Your company’s mission statement can come in various forms. From creating state-of-the-art tech to ensuring 100% customer satisfaction, mission statements can vary significantly. They can be a simple line or a whole paragraph, depending on your type of business. One thing’s for sure; they are unique to your brand.
Your mission statement needs to reflect a commitment to the higher social good, i.e., the local and global community you serve. It needs to be authentic, transparent, and it should resonate with your audience and your staff. More importantly, it should assist in fostering trust within the workplace and among customers.
According to in-depth research, organizations boasting high trust are 2.5 times likelier to operate at high performance. Therefore, they also enjoy better and smoother revenue growth. 81% of employees working with companies with a strong mission statement reveal that their stakeholders trust their teams.
However, the process of crafting a mission statement can be exhausting and challenging. Whether the statement will motivate the team to evoke a broader vision, brainstorming a mission statement is no easy task. Here we discuss how and why you should include your team during this process:
Why Does Your Small Business Require a Mission Statement?
Well-written and catchy mission statements focus on meeting the needs of your employees, as well as the viewers. These serve as a foundational structure providing all parties involved with a launching point when establishing the brand. At the same time, your mission statement helps you shine from your competition.
An excellent example of this is Google. Their mission statement doesn’t mention them running the top most used search engine despite being their reason for popularity. Instead, it is broad enough to let their business expand.
Critical Elements of Your Mission Statement
If you genuinely want to captivate your audience, you need to focus on the following four elements:
Value
Figure out what value your business adds to the life of employees and customers alike.
Inspiration
Craft a mission statement powerful enough to inspire people to work for your company.
Plausibility
Ask yourself, why does my company exist? Work on making it sound reasonable and realistic.
Specificity
Buzzwords and jargons are both completely ineffective for your company. Make sure you tie your mission statement back to your business.
Top Tips to Keep in Mind when Writing Your Mission Statement
Here’s what you should keep in the forefront during the processing and developing of a mission statement:
- Allow your business to drive your mission statement
- Figure out where you are and where you wish to be
- Involve all team members to foster your brand’s culture and boost teamwork
- Factor in your style and make it visual
- Revise and reiterate your mission statement to ensure you and all parties involved are completely satisfied
The Bottom Line
Mission statements are more than a string of words used to captivate stakeholders and customers. Instead, it is something you and your team members should live by.
Your mission statement will be underutilized if you continue seeking ways to boost your organization’s productivity, performance, and success. You need to focus on your mission statement while ensuring it unites your brand’s needs and culture.
Don’t write a mission statement because an expert recommended it to you. Instead, write one to add clarity to your business goals and inform customers and staff members alike about your business’s values.