How to write a mission statement
Writing a Mission Statement is a complex activity
involving every level of the organisation. Here's
how to get started. A mission statement should be
the last thing you write as it should be shaped by
the analysis not shape it! It should be undertaken
after the TOWS analysis (see page 19).
Here's How:
1. List the organisation's core competencies;
its unique strengths and weaknesses.
2. List the organisation's primary customers,
internal or external, by type, not by name.
3. Review how each customer relates to
each of the organisation's strengths. Ask
them if possible.
4. Write a one-sentence description of each
customer/strength pairing.
5. Combine any that are essentially the
same.
6. List the sentences in order of importance
to the organisation's vision, if one exists.
7. Combine the top three to five sentences
into a paragraph.
8. Ask your customers if they would want to
do business with an organisation with that
mission.
9. Ask your employees if they understand
and support it and can act on it.
10. Ask your suppliers if it makes sense to
them.
11. Incorporate the feedback from customers,
employees and suppliers and repeat the
process.
12. When you have refined the paragraph into
statements that clearly articulates the way
the company wants to relate to those it effects,
publish it to everyone. Post it on the
wall, email it to everyone, etc.
· Minimum waste and duplication of resources.
· The existence of a structure around which to
manage