5 FANTASTIC FEATURES OF MISSION STATEMENTS

A company’s mission statements is said to be a constant reminder to the managers, employees, and in some cases customers of why the company exists and what the founders envisioned when the idea to establish the company struck.

Mission statements are at their best when they reflect a vision, an almost “impossible dream” that provides direction for the next 10 to 20 years. 

However, before stringing words together to establish a good corporate mission statement, Peter Drucker’s classic questions need be considered: What is our business?  Who is our customer?  What is of value to the customers? What would our business be? What should our business be?

Having answered these, it is also important to ensure that the five fantastic features of mission statements are also incorporated into it.

·         Limited number of goals:  a beautiful mission statement should focus on limited goals. The statement “We want to produce the highest-quality products, offer the most service, achieve the widest distribution, and sell at the lowest prices” claims too much.

·         Emphasis on the company’s major policy: Mission statement should stress the policy to narrow the range of individual discretion and to enable employees act consistently on important issues. 

·         The corporate mission should be able to define the major competitive spheres within which the company will operate

·         Long term view: Management should change the mission only when it ceases to be relevant.

·         Lastly, good mission statements should be as short, memorable, and meaningful as possible.

For instance, the search engine giant- Google has a good example of corporate mission statements perfectly worded to accommodate the five points above. “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”.

Another good example is Coca-Cola’s which is beautifully expressed in plain and simple sentences:

 To refresh the world - in mind, body and spirit

 To inspire moments of optimism - through our brands and actions

 To create value and make a difference everywhere we engage.

Finally, the five features and the classic questions above ease formulation of corporate mission statement. Anything short of this would give birth to a vague statement like this:“To build total brand value and customer leadership faster, better and more completely than our competition.

We build brands and make the world a little happier by bringing our best to you”