A mission statement is highly important, and far too many organizations and committees treat it as nothing more than a formality. Other times, those engaged in group think spend hours putting into minutes what one of their members could have suggested in seconds, which would have captured the moment, concept, and their entire reason for getting together to accomplish a task or goal. A guiding principle must obviously be; clear, concise, and highly descriptive using as few words as possible; easier said than done of course.
Perhaps, the best advice I've ever received on why these statements are so important came from Stanford Business Professor Collins, and if you don't know who he is, you can get the same advice yourself by merely reading his famous book; "Built to Last" which is available online at the click of the touch pad. In this book he lists some of the top Fortune 500 companies that have been around more than 100 years. He explains why strategic statements are so important, and how they must be modified from time to time, as not to confuse the Chiefs or the Indians.
As the coordinator for a think tank which happens to operate online, I am privy to quite a bit of information on entrepreneurial startups in highly innovative fields. I often read mission statements that go along with business plans, on websites, and are the founding documents for many an organization with an important purpose. Over the years, I've seen far too many of these guiding mission principles fall flat, and fall short. They are confusing, cumbersome, wordy, and often don't make much sense (cents). In the case of a business, they won't make very many dollars either.
Sometimes a mission statement can brand a company or an organization, and give strength to the employees, volunteers, and workers to make decisions which point back to the mission statement, even if there is no supervisor around telling them what to do. If everyone is on the same page, focusing on the same goal, and following the clear cut principles, then there will be a lot less friction, and less micro-management. This means the operation will run efficiently, and has a much better chance of accomplishing its strategic objectives.
This is why a mission statement is so important, and how it helps organizations stay on track to do great things, make good profits, and provide for their employees, consumers, clients, and fellow citizens. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it in case you are in charge one day of creating a mission statement yourself.
Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Innovation for America. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net
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