Create a Mission Statement and Promote Your Company's Values, Morals and Ethics
When you create a mission statement, there are several key things you should keep in mind. A mission statement is a powerful tool to promote your company's goals and priorities. Long used in many types of organizations, a mission statement should drive everything your employees do.
One of the first things to do when you create a mission statement is to determine what your goals are. Use words such as "the goals of our company are to:", then follow with a list of bullet points. This breaks it down into easily digestible pieces of information that will stick in the minds of employees. It will become somewhat like a pledge, where it is internalized.
When you create a mission statement, there are several key points that you should include. These will vary based on the type of business and what the goals are.
A brief list includes the following:
Purpose statement
What is the real purpose of your company? Is there an inspirational message that you want to convey to your employees and clients?
Values
What part of your company's values make you stand out from the crowd? Give your employees ownership in carrying out the values and standards of your company.
Strategy/business
How do you want your employees to help carry out the business plan? What is your goal, and how does it benefit the company and the customer?
Character/behavioral standards
Clearly state the expectations from employees in relation to the client perception of the company as a whole by behaviors carried out in the work place.
Before you create a mission statement have a look at sample mission statements or other companies, especially well known, successful ones such as:
- Starbucks mission statement
- Bank of America mission statement
- Nike mission statement
- Ford Motor Company mission statement
- Wal Mart mission statement
- What is Dells mission statement
Once you create a mission statement, it should be placed in a highly visible location. Have it printed on a poster size paper, and leave it in conspicuous locations, such as the break room, the front office areas, and other high traffic areas. Don't leave your mission statement, vision and values in an employee handbook and forget about it - in fact, make sure that you emphasize it at employee meetings and other events and in newsletters and other staff material.
Once you have successfully created a mission statement, your employees, customers and management will have a clear outline of the short and long term goals of your organization. This helps boost morale and encourage consistency in the workplace.
When developing a team mission statements within divisions of the organization it is necessary to first establish personal mission statements for each person in the team. Then the team mission statement using the same steps above, but applied to the specific division.
By focusing on the importance of your company goals you will set a higher standard, and ultimately foster an atmosphere where success is expected. Setting high goals yields good results.
Click here for mission statement examples
