Developing Your Company Mission Statement

 

Developing your mission statement is the next step in the planning process because it provides the overall direction of your business and is the foundation of all further planning and decision making.

Your mission statement is the “why” of your company. It declares your company’s purpose, direction, and goals. Each decision you make in the planning process should have a clear link back to the mission statement. In other words, all aspects of your business should be aimed at achieving your overall business purpose — as defined in the mission statement. All opportunities, challenges, and plans should be evaluated against your mission statement.

Purpose of a Mission Statement

The mission statement is a concise description of the overall philosophy and mission of your business. It clearly states your company’s vision. It tells why you exist and what business you’re in, who you are, and what you want to do for people. It identifies what you want to become — the future picture of your company. All decisions, all objectives, all roles, and all activities grow out of your mission statement. Every aspect of your business becomes a function of the mission statement.

Your mission statement is also an important source of communications. It tells everyone in your company what they are working towards. It promotes understanding and gets your entire company moving in the same direction. It generates enthusiasm and a desire for change. Misconceptions are avoided and employees can commit to a defined goal.

A mission statement also communicates to people outside the company — especially customers — your business identity. It’s a valuable tool to express what’s important to you and to set your company apart from your competitors.

Often, mission statements are found in corporate brochures, annual reports, on business letterhead and the backs of business cards. They should be clear, concise, and brief enough for people to easily remember.

Mission statements typically address:

• Your business
• Your customers
• Your products and services
• Your goals and philosophy

Developing a Mission Statement

 

Developing a mission statement is a fairly straightforward process. But it does take time and commitment and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

By now you should have a solid understanding of the business you’re in, the purpose of your business, and your overall business philosophy. The mission statement simply takes this information and turns it into a descriptive statement.

Your mission statement shouldn’t be so focused that it limits your company from other appropriate opportunities that might come up, but it also shouldn’t be so broad that it becomes meaningless.

Your mission statement will:

 

• Tell people what business you are in (your primary focus, what do customers really want from you? Refer to implementation task 10).
• Communicate why you exist (What do your customers need from you? Refer to task 11).
• Reflect your values and philosophy.

 

Here is Starbuck’s mission statement that accomplishes these elements:

“To inspire and nurture the human spirit – One person, One cup, and One neighborhood at a time.”

Their mission statement is very simple. It describes what business they are in. What Starbuck’s customer really want from them is an inspirational and nurturing environment. So they are in the business of inspiration and nurture. And it describes why they exist…the specific customer need that they meet is for a cup of coffee. It communicates a core theme of their philosophy which is focused on the positive impact on each customer and each neighborhood that they do business with.

Your mission statement should be customer focused. Since it becomes a public document that the customer sees, you wouldn’t want to have things like “make as much money as possible” in your statement, although “making a fair profit” is certainly appropriate.

 

Writing Your Mission Statement

At this point, you have done most of the work. To write your mission statement requires you to combine all the elements discussed into a concise, yet powerful expression of what your business is about. Every word should be meaningful.

Keep your mission statement flexible enough that it won’t be quickly dated. A mission statement that reflects the company’s core values will be relevant for a long time. Your mission statement should show the distinct purpose of your company and set your company apart from similar companies. Be careful not to use cliché or platitude filled phrases that will cause your mission statement to seem meaningless. Of course every company wants to be “the best in the market”, “the top provider of xyz” or “provide quality customer service”, but statements like these lack inspiration. You can make your statement stand out by making sure it is uniquely specific and inspiringly concrete. As an example, take Apple’s strategic intent for the iPod. They didn’t say, “we want to create a great digital music player” or “we want be the market leader in digital music players providing the best customer service”, they said we want to put “1,000 songs in your pocket.”

It is also best to keep your mission statement brief. An effective mission statement is usually no more than one paragraph or a few bullet points, although many companies follow the mission statement with a declaration of values or philosophy statement.

Keep in mind that the purpose of the mission statement is to give overall direction to your company. An easy way to get the feel of what you’re trying to write is by looking at mission statements from other companies. Review the information you compiled in previous sections regarding the business you’re in, the purpose of your business, and your overall business philosophy.

Once you have established your overall mission statement, it will remain fairly unchanged from year to year. You may want to establish more specific mission statements for the current fiscal year or for each group or department within your company. This helps each group or department focus on what they personally need to accomplish to achieve the overall mission of the company.

An example of a specific mission statement for a fiscal year might be:

“Build a solid foundation to position the company for future growth and achieve consistent profitability.”

A departmental mission statement for a customer service department might be:

” “To optimistically and joyously assist our customers in finding the best solutions to their challenges, and inspire them to have a better day just by talking to us.”

 

TAKE ACTION!

Develop Your Company Mission Statement

 

Maximizing Mission Statement Impact

Employee Involvement

There are different approaches to developing and distributing a company mission statement. You can develop it by yourself or involve key employees.

There are definite benefits to involving your employees in the process. By participating in this important process, employees feel appreciated — part of the team — and valued as contributing members of the business. By including employees in the process you can achieve their “buy-in” and acceptance of the mission and, as a result, the strategies you later develop to support the mission.

With your whole team involved in developing the mission statement, everyone will contribute to and share in your vision. They will see your business and its future the way you do and be able to connect their daily work activities to the vision. Vision and mission are great creators of commitment and motivation. Most employees don’t naturally have visionary qualities. But when you get employees involved in and passionate about the vision and mission of your business, it creates tremendous commitment, motivation, and creativity, in their daily work. Your mission statement will then become a unifying force for the business and its employees, rather than a piece of paper that’s seen as just another management fad and quickly loses its power.

Commitment From the Top

Equally important is commitment from you, the business owner, and any managers you may have. If you can’t be personally committed to your mission statement there is no point in developing one. You must “own” it and live it, every single work day. It has to govern every decision you make.

If you and your managers treat your mission statement as the guiding principle for your company, your employees will, too. If you don’t treat it with respect, it will be seen as just another management fad instead of the most important statement in your company.

Internal and External Distribution

The mission statement is a unifying force both inside and outside your company. Internally, the collective efforts of the employees create an energy and a feeling of connectedness through the shared mission statement. The unifying force of a mission statement can be enhanced through visual reminders such as plaques or cards with the mission statement printed on them.

You can use your mission statement externally as well. Many companies publish their mission statement in company brochures, on business letterhead, or on the back of business cards. This communicates to your customers — and potential customers — your core business purpose and philosophy. The strategic use of the mission statement in this manner can also be a differentiating feature between your business and competitors.