NFIB

Creating a Mission Statement, Part I
03/ 14/ 2002

Making Sure That You and Your Employees Are on the Same Page

If you're brave enough to try a little experiment, at the next company meeting ask all your employees to write one or two sentences describing exactly what your company's goals are, and how those goals are going to be achieved. Don't prompt them too much. Let everyone come up with his or her own descriptions. If you find everyone's ideas about the company are not on the same page, it's time to establish a focus to make sure that your company begins functioning as a tightly organized unit, not a machine clanking along with loose pieces. Today's Workshop, by contributor Jeffrey Moses, shows how to accomplish this through the creation of a mission statement.

Next week's Workshop uses Ben & Jerry's Statement of Mission as an example of what you can include in your own mission statement.

A mission statement serves to define an overall vision for the company that helps employees focus both on their roles within the company, and on their relationship with customers or distribution channels. Your company's mission statement needs to be written down and presented to each employee, at every level of the organization. A well-crafted mission statement helps assure greater unity of purpose and vision throughout your company. Also, a mission statement may be incorporated into advertising messages, annual reports, and all other marketing vehicles that define your company to the buying public.

Mission statements should be specific. They should not be vague or overly general. The following mission statement, for example, serves little purpose: "We will provide outstanding customer service, and offer the finest software products available in the industry." This is not action oriented, and does not define who you really are or what you do. Nor does it differentiate your company from competitors. Differentiation is not required of a mission statement, but in the process of creating the statement a company's uniqueness is often uncovered.

Better than the above would be the following:

"We will provide innovative and highly effective custom software services for our clients, enabling them to achieve their marketing and operational objectives. To achieve this goal, we will create efficient development teams to flexibly address the unique needs of our clients. And we will market our services through a network of sales representatives and Internet information that informs potential clients about our comprehensive software services."

If your company has discernible weaknesses or shortcomings that you are working to improve, mentioning these in the mission statement can help direct the attention of all employees to your efforts of improvement.

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