Mission: Invaluable

by Mark S. Fulton

Good morning, Mr. (or Ms.) Proprietor. Your company, Wonder Widget, has just celebrated its first birthday. Intelligence reports indicate the presence of a positive bottom line. However, some ominous occurrences signal trouble ahead.

Productivity has begun to slip. Your employees are becoming complacent and susceptible to aimless activities. Your competitors have gained ground on you and kidnapped some of your customers.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to craft a corporate mission statement that will fire up the troops and focus their work, catapult Wonder Widget over its competitors and capture new customers. As always, should you or any of your team members be caught or confused, your secretary will figure it out for you. Good luck!

You’ve probably heard or read about the importance of having a mission statement for your business, but the idea of actually creating one seems like “Mission: Impossible.” Developing a mission statement can be a challenge, but it can also be an invaluable experience for you and your employees.

A mission statement is a concise written declaration of your company’s main purpose and goals. It can be as short as a sentence. It should be no longer than a paragraph.

The chief purpose of a mission statement is to guide people when they make critical decisions that effect the direction of your company. A carefully constructed mission statement can also become an instrument that drives your organization, determines employee behaviors, draws customers and distinguishes your business from your competitors. More than a mere marketing slogan, your mission statement is the linchpin that holds the wheels on your corporate wagon.

Here are some basic steps for constructing your company’s mission statement:

1. Involve everyone in the process. This can be a unifying and enlightening experience for your entire organization. If you want your employees to understand and adhere to the mission, make sure they participate in defining it.

2. Identify the central theme of your company’s products or services. For example, Disney’s mission is: “To make people happy.” The central theme of “happiness” influences every aspect of Disney’s theme parks, from entertaining attractions to friendly and helpful workers to a clean and safe environment. A Disney employee is encouraged to always think, “How can I make this guest happy?”

3. Define what you do and why you do it. Focus on the key attributes of your product or service and how they relate to your central theme. What benefits do you provide to your customers? What is the organization’s main target?

4. Identify your target market. Even if your customers come from all walks of life, they have common needs they want you to fulfill. Think beyond the items you sell to the essential expectations behind customs’ purchases.

5. Determine what makes your company unique from your competitors. What is it about your quality, selection, pricing, delivery and service that sets your business apart from its competitors? Why should it be the first choice for your customers?

6. Consider your company’s values. What is it about your company’s products or services that makes you and your employees proud? What are the standards that you seek to uphold?

7. Take the time to do it right. Brainstorm, review and rewrite your mission statement until everyone is satisfied. Both employees and management should agree that the mission statement is on the money.

Once you have crafted your mission statement, run it by some select customers and see if they agree with it. It’s pointless to create a lofty mission statement that sounds nice but nobody really believes. Make it real, direct and powerful.

Remember, a mission statement doesn’t have to be long to be effective. Here are a couple of examples of short and sweet mission statements:

Boeing – “To push the leading edge of aviation, taking huge challenges doing what others cannot do”

3M – “To solve unsolved problems innovatively”

So what do you do with your carefully conceived mission statement once it’s born? File it with other corporate documents that never again see the light of day? Haul it out at the annual company meeting and wave it around like a sacred talisman? No, make it the centerpiece of your communication with everyone who has an interest in your enterprise.

Your mission statement should be front and center in your employee handbook and other corporate documents. It should find a place on the wall in your reception area. It should figure into your marketing message and public relations kits.

Ultimately, the corporate mission statement is a tool for company employees to utilize whenever they are faced with a tough decision. They can simply ask themselves, “Is what I’m doing or about to do going to help us achieve our mission?” That’s when the endeavor to create a corporate mission statement will prove to have been “Mission: Invaluable.”

Copyright 2002 © Mark S. Fulton