When creating your mission statement, involve your task force, your front line team and the top management, and ask for their view of the company. Then, write down the business core competencies, your vision for the company and put all this information together. Some mission statements are only a sentence, and you shouldn’t go over two paragraphs. In case you need more than that, divide your mission in sections, or have a general mission for the company, and more specific and detailed missions for each department of your business. Ben & Jerry’s’ mission statement, for example, includes three parts, its Product Mission, Social Mission and Economic Mission, you could read them at its website: www.benandjerrys.com.

Your company’s mission statement should:

• Register the company’s vision.

• Express why the organization exists.

• Give employees, vendors and clients, a clear idea of what the organization stands for.

After putting together the first draft, ask for input from your workforce and revise the mission statement accordingly. It should be clear enough to help you and your team make business decisions and set goals.