This tool aids in creating Mission Statements. The Mission statement is a short statement that connects an organization’s Vision to Strategic Initiatives and -Objectives. It usually includes the organization’s tenet, the purpose, and the beneficiaries or primary target group. The Mission Statement acts as the ultimate yardstick for every initiative pursued by the organization.
Time
Creating a meaningful Mission Statement can be achieved in approximately 45 mins using the method described below.
People
As with any other canvas, bring together a diverse team no larger than 8 people to allow for meaningful discussion.
Tools
Beyond printouts of the canvas you will need a selection of sticky notes and markers. Alternatively you can work online, using the PDF e.g. with Miro.
A Mission translates an organisation’s Vision – the statement what the organisation or the part of the world impacted by it, will be like at some point in the future – into a tangible action statement. It explains in very few words what the company will do for whom to fulfill the Vision. A Mission provides the “why” to an organisation. It defines its purpose.
In its best form a Mission statement acts as the north star and guiding light. It’s inspiring, catchy, inclusive, and emotional and invites people to want to be part of this Mission. Well-crafted Mission statements align with your stakeholders’ values and are concise enough to fit on a T-shirt front.
Mission statements often follow a basic pattern:
– We (name of the team or company – optional!)
– Do what & how (how do we make a difference)
– For whom (key beneficiaries)
– To achieve what (statement of the larger objective pursued)
The Mission Tool and the following workflow are based on this pattern.
How to use the Mission Tool
- Download and print the Mission Statement Tool. Alternatively segment a whiteboard, brown paper, or similar into three columns. Headline them “Do What?”, “For Whom?” and “To Achieve?” respectively (your team should know who they are).
- Ask everybody to individually write their thoughts for each of the headlines on sticky notes and have them stick them into the appropriate segment of the tool (approx. 10-15 mins).
- As a group, spend another 15-20 mins clustering, discussing, and weeding out the resulting ideas. Remember, the output ultimately needs to fit on a T-shirt front!
- Use the “We, the X, do what, how, for whom to achieve Y.” Madlib to wordsmith the Mission Statement in another 10-15 mins of co-creation.
- Reiterate. Wordsmith some more – you want your Mission to be inclusive and catchy (and fit on a T-shirt front)!
Here’s also a (beta!) video from our upcoming Ockham+ digital consulting platform that explains how to quickly create a mission statement.
Dos & Dont’s
- make sure your Mission bears some relationship with your reality
- be somewhat specific – ensure your Mission covers what you actually try to achieve. Avoid boilerplate statements and stereotypes!
- don’t brag about what you already are great at – be aspirational; the Mission is meant to help shape the future
- avoid bending grammatical conventions; Apple got away with it – most companies won’t
The Mission Tool was developed at go3consulting PartG and is a Copyright of go3next GmbH. You may use it under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 international license – see creativecommons.org.