Mission Statement

Definition

A mission statement is the management work product consisting of a brief paragraph that fundamentally describes an endeavor, center, organization, or team.

Objectives

The typical objectives of a mission statement are to:

• Be a communication, inspirational, consensus-building, and marketing tool.
• Accurately explain the nature of the endeavor, center, organization, or team and why it exists.
• What it hopes to achieve in the future.
• Articulate its essential nature, its values, and its work.
• Focus effort on essentials in order to avoid working at cross purposes.

Benefits

The typical benefits of a mission statement are to:

• Provide a unified vision of the purpose, direction, and values.
• Inspire unity, consensus, support, and ongoing commitment among staff and stakeholders.
• Drive strategic planning.
• Minimize or eliminate wasted or inappropriate work.

Contents

A mission statement is a brief paragragh that typically has the following contents:

• Purpose The primary common purpose in terms of opportunities or needs to address.
• Primary Goal A future-oriented vision in terms of the primary goal.
• Direction A direction to take in terms of activities and tasks performed to fulfill the purpose and achieve the goal.
• Values in terms of guiding principles and beliefs.

Stakeholders

A mission statement typically has the following stakeholders:

• Producers:
  • Management Team:
    • Contact Center Management Team
    • Data Center Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Project Management Team
    • Reuse Center Management Team
• Evaluators:
  • Management Inspection Team
  • Customer Representative, Subcontractor Representative, or Vendor Representative
• Approvers:
  • Management Team:
    • Contact Center Management Team
    • Data Center Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Project Management Team
    • Reuse Center Management Team
  • Technical Leader
  • Customer Representative, Subcontractor Representative, or Vendor Representative
• Maintainers:
  • Management Team:
    • Contact Center Management Team
    • Data Center Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Project Management Team
    • Reuse Center Management Team
• Users:
  • Management Team:
    • Contact Center Management Team
    • Data Center Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Program Management Team
    • Project Management Team
    • Reuse Center Management Team
  • Organization:
    • Customer Organization
    • Subcontractor Organization
    • Vendor Organization

Phases

A mission statement is typically produced and maintained during the following phases:

• Business Strategy: Completed
• Business Optimization: Completed
• Initiation: Completed
• Construction: Completed
• Delivery: Completed
• Usage: Maintained
• Retirement: Archived

Preconditions

A mission statement can typically be started if the following preconditions hold:

• The management team is properly staffed and trained in the relationship management task.

Inputs

A mission statement typically has the following inputs:

• Work Products:
  • None
• Stakeholders:
  • Customer Representative
  • Subcontractor Representative
  • Vendor Representative

Guidelines

• An effective mission statement should be:
  • Customer and user oriented.
  • A brief, simple, cohesive paragraph that is short enough to be easily remembered and repeated.
  • Realistic and practical.
  • Specific in terms of goals and how they will be reached.
  • Applicable to all aspects of the endeavor, center, organization, or team.
  • Kept current as the mission changes.
  • Clear, unambiguous, understandable, and devoid of technical jargon. See the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator to see perfect counter examples of how to violate this guideline.
  • Powerful, so that it resonates with the associated staff, as well as with the various stakeholders.
  • Unique, so that it defines and differentiates the endeavor, center, organization, or team from others (especially the competition).
  • A marketing tool (public declaration) that can inform customers of the benefits and advantages of what the endeavor, center, organization, or team offers.
• Use the procedure in the associated work flow to produce this work product.
• If you tailor this work product, then tailor its associated standard, template, and inspection checklist.

Conventions

A mission statement is typically constrained by the following conventions:

• Work Flow
• Content and Format Standard
• MS Word Template
• XML Template
• Inspection Checklist

Examples

• Example Endeavor Mission Statement
• Example Center Mission Statement
• Example Organization Mission Statement
• Example Team Mission Statement