The Mission of the Mission Statement

by

Dr. Alfred M. Coke

Mission Statements exist for three reasons. The first is to give purpose to the enterprise. The second is to define its business. The third is to explain what employees do each day.

Every organization serves some higher order purpose. Figuring out that purpose is the most difficult task for the management team. Ask what need is being filled in the universe. If you went away tomorrow, what hole would be left in your industry?

Too often the mission is incorrectly described as the product. For example, a fast food company may say its mission is to sell hamburgers. In that case they are restricting their product line to only burgers and can never venture into fish sandwiches, wraps, and salads.

Putting a strategy into the mission is a second fatal flaw that leads to confusion.

A strategy does not define the business but rather states how you plan to accomplish the mission. An incorrectly written version might say “We satisfy people’s hunger by selling the world’s best hamburger.” Any Mission Statement that includes the words “by” or “thru” is actually including a strategy.  

Mission Statements are written for the employees who need to understand the scope and scale of what they are to do each day. We have erroneously been led to believe that the Mission Statement is directed at the customer. You should never be embarrassed if it is read by customers but they are not its intended audience. You want employees focused on mission essential work and not committing the cardinal sin of being “off mission.”

Other problems are contained in the pop culture of writing a Mission Statement. It is often confused with the Vision Statement. The former are written for the present while the latter are the future. The first is you business today and the second is a description of where you want to take the business in the future. The Mission Statement is a hard fact of your current business while the Vision Statement is a desired end state. A Mission Statement should never start with the phrase, ‘To become.” Leave that for the vision.

The most common and fatal flaw is the length of a Mission Statement. It is one sentence. The shorter the sentence, the more powerful the statement becomes. Yet the tendency is to include every politically correct, colorful adjective known to the drafters. Consider these two statements. Which will play better with employees and customers?

Version 1: Our highly motivated associates build beautifully appointed, custom designed, environmentally friendly homes that are an asset to the community in which you live. We use only the highest quality materials with the finest workmanship of the industry. You can be assured of the best economic value for your purchasing dollars when you build with Treetop Homes.

Version 2: We manage the home building process.

Summary

Keep your Mission Statement short, direct, and focused. Define your purpose then stay on mission.