Know what you want your landfill to be. Make sure everyone else knows, too.
Adam Jochelson, P. E., MOLO
When I was six, I begged my soccer coach to let me play goalie. I had seen these acrobatic athletes on TV flying through the air, making amazing saves and I wanted to be like that. He preferred having me elsewhere on the field, but he finally relented and allowed me to play half of one game tending the goal. It was a disaster.
My recollection is that I gave up at least half a dozen goals in that very brief first attempt—not an easy happenstance for a six-year-old to swallow. However, I made a decision right then and there, that I would become good at the position. As it so happened, my mother had just planted two pear trees in the backyard separated by about the same distance as standard soccer goalposts. Much to her chagrin, I put them to use right away as my training ground, inviting anyone and everyone to kick balls at me for as long and as often as they cared to do.
Let It Be Your Guide
I didn’t know it at the time, but I had established a mission for myself: I will endure a million bruises and scrapes until I am the best soccer goalie anyone has ever seen. (You can have a mission like that when you’re six.) I never got a chance to play the position in a game again while I lived in New Jersey. My coach had a long memory, and had not seen my practice regimen, and he even followed me when I moved on to higher level teams. But when I moved to Dallas and entered a fresh new soccer environment, I finally got my chance to shine.
I told my new team that I was a good goalie, and they gave me a shot at it. This time was as different from the first try as night is from day. I was instantly recognized as one of the best self-taught goalkeepers in the league. As I matured, I refined the goals but the heart of the mission remained: be a world-class goalkeeper. This core principle served as a guide and eventually I made all serious decisions regarding my sports activities with this goal in mind. At age 11, I decided it was time to try out for club teams—I joined Flame soccer club and immediately competed in statewide and national tournaments. By age 14, I had stopped playing other sports seriously. In high school, I earned all-district honors then went on to play varsity at Duke University. While I was there, injuries forced me to put my soccer goals on hold for several years, but once healthy, I continued my pursuits. And at age 28, after months of the hardest goalkeeper training I’ve ever endured, I travelled to Slovakia and earned a spot on the roster of FC Nitra in the Slovak Second Division.
The point of this story is that none of it would have happened without a mission. A mission provides principles to give direction to your daily actions. A good mission simplifies goal-setting and helps to ensure that your efforts remain aimed at some general target. When I arrived at McCommas Bluff Landfill, no formal mission had been established for the facility. As far as I know, that remains so to this day—not many landfills do. However, during my time there I developed an unofficial mission that served as my measuring stick whenever I set goals for my work. I made it my mission to provide efficient, effective landfill service to the Dallas community and to protect human health and the environment. In short—to provide and protect.
GeoShack has a mission to be a “leading distributor of leveling, alignment, measurement, guidance and grade control solutions to the Construction, Survey, Agricultural, Landfill, Mining and Industrial markets in North America.” I have made it my mission that GeoShack be the premier provider of effective and affordable landfill management technology and services in North America and beyond.
Crafting a Good Mission Statement
I am of the opinion that every organization should define a clear mission, and that they should take the time to ensure their mission statement serves as a powerful symbol of their purpose. Your landfill is no exception—if you don’t have one already, I urge you to get one. So, how do we create a good mission statement? Answers vary, and the ever-present Internet can provide reams of advice regarding a good mission statement; however, here are some general characteristics you’ll find pretty universal in good mission statements.
Worthwhile
Your landfill is a valuable part of your community. Your mission statement should reflect that. It should also show that you want to accomplish something. That something should be reasonable—we’re not going to bring about world peace through operating our landfills. The best mission statements strike a healthy balance between realism and optimism. Ultimately, your mission should include some specific ideal within your organization’s grasp that your stakeholders find valuable.
Simple
You should be able to explain your landfill’s mission to your grandmother … in an elevator. It’s not rocket surgery after all. I have seen excruciatingly thorough mission statements that covered every aspiration of the organization—and filled an entire page. Nobody benefits from that.
Timely
Your landfill is a long-term entity. Your mission should appropriately convey the understanding that you and your employees are in it for the long haul.
Field-Tested
Contributor buy-in is a must, because no single person will accomplish your mission. It will most assuredly be a team effort. Thus your mission statement should inspire those that will carry it out. The best way to ensure that happens is to solicit the opinions of those stakeholders.
Fresh
The only constant in the world is change. Though the foundation of your mission will generally remain consistent, time can bring new goals to your organization. If they don’t quite fit within your mission, a revised mission may be in order.
Goals vs. Missions
Remember that your mission will help define your goals. People often equate goals and missions, using the terms interchangeably. However, there is a subtle difference between goals and missions. John F. Kennedy provided a classic example in exhorting Congress to approve funding to send an astronaut to the moon. Those that have heard recordings of that speech usually recall the desire to make a mission “before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” Check the transcript, and you’ll find that President Kennedy correctly stated this as a goal to which he urged our nation to commit itself. Very early in the speech (in the first paragraph), he outlined the mission that goal would help to accomplish: “time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space.”[1]
The main thing to consider is that goals have endpoints, while missions don’t. A goal can be achieved and set aside to make way for new goals. But your mission endures to guide your actions for an indefinite period of time. Goals are, of course, important and worth celebrating when achieved. Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon on July 20, 1969 were a momentous occasion, a highlight of human achievement in the last half-century. But you should be careful when writing your mission to keep it goal-free.
My mother’s pear tress didn’t survive my incessant goalkeeper practice in the back yard. Don’t worry … I’ve planted others to replace them. But I will always remember them fondly for setting the stage from whence I embarked upon my athletic mission. Without them, who knows if I would have accomplished my goals in the soccer world. If you’re at a landfill that doesn’t have a mission statement, I encourage you to make it a priority to get one as soon as you can. You’ll be glad that you did.
Adam Jochelson, P. E., MOLO, is a Landfill Engineer and Facility Specialist working for GeoShack, Inc. (Dallas, TX), where he promotes the application of cutting edge technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of landfill operations. Adam built his knowledge and techniques over a nine-year period as the on-site engineer at McCommas Bluff Landfill in Dallas, TX. His unique experiences in engineering and other fields have combined to create an exceptional understanding of the various challenges inherent in landfill planning, design, and operations. He can be reached at (972) 342-3055 or e-mail [email protected].
Sidebar
Land·fill En·gi·neer [land-fil en-juh-neer]
noun an environmental engineer who specializes in the design, management, planning, and development, of solid waste management facilities; a unique combination of engineer, surveyor, data analyst, computer programmer, construction worker, manager, teacher, writer, conservationist, and experimenter.
[1] May 25, 1961: JFK’s Moon Shot Speech to Congress, Space.com Staff, 25 May 2011, http://m.space.com/11772-president-kennedy-historic-speech-moon-space.html.