Every workday, in-house agency teams are focused on tasks to punch their lists, complete their projects and move the needle. With dwindling resources and burgeoning workloads, it’s easy to get caught in the deadline-driven grind. Skilled management can elevate morale and keep employees motivated by celebrating work, rewarding accomplishments and creating engaging environments. However, the team’s long-term success can be supercharged by a clear mission statement and vision for the future.

All successful organizations have the corporate-level equivalent, so one might assume that it’s all that’s needed. While this may be true for some, in-house agencies can get lost in the big picture and lose a sense of purpose. That’s why it’s important to have this department-level “job description” so everyone is reminded of their role and how it fits into the bigger picture.

Our division recently developed a mission statement that reads: “Articulate and build VCU’s brand and support the university’s goals through strategic, creative and effective integrated communications.” This statement has helped redefine and remind us of where we can best meet the demands of the evolving higher-ed marketing landscape. For us, it’s about focusing on integration and strategic thinking.

To support our mission, we also crafted four strategic goals that point to actionable and measurable initiatives. They focus on culture, operational excellence, strategic client relationships and our own division’s brand. The entire process took about a year from kickoff to implementation and it included client surveys, team focus groups and a lot of collaboration that revealed meaningful insights about us. This effort is helping our entire division take ownership and feel a deeper purpose beyond the daily grind. It’s a mission worth taking on.