What Is A Mission Statement?

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A mission statement that reflects what the company is (or should be) doing now. It describes a purpose of the company and the importance of today’s decisions and actions in support of the overall vision and values. It is a statement that can give employees a sense of identity as it inspires and guides their actions. It also serves to support a brand image that suppliers and customers want to support.

Like your vision statement, when anyone reads your mission statement, they should feel inspired and believe in it. Everyone must also believe in the leadership of the company and employees and suppliers must see themselves as willing participants who are working together to achieve todays and tomorrows goals.

How to Use a Mission Statement

Not surprisingly, you will be able to use your mission statement in many of the same ways you use your vision statement and values.

Your mission statement should be shared and discussed everywhere. Employees should be using it daily when making decisions about their work, even if it is to reinforce the importance of their work, how it fits into the overall company mandate and the pride they take from it. Your mission statement should also be discussed in every hiring decision, onboarding, employee performance reviews (and employee recognition / awards) as well as goal-setting conversations. And like your values statement, your mission statement should help guide leaders regarding investments in training and through the design of strategic marketing and promotional messages.

How to Build a Mission Statement

Like your vision statement and core values, building a mission statement will take time. If you have already built your vision statement, you will be able to use much of the research you conducted to help you build your mission statement. You will also be able to use the values you identified.

You can also stay with the same team you assembled to build your vision statement and values, however adding new voices to team might give you a fresh perspective. I’t not because anything you previously did might be wrong. I suggest this because the process of onboarding new people and answering their questions will likely help keep the process fresh with a sense of exploration and adventure.

Consider your business’s goals. Write two sentences, one explaining what your company does today and the other explaining why your company does it in the simplest terms possible. Now, look at those two sentences and be sure you are incorporating your company values.

The trick here is to keep it short while not being too vague and not sounding generic. You will want your mission statement to sound like it fits your company and only your company. As mentioned earlier, you want employees, suppliers and customers to read it and say, “I support this and want to be part of this brand.”

If you find you have lots of great things you want to include but might not be critical to a mission statement definition, no worries. Keep a record of those sentences or statements and share them with your marketing team. They may be gold for your marketing materials and website and even included along with your mission statement as additional information and background.

Mission Statement Examples

COBS Bread: “Our mission to develop strong connections with our customers and communities that ignite a passion for bread and the freshest baked treats.”

IKEA: “To offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.”

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

TED: “We're building a clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world's most inspired thinkers — and a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other, both online and at TED and TEDx events around the world, all year long.”

Conclusion

A mission statement is an opportunity to take a good look at the market you serve, what part you want to play and the corporate culture you want to work within. Let yours give employees a sense of identity as it inspires and guides their actions and support a brand image that suppliers and customers want to be part of.

Thank you for reading ‘What Is A Mission Statement’. It is the third article I’ve written to honour the hard work of a client who invested in their future by exploring the important process of creating and using:

I will link to the other two articles here as I launch them.

Be well and happy communicating, leading and creating a culture of belonging within your company or within your team.

Bruce

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