Developing A Team Mission Statement

Developing A Team Mission Statement - Key Points:

Must be short, precise, easily understood by a 12 year old
Describes the who, what, how, why
Is different from a vision statement
To stop cynicism, it must be bought to life each and every day as you apply it's principles when making decisions

When you created your Vision Statement you were setting out the direction in which you wanted to head. Now that you are developing a team mission statement you are setting out how you will do it and what makes you unique from all others.

When developing a team mission statement, the choice of a single word sometimes sparks intense debate. For example, there is a major difference between being 'the' leading producer or simply 'a' leading producer. In fact as you spend time developing a team mission statement you will learn much about the values, belief systems and sense of self-efficacy of each of your team mates.

As you are developing a team mission statement consider each of these elements:

Here is an example when each of the elements have been built into the team mission statement:

mission statement breakdown

Distinctive Competence

Several people have asked me, "What do you mean by Distinctive Competence?". Distinctive competence is what sets you apart from your competitors. It is the quality or feature of the organization which gives you your unique advantage. For example, a company I worked at knew that our team's competitive advantage was our flexible, energized, innovative people. The team's distinctive competence may be a function of:

the products and/or services offered or
a function of being a high/low-cost producer or
providing superior service
it's people

Identifying your distinctive competence is important. It enables the team to focus its energies and resources in a particular direction and continuously build upon its strengths.

Your Mission Statement Should:

Be broad enough to allow flexibility in its implementation, but not so broad that there is a lack of focus
Provide a template for decision-making by employees at all levels
Reflect the values, beliefs, and philosophy of operations of the organization and reflect the organizational culture
Be clear and understandable to all
Be brief enough for most people to remember
Reflect the distinctive competence of the organization
Clearly indicate the scope and direction of the organization's activities
Address the organization's fundamental reason for existing

Never See Your Team Mission Statement
As Set In Concrete.

Business, organizational and world changes dictate that your primary reason for existence and your distinctive competency will change at some point. Your intent may not change, but the way in which you deliver your product and/or service may well.

For example:

An organization that manufactured horse-buggies in the 1800's will possibly have quite a different mission statement today, yet they are still in the business of creating transport solutions.

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