Writing a Mission Statement

Tutorial

As a business owner or manager, you may need to write a mission statement for your company, team, or department. A mission statement provides strategic goals and direction for an organization. Follow these steps to write a mission statement:

1. Write the general purpose of your organization or team. For example, what do you do? Provide computer support and customer service. Produce home cleaning chemicals.

2. Write a list of your organization or team's strengths and weaknesses.

3. List the people your organization deals with, e.g. shareholders, customers, employees.

4. Ask your employees for feedback as to how they see the organization and the direction you are headed.

5. Write several sentences describing your organization and future goals. Condense these into no more than 3 sentences.

6. Write several sentences highlighting the strengths of your organization.

7. Ask your customers their views of your organization or team and what they see your strengths as.

8. Combine your strengths and future direction into no more than four sentences.

9. Review the mission statement with select employees and customers, gather feedback.

10. Produce the final mission statement. You may also produce a list of core values to combine with your mission statement.

Sample company mission statements:

Jet Airways: Jet Airways will be the most preferred domestic airline in India. It will be the automatic first choice carrier for the travelling public and set standards, which other competing airlines will seek to match.

AccuWeather: To save lives, protect property, and help people to prosper, while expanding AccuWeather as a healthy and profitable business.

Christianity Today: To expand CTI's ministry on the Internet through effective research, development, and collaboration that provides content, products, and services for the church worldwide.

Microsoft Corporation: At Microsoft, we work to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. This is our mission. Everything we do reflects this mission and the values that make it possible.

Plantronics Corporation: Keeping in touch with other people is one of the most important things we can do in our lives. At Plantronics, our mission is to enhance personal communication. We help make people more productive, safe, and comfortable when they use our products and we improve the clarity of communications.

America Online: To build a global medium as central to people's lives as the telephone or television... and even more valuable.

Keep your mission statement short, direct, and to the point. It should be broad enough to not need to be changed for several years but direct enough to really tell people what your organization does in just a few sentences.