How to Create a Mission Statement

Every organization, club and business should have a mission statement, or a purpose for being in service. According to the Entrepreneur website, a mission statement "captures, in a few succinct sentences, the essence of your business's goals and the philosophies underlying them." Mission statements set out to organize and highlight goals that need to be met and must involve every aspect of the organization (members or employees, growth potential, customer interaction and quality) so that all can be of one accord.

Instructions

1. Determine the basic purpose of your business or organization. Answer questions such as the following: Who are your customers or members? What does your business or organization represent? What level of service do you provide? How is your organization different from others? What is its relationship to outside entities?

2. Encourage your team to contribute ideas to the organization's mission statement. A support team will most likely come up with mission statement ideas that may have been overlooked.

3. Set up a mandatory meeting with members of your organization to brainstorm ideas; allow them to write down their ideas, and select the best ones to add to the mission statement.

4. Be aware of the mission statements of successful organizations or competing businesses. Analyze how they express their service's purpose and how well they articulate their goals. Be creative and original in style, but also take special note of successful mission statements to get ideas and to make sure that you didn't miss any key points.

5. Use active verbs that describe your organization's goals. According to The Grantsmanship Center, make the mission statement short so that anyone involved in the organization can readily understand and repeat it.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember to review, add new information to or revise your mission statement if the business changes or if the organization matures overtime.

References

• Entrepreneur: How to Write Your Mission Statement
• The Grantsmanship Center: How to Write a Mission Statement