OG&E Mission Match: Connecting Goals with Objectives

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

A campaign that enhances brand image, develops brand awareness and creates brand loyalty isn’t a dream that comes to fruition overnight. Strategy is employed to connect your brand’s goals (the dream) with objectives (the plan).

Imperative to the development of a goal is the way you wish your brand to be positioned.

“A positioning statement is the articulation of how an organization wants to be seen and known, especially vis-à-vis its competition.” Smith, 133

Qualtrics suggests branding your organization to align with “the experience” of what you want your publics to gain from supporting your organization. In the case of OG&E, a position could be “sustaining life through providing energy” in which OG&E would promise the experience of energy to customers’ homes. For my agency’s workforce development campaign, a position that emphasizes “the experience” could be: A career where employee safety and employee satisfaction are the top priorities.

What is Mission Match?

Typically thought about within the nonprofit sector, mission match refers to the idea that in order to start programs, run fundraising campaigns or events, the nonprofit should always remain faithful to their mission. This ensures the nonprofit is true to what they set out to accomplish, and they avoid mission-drift. For-profit companies can adopt the same idea, in order to stay true to their mission and values.

Forbes published an article last spring about why mission and value statements fail. Reason number eight focuses specifically on making sure the mission is relevant and not “just words” (Kraaijenbrink, 2021).  Missions “only become true…when they are also felt, lived, acted upon” (Kraaijenbrink, 2021).

Connecting OG&E’s workforce development campaign to the mission of the organization is necessary to mission match: “We energize life, providing life-sustaining and life-enhancing products and services, while honoring our commitment to strengthen our communities” (OG&E, ‘Our Culture,’ n.d). For this campaign, a strengthened community can mean young people who are successful working in craft careers, and in turn are able to provide products and services to customers.

Following your organization’s mission will help position a campaign with the publics best interest in mind. This will help create a clear path where goals and objectives can be laid out is easy to follow steps. Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash

Goals

There are various types of goals to set in creating strategy for a campaign. For OG&E’s workforce development campaign, my agency will focus on a reputation management goal.

“Reputation management goals deal with the identity and perception of the organization.” Smith, 137

In addition to the identity and perception of OG&E, a reputation management goal will also aim to change perception about craft and trade careers for young people. One example of a goal for this campaign could be: OG&E will improve the perception of craft careers in the energy industry as a viable option for young people.

Objectives

The next piece of the puzzle is connecting objectives that support the goal. There are three main types of objectives: awareness, acceptance and action (Smith, 143). For the sake of an example of an objective consider an action objectives that would help improve perception of craft careers at OG&E. This objective would have to be actionable, in which the key public would be asked to do something. The objective also should be “attainable”, “impact oriented” and “time-bound” to encourage it to be specific (Smith, 141).

An example action goal (Smith, 143): To have an effect on the action of young people who have graduated high school in Oklahoma, specifically to increase attendance of craft career events for OG&E (10 percent within 6 months, with an additional increase of 20 percent by EOY).

Ultimately, the creation of goals and objectives should match both the organization’s brand position and mission.

References

Kraaijenbrink, J. (2021, April 13). Why your mission and vision statements don’t work (and what to do about it). Forbes. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeroenkraaijenbrink/2021/04/13/why-your-mission-and-vision-statements-dont-work-and-what-to-do-about-it/?sh=540ece0e34e2

Smith, R.D. (2021). Strategic planning for public relations (6th Ed.). Routledge.

Values & Beliefs. Our Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://www.oge.com/wps/portal/ord/who-we-are/our-culture/values-beliefs/

Your Ultimate Guide to Brand Positioning. Qualtrics. (2022, February 22). Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/brand/positioning/

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