If you are a member of a paranormal team, I want you to take one minute and ask yourself “What is the mission of our team?” If you are unsure, check your website or social media pages. Do you have a mission or goal statement listed? If so, is it one that you talk about during meetings and discuss before going into an investigation? And if you don’t have a mission or goals you should ask yourself, “should we?” I want to talk about why organizations develop mission and goal statements and how these things can help keep your team moving in the same direction. 

According to the dictionary, a mission statement is a “formal summary of the aims and values of a company, organization, or individual.” This statement tells anyone interested in your group why you exist and what you hope to accomplish. Your goals will further detail the specific ways you will pursue this mission. Different paranormal teams have different things they hope to accomplish. Some teams want to help residential clients, some focus on research, and others just want to travel to explore “haunted” locations. Whatever your focus, a mission statement will ensure that your current team members and anyone looking to join your team in the future know what to expect. This statement should also be easy to find on your website as it gives people an idea of who you are as an organization. 

In the process of creating Curiosity Paranormal Research, I sat down with the founding team members to discuss the reasons behind why we wanted to build a new team. Before the meeting, everyone completed a questionnaire asking them about their individual goals and what they think should be the main focus of a paranormal team. Using these answers, we distilled our mission down into one statement: 

Researchers with Curiosity Paranormal Research (CPR) strive to understand anomalous phenomena and increase the general understanding of what factors elicit paranormal activity. 

We then reviewed our individual goals and discussed how they may guide our mission. While we all enjoy exploring new places, we agreed that there was a general desire to do and learn more. Together, we created the goals listed below: 

• CPR will research paranormal phenomena using rigorous research methods and standards. 
• CPR is committed to always working in the most honest and transparent way possible.
• CPR will conduct all research using safe and ethical investigation methods. 
• CPR will seek out opportunities to learn new skills, understand history, and test new investigation methods. 
• CPR is committed to educating the general public and other researchers/investigators in best practices for conducting paranormal research. 
• CPR will assist people trying to understand paranormal phenomena to the best of their ability. 

Once we agreed on these items, we discussed how they would inform our decisions and we made goal setting a priority for every investigation. In addition, we made “Answer the question: Did we achieve our Goals for the investigation?” the first thing we ask in our post-investigation review documents. Making goal setting a priority ensures that we plan productive investigations. If we ever decide to change our mission and goals, we will work together to discuss why the current focus is no longer relevant and how we wish to move forward. 

Creating a mission and goal statement should be a group effort to ensure that everyone has a voice and agrees with how the organization works. If you are unsure about whether or not your team has a mission or goals, ask your team lead. If the answer is no, ask if the team should meet to create these statements for the organization. This is a great opportunity to discuss what everyone hopes to get from their experience on the team and form a singular mission moving forward. 

Ultimately, goals help us stay focused on why we are spending our hard-earned money and free time on this endeavor. You need to believe in what you do and why you do it. I hope you and your team have a shared mission and as always, Happy Hunting!