Is Your Mission Statement Really Your True Mission?
Mission Statements
A mission statement is an important marketing tool. It will help your business communicate with the public, help motivate employees to work toward a shared vision, and focus the efforts of the enterprise. It is not a document to be developed and then stuck in a file folder...
What Should a Mission Statement Convey?
It is Visionary: A mission statement should clearly state what it is that you as a company aspire to be. Maybe you want to be the best in the neighborhood, in the country or in the world in whatever it is that you do. Perhaps size matters to you and you want to be largest or the biggest. Or you may be targeting a billion dollars in revenue. Say it in as many words.
It is Timeless: Today you might be selling groceries. Tomorrow you might want to add toys to your merchandise. But you don't want to be changing your mission statement every time you stock your store. So, keep your mission statement reasonably broad to accommodate changing business needs and realities. Of course, in your eagerness to keep it timeless, don't make it so broad in its sweep that it loses focus.
It is Believable and Real: The golden rule of customer satisfaction applies here: under promise, over deliver. Be realistic. If you can realistically achieve what you are promising, go ahead and put it into your mission statement. But if you just want to sound important, then it will be counter-productive. Also, keep it believable. If you have $10000 in revenues and your mission statement hopes to accomplish a billion dollars in five years, your clients and employees are not going to take it seriously.
It Inspires: Mission statements can also be used as tools to inspire and unify all stakeholders towards the achievement of a common goal. Many companies articulate such intangibles as their philosophy and core values in their mission statements.
It is Short and Jargon-free: Mission statements should be simple, short and concise. Many companies stuff their mission statements with jargon. They are neither memorable nor powerful. Effective statements will be under 25 words, expressed in lucid every day language.
How Do You Start
Before you begin, ask yourself these questions.
- Why are we in the business that we are in? What was the purpose behind starting the company?
- What are our obligations to employees, partners, customers and society at large?
- What is it that we do? What are our products or services? What problems do we solve? What are we good at doing? What are our unique skills? How do we help other people with the business that we do?
- Who are our customers? Who are our competitors?
- What are our strengths? And what are the opportunities?
- What are our immediate objectives and long-term goals?
Circulate the questions among your team. List all the answers. This will give you a starting point to brainstorm further
Tips on how to write a mission statement.
Make it short. McDonald's mission statement is only four words: quality, consistency, cleanliness, service. Brevity will enhance understandability. Make it only long enough to cover the intended purpose of the organization.
Make it memorizable. Use simple words-ones people can remember and actually use.
Make it audible. Use words and phrases that sound good as well. Members will use the mission statement talking on the telephone and at public meetings. Try for a conversational tone. Make it a "becoming" statement. Look forward toward what the coalition wants the social environment surrounding tobacco use to become. State not just what the coalition is, but how it will reach its goals.
By creating a Mission Statement that encompasses all of the above, your company will have a clear vision and purpose that can motivate and inspire your entire enterprise.
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