-needed janitorial staff!

Not sharing is selfish and a crappy business strategy. It deftly explains why so many overblown ideas tanked as corporate entities in those mission-free years of the mid to late 90’s: Someone (a Venture Capitalist probably) knew what the goals were. She didn’t share it with anyone – except her accountant.

What we learned: Leaving folks in the cold is a yucky scenario for corporate American companies, no matter how tiny the number in attendance. Getting everybody psyched about the near term is a way to make everyone push for profits.

What it comes down to is: Human Resources (the art) – that’s about getting everyone in here clearly understood. Public Relations (the science)– that’s about getting everything out there clearly understood.

There is often a chasm between these important responsibilities.

When the gap is obvious, you can be assured that people going up in the elevator at 9 and coming down at 6, are on a trip for the short haul.