Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies
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The worst thing for your strategic planning effort is to have a mission statement that’s meaningless to your staff and other stakeholders. A mission statement is a statement of the company’s purpose or its fundamental reason for existing. The statement spotlights what business a company is presently in and the customer needs it presently strives to meet.

To build a solid foundation for a successful business, having a written, clear, concise, and consistent mission statement is essential. This statement should simply explain who you are and why you exist.

For example, the mission statement of Olsen & Associates Public Relations is, “We create positive relationships for our clients in the communities they serve by identifying and utilizing the appropriate means of communication.” If the company doesn’t live up to this mission, it has no reason to exist.

Many mission statements are works in progress. Others have been handed down over the years to the point that they’ve lost their relevance. If you have a mission statement, it may be time to dust it off or give it an update or total overhaul. Generally, if five years have gone by and you haven’t even touched your mission statement, it’s definitely time for reviewing, fine-tuning, or even rewriting your mission statement.

Sit down with your senior staff or management team and evaluate the effectiveness of your current mission statement. Collect everyone’s thoughts and suggestions, but the final decision on how to change the mission is the CEO’s. If you do decide to change it, leave the wordsmithing to one person.

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Erica Olsen is cofounder and COO of M3 Planning, Inc., a firm dedicated to developing and executing strategy. M3 provides consulting and facilitation services, as well as hosts products and tools such as MyStrategicPlan for leaders with big ideas who want to empower and focus their teams to achieve them.

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