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The mission statement is, in theory, a collection of phrases and sentences that briefly sums up what the organization is all about. It can reflect a sense of product, service, values, and ethical drive. Of course, none of those elements are actually required since some mission statements are essentially vague statements that don't mean anything to anyone, least of all the organization that wrote the statement in the first place. Still, organizations write mission statements all the time and there are ways to compose a document that has some level of meaning and application. Therefore, here are a few thoughts on how to write a mission statement.

What do you do?

Again, it is not required to put particular elements into a mission statement. However, it can be more effective if the mission statement says something about the actual product or service that is provided by the organization. This makes it crystal clear to the reader what it is that the company is all about, and it can help distinguish that statement from other missions that people might encounter. Granted, some companies do a variety of things so they have to be a bit more vague and general in order to avoid an extremely long mission statement.

Values and ethics

When organizations write mission statements they have to make sure that they do not cross over into the realm of vision statements by crafting a lot of future desires. Rather, the mission statement is "supposed" to be about the here and now, and reflect some sense of the companies conscience. This is assuming they have one. The challenge with writing values is that they can be a bit vague. Companies often talk about being the "best" at something or being the "leading provider" or "industry standard." This sounds nice, but it can be a bit difficult to quantify.

Reality game

Finally, a mission statement should reflect what is really important to the organization in order to inspire employees and customers alike. Of course, this can be a tall order for some organizations because they can't, in good conscience, put down their values in print. Otherwise, they would have to admit that their mission is to "make cash, and lot's of it." Unfortunately, the reality of life is that companies have to "spin" their purpose into something that is more palatable to the general public. This is why the mission statement can either be the driving force in an organization or it can be a quickly forgotten statement that lives out it's dying days in the bottom drawer.

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