Monday, 4 March 2013

Mission Statement


 Why have a Mission Statement?

-          Your Mission Statement translates your Vision Statement into something that you can communicate to your employees and customers.  (You may have separate internal and external mission statements for those two audiences to make allowances for their different desires – but the essential message will be the same)

-          A Mission Statement describes what a business is and what it does – it is the way that you as the business owner are going to achieve your Vision

-          It tells people about your values and beliefs; what is important to the organisation and the kind of people that work there

-          It sets the stage for your marketing strategy; what is different and better about what you do and what kind of customers do you serve

What makes a good Mission Statement?

-          It should say what you do

-          It should say what kind of people you and your employees are

-          It should describe who your customers are and what the outcome is for them

-          It should be realistic, achievable and credible.  Your staff and your customers must believe the organisation can do it and it should match actual behaviours and activities

-          It should be stretching and involve some aspiration

-          It should motivate your staff and customers.  It must be something that they think is worth achieving and which matches their values and beliefs

-          It must be aligned with your Vision Statement

-          It may have a timescale and concrete outcomes, or these may be in separate objectives

What do you do with your Mission Statement when you’ve got one?

-          Your Mission Statement (or extracts from it) should be used in internal and external communication (marketing)

-          It should be used when recruiting and appraising staff

-          Short, medium and long-term objectives should be reviewed against the Mission Statement to ensure that they are moving your business in the right direction

-          It should be used to underpin your strategic decisions

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