Creating the Mission Statement

Overview
Simply put, the mission of an organization summarizes why they exist. Put another way, the
mission clearly defines what the organization does to add value to their customer enabling
them to better focus their resources and efforts.

Now there are many different ways to approach mission statements but in most cases
companies usually attempt to define who, what, and how.
In other words they often define their target audience, what their core competency is, and
how they plan to delight their customer.
Let's look at an example. Apple's 2011 mission states that, "Apple is committed to bringing
the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and
consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet
offerings."
So we clearly see who they are targeting, in this case students, educators, creative
professionals and consumers around the world. We also learn what their focus is, namely
they're committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to their customers.
Finally, we learn how they plan to execute their strategy through innovative hardware,
software, and Internet offerings.
Mission statements are generally short in nature typically a few sentences. And since the
target audience of the mission statement is managers, company employees, shareholders, and
customers it's important everyone understand what the company does and doesn't do on a
day to day basis.

2. Creating the Mission Statement

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Mission statements are normally created by a group of senior leaders but it can also be very
useful to involve front line employees in this creation process.
Additionally, once the leadership team feels they've defined the company mission it's not
uncommon to test the mission out by sharing it with other associates and customers for
feedback and comments.
As we'll learn about later in the course this type of two-way communication is at the heart of
the Hoshin Planning process.

2. Creating the Mission Statement

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