A mission statement is an action-based brief description that communicates intent, purpose, function, and strategy to other individuals, clients, partners, stakeholders, or the general public. If you want to stay focused on the goals you aspire to achieve in the future, you need to have a roadmap. And that’s the core purpose of a mission statement.
Today’s article will explain what a mission statement is, its purpose, how to write it, and how to present a mission statement to an executive audience.
What is a Mission Statement?
We can define a mission statement as a concise piece of text, containing no more than 100 words, that explains the company’s role, its competitive advantage, and potential market. Mostly intended for businesses, the concept behind mission statements can also be applied to personal life – in terms of career development – and also for students.
Simply put, a mission statement should be:
- Simple, yet emotive
- Lofty yet attainable
- Authentic and value-driven
What Mission Statement Answers
When an expertly created mission statement is effectively used, it can be an effective tool for individuals, entrepreneurs, and businesses. It allows the unification of diverse teams & individuals to achieve organizational and personal goals. And that’s the reason why companies spend billions of dollars on creating an effective mission statement.
For individuals/students/graduates
It provides a clear sense of purpose and direction.
For entrepreneurs
A mission statement inspires and motivates the team.
For companies/businesses
It shows the roadmap of their business.
What is the Purpose of the Mission Statement
The mission statement for companies
The mission statement of a company/organization provides a summary of its goals. It’s an action-oriented statement that clearly expresses the purpose and provides a roadmap of its vision.
A mission statement helps employees to stay focused to achieve their goals. Studies show that customers trust brands that are socially aware. They trust brands whom they know believe in something. And a mission statement gives the brand clarity over its purpose.
Better engagement with the brand is a known reward, as 64% of customers find brands attractive that communicate their purpose clearly.
Commitment is also an important point when talking about this topic. A mission statement sets the morals and guidelines of your company, and therefore, it becomes a social responsibility to stick to them. It also holds value if it is shared with existing and potential customers, stakeholders, vendors, and employers.
The mission statement for entrepreneurs
A mission statement of entrepreneurs provides them with direction. It gives a future glimpse of your business. A great mission statement helps them refocus on attention to accomplish the goals and supports the entrepreneur’s vision.
The mission statement for students
Students can use a mission statement to pursue their passion and connect with the right fellows to learn and share ideas/suggestions. It gives them a roadmap for choosing their career path and enables them to undertake study and prepare themselves for professional work.
Identifying their professional goals and priorities is crucial for their development and learning curve.
Does a Mission Statement Guarantee Success?
A mission statement is an important business tool that is an intangible asset that sets the direction and the roadmap of success. However, it doesn’t guarantee success; somewhat, it improves its chances of success by encouraging individuals, entrepreneurs, and businesses to stick to the goals.
What a Great Mission Statement Covers
A great mission statement goes from why to how to what, leading the potential customer to your mission. Thus, it becomes easier for him to see what’s in it for him. It consists of the following aspects:
Why: Explain why your business exists and what are its core beliefs
How: Explain how your business will fulfill your core belief
What: What steps does it take to satisfy the core beliefs and achieve its goals
A great mission statement also addresses,
- What the company does for its customers, i.e., provides them with a better user experience.
- What the company does for its employees, i.e., provides them with a great work environment.
- What the company does for its owners, i.e., improves the return on investment.
If we take a closer look at Microsoft’s mission statement, it addresses them all:
“To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”
How to Prepare a Mission Statement
A mission statement is not your technical document. It’s about your company’s values, beliefs, and experiences. It’s emotive instead of technical, which can become a challenge to write.
A great mission statement cultivates excellent business relations and creativity. Therefore, in the sections below, we will introduce some guidance for Mission Statements depending on the prospective user.
The mission statement for your companies
To create a company mission statement, write a sentence or two. Ask your colleagues and company leaders to do the same. Combine them all and write the one statement that accurately defines your company’s goals: the mission statement. Write, draft, and edit it several times. Ask your company leaders to give their valuable feedback on the mission statement.
Focus on the intent, not the wording
A mission statement has to be a reflection of what drove your company, or you as a professional, to your current set of goals. Unnecessary wording makes it harder to understand; which can make you end up with a meaningless, trivial, and overly-dramatic statement.
Instead, follow these guidelines to reflect your intent in the mission statement:
Go Humble
Remember your company’s early days. It is easy to fall prey to grandiose ideas, where in fact, the mission statement should remain humble, inspirational for others, and a solemn expression of the path you and your team went through.
Make it Adaptable
A mission statement can change. In fact, it can be part of the company’s growth process. For that very reason, do not let past times come to haunt you, and focus your intent in what are your core values. Do not make statements that go against your principles or what you can foresee will be the future of your company.
Make it Memorable
100 words are plenty to create a quality mission statement. Say 150 words top. It is best to stick to a statement that is easily remembered rather than a wordy paragraph no one can associate with your work.
Speak to the target audience, not the employees
Start your statement with the good things you do. Be sure it has to be more meaningful and distinguished from others. Your mission statement has to address the value it brings to its target audience rather than employees.
Plain language is for everyone, and jargon is for experts only
Your mission statement is your business asset and should be free of fluff and jargon. Make sure your mission statement is:
- Authentic, inspiring, mobilizing
- Showcase your unique selling point
- Write a clear & concise mission statement
It should inspire you
A mission statement for the business should be emotive and create an authentic connection with the target audience.
Do not explain the company’s services in general
As you write your mission statement, avoid explaining your company’s services in general.
The mission statement for the entrepreneurs
The mission statement of entrepreneurs showcases the value of their venture. A mission statement for the entrepreneurs should cover the following:
- Who are you?
- What is your passion?
- Why do you want to achieve this?
The mission statement for the students
A student’s mission statement is can be a helpful tool when seeking admission or getting an internship right after graduation. This kind of mission statement is no different from a business mission statement, except for it’s about an individual rather than a team/business.
Just like a company mission statement, a mission statement for students defines personal values and goals. As you write your mission statement:
- Keep it short
- Showcase your passion
- Get feedback from a professional coach
Mission Statement Examples
Mission statements of individuals/entrepreneurs
Oprah Winfrey – “To be a teacher. And to be known for inspiring my students to be more than they thought they could be.”
Sir Richard Branson – “To have fun in [my] journey through life and learn from [my] mistakes.”
Elon Musk – “If something is important enough, you should try, even if the probable outcome is a failure.”
Walt Disney – “To make people happy.”
Mahatma Gandhi – “I shall not fear anyone on Earth. I shall fear only God. I shall not bear ill will toward anyone. I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.”
Mission statement of companies
Virgin Atlantic Airlines – “To grow a profitable airline, that people love to fly and where people love to work.”
The Coca-Cola Company – “To refresh the world…To inspire moments of [optimism and] happiness…To make a difference.”
Ford – “Our mission is to strengthen communities and help make people’s lives better.”
Starbucks – “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”
GSK – “To help people do more, feel better, live longer.”
TED – “Spread ideas.”
Wise – “Our mission is money without borders – instant convenient, transparent and eventually free.”
Amazon – “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.”
MSI – “MSI is dedicated to empowering global gamers, creators, and business elites with best-in-class solutions engineered to satisfy their every need.”
How to Present Your Mission Statement to an Executive Audience
Presenting business mission statement to the business stakeholders
A mission statement is an intangible asset of your business that serves stakeholders & reassures investors for the future.
Just like presenting your vision statement, stick to your core business values as you present your mission statement and follow these steps as you present it to an executive audience to secure your next investor.
Step #1: Include the element of storytelling
Add uncluttered and straightforward stories aligned with your narrative. Do not try to include the story in your mission statement forcefully. Add honest and stirring but short stories because most of the stories today are compiled in just a few images or 140 characters. Shorter, the better!
Consider adding: Social impact created, solutions that emerged from your team’s efforts, and actions taken towards the company’s goals.
Step #2: Describe what your company does
Consider your mission as an action-based statement that communicates the overall purpose of your organization and supports its vision to communicate purpose and direction to the stakeholders.
Therefore, instead of adding wordy sentences, ask yourself the very next questions:
What is our business purpose?
Why does your business exist?
What goals does your business try to achieve?
Step #3: Describe how you do it
Know what your company does and add it to your company’s mission statement. Consider the end goal you want to achieve, be as clear and specific about this goal and remember to add your competitive advantage into the mix.
Step #4: Keep it simple
A concise, simple, and to-the-point mission statement always wins. Here’s what the mission statement of Apple looks like!
“Bringing the best user experience to its customers through innovative hardware, software, and services.”
Step #5: Make it inspiring
Your mission statement should be inspiring, focused, concise, and uplifting. It has to be timeless, meaning if your company’s long-term goals change, your mission statement has to remain the same. However, they are revised to reflect the new culture.
Conclusion
To conclude, a mission statement unifies teams, employees, and stakeholders into a coherent whole to accomplish long-run goals. A great mission statement reveals everyday activities that are aligned with the business’s values and goals.
A company’s mission statement should be authentic, inspiring, mobilizing, and concise. Take your time to create an emotive and logical mission statement because people gravitate to brands with values.
Finally, discover our wide variety of Mission Statement Templates, Vision Statement Templates and Vision and Mission templates free available for PowerPoint and Google Slides.
