Sample Mission Statement Tutorial

Mission Statement

Web-Castles ( Digital Crunch, LLC ) is committed to helping small businesses sell products online through cost efficient internet marketing methods. We strive to uphold a reputation for being Internet Marketing Experts, while providing solutions that small businesses can afford.

Here is a tutorial in case you were wondering how we came up with our own mission statement. You can use our sample mission statement above to help you build your own mission statement if you so desire.

What is a Mission Statement?

In 1 or 2 sentences your mission statement needs to communicate the main essence of your organization to your customers, stakeholders and public. For example:

Many times though, organizations want to talk about what they do, who they are and why the do their job. The Forest Service mission statement uses three pages to detail it's vision, principles and mission. Here are some excerpts from their complete statement:

The phrase, "caring for the land and serving the people," captures the Forest Service mission. As set forth in law, the mission is to achieve quality land management under the sustainable multiple-use management concept to meet the diverse needs of people.

It includes advocating a conservation ethic...

Vision: We are recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in caring for the land and service people...

Guiding Principles: To realize our mission and vision, we follow 13 guiding principles ...

Which Mission Statement is Correct?

Both methods or forms of mission statements are correct. The important issue is for everyone within your organization and outside of your organization to understand the principals. Your organization should also adhere to your mission statement.

Who Needs a Mission Statement?

In Profiles of Excellence, a clear, agreed upon mission statement is listed among the four primary traits of successful organizations.

The main danger in not having a mission statement that everyone in your organization agrees upon is focus. When everyone is not focused on accomplishing the same goal, it can have harmful consequences:

• Employees will waste time pursuing their own agendas
• The organization may not think about the different possibilities available to them, passing up work that supports the mission.
• Mission statements make goal setting simpler

But Lewis Caroll probably said it best through the Chesire cat in Alice in Wonderland: "If you don't know where you're going, it doesn't matter which way you go."

What Needs to Be in a Mission Statement?

Start by defining who your organization is:

The Purpose Statement - clearly state what you seek to accomplish, why do you exist? What is the ultimate goal of your organization's work?

Purpose statements usually have two parts:

• an infinitive that indicates a change, such as to increase, to decrease, to prevent, to eliminate
• an identification of the problem or condition to be changed

When you declare your purpose it's importnat to focus on the result instead of the method. How will the world change? Instead of saying "to build websites", you should say, "To improve the sales of web site owners".

The Business Statement

The Business Statement outlines the methodology your organization chooses to accomplish its purpose. Specifically, you must answer, "What will we do to complete our mission?".

For example, there are several ways to approach the problem of homelessness:

• to build homes for homeless
• to educate the public and change public policy
• to provide job training for homeless

Each of these accomplish the same purpose, but in different ways.

Business Statements usually use a verb ( to provide, to educate, to build ) and linke a purpose using the words "through" or "by". For example: "To eliminate homelessness by providing job training to homeless."

Be careful, if the word "and" is used in your business statement. Make sure you are not committing to two separate functions.

Values

Values are beliefs which your company tries to put into practice. These values guide your employees throughout their daily tasks. You should ask, "What are the basic beliefs that we share as a company?".

Some examples of values could be: a commitment to excellent services, innovation, diversity, creativity, honesty, integrity, and so on. Example: "Eating vegetables is more economically efficient and ecologically responsible than eating beef." (Vegetarian Association)

Marvin Weisbord writes in Productive Workplaces that values come alive only when people are involved in doing important tasks. A person's values should line up with the values of the company for which they work. Writing these values down helps to focus on them in their daily tasks.

The example mission statement at the beginning of this article fulfills the three main requirements for a mission statement ( business, purpose, values ):

At the Developmental Studies Center we develop, evaluate, and disseminate programs [business] that foster children's ethical, social, and intellectual development [purpose]. While nurturing children's capacity to think skillfully and critically, we also strive to deepen children's commitment to prosocial values such as kindness, helpfulness, personal responsibility, and respect for others - qualities we believe are essential to leading humane and productive lives in a democratic society [values].

Below is another example of a mission statement which includes all three elements:

The YMCA of San Francisco, based in Judeo-Christian heritage [values], seeks to enhance the lives of all people [purpose] through programs designed to develop spirit, mind and body [business].

Additionally, you may want to address the following issues when developing your mission statement:

• What problem or need are you trying to fix?
• What makes your company unique?
• Who will benefit from your work?

These issues should be apparent in the mission statement.

How To Write a Mission Statement

There is no hard rule for drafting a mission statement. The most important thing is that everyone in the organization agrees to the principals set forth in your mission statement.

One method is to sit down and discuss the mission statement. By dissecting and analyzing a proposed mission statement new members can see the direction of the company and the mission statement can be refined this way. Old members on the other hand, get a chance to renew their perspectives and refresh their positions on the mission statement. As a result the group will have a clear, focused mission.

Groups are good for discussing ideas, but not at drafting documents. Documents should be written by one or two writers and then reviewed by the group to ensure that the basic principals were followed. It's also a good idea to have others review the mision statement to see if they can clearly understand what it says.