Mission Statement- Part 1

Since mission statement is a stepping stone in the strategic planning process, it is important to implement a mission statement that will apply to the organization's strategies. Different companies have different missions, and in order to distinguish themselves, they should write a better mission statement. So what really makes a mission statement better than others? A good mission statement should capture an organization's unique and enduring reason for being, and boost stakeholders to pursue common goals. Since this is a general statement I will clarify how to do so. A mission statement should be the guiding light of organizations, not only slogans, but it should articulate its ambitions, behavior, culture, and strategies. It gives everyone the chance to know what the company is about. A well developed mission statement offers some possible benefits such as direction, policy, meaning, and challenge; Direction will focus on what the organization does, and what it aims to be successful in; policy will be the organization values, and a principle of what is acceptable and what is not; Meaning is the organizations strive to accomplish, and why they wish to do so; Challenge will set up the goals, and will be a tool to measure the achievement of the organization as a whole.
In order to evaluate some criterions for a mission statement, the organization should know who the target audience is. What I mentioned above won't be effective if the mission statement will be targeting to the wrong audience. Therefore it needs to be established to whom the mission statement will be directed to. Another criterion will be the length and the language used in the mission statement. Some organizations use only a single sentence, while others use long mission statements including visions, philosophies, plans, and strategies. The mission should be long enough to reach its targeted audience. Language- A great mission statement may not be taken seriously if the language is too florid, and/ or cumbersome. A well written mission statement should encourage commitment and energize the entire organization toward fulfilling the mission. Lastly, the element of uniqueness is also important; organization mission statement should be unique to the organization.