Writing a Mission Statement that Fits Your Strategic Plan

When formulating your strategic plan, one of the first issues you should look at usually turns out to be the most neglected and/or overlooked material for your business. That's the mission statement. Companies often gloss over this when trying to come up with a working strategic plan, thinking it's an unnecessary step that will save the organization money if it's dealt with quickly and set aside for "more important" matters. The truth is the mission statement will summarize the very existence of both your company and your strategic plan, giving you a clear vision of how you should proceed.

There are three questions which the company's founders should have thought about when they created their mission statement; even if they didn't think of these questions, it's a good idea to review your current mission statement now to answer these questions for yourself.

First, why does your company exist? What is the main purpose, the one singular reason it's doors are open to the public? What do you hope your new strategic plan will accomplish to validate your company's existence? If you can't answer these questions, it's advisable that you hold off on forming any kind of strategic plan until you have a firm, clear understanding of the reason your business is even around.

Next, think of your client base. Trying to be as specific as possible, who are your customers? Where do they live, what are the demographic statistics, and what does your company offer them that makes their lives better? By reviewing these questions you'll be able to understand how you can benefit your clients even more than you currently do, and you'll be able to apply your strategic plan to reach your customer base more effectively.

The last question dovetails with the second. Now that you know what you can do to make your clients' lives better, spend some time thinking about exactly why their lives will be better and how you can point this fact out to them. This is one of the integral points that your strategic plan should cover-why your business makes your customers happy, and how you can expound on this benefit both to them and to your employees.

Too many companies don't pay enough attention to their mission statement when they're first starting out, then blame the strategic plan when things go wrong later. But if you take a moment to review your organization's mission statement now before drafting any sort of plan, you'll save yourself a lot of frustration in the future.