Employer branding is key for small company success, and is especially relevant during a global pandemic. Aligning your team around your company’s mission and values has never been more important. People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves and want more than just a job. Your mission statement is the guiding light behind decision making and keeping your company grounded to your cause. Crafting a mission statement can seem like a daunting task – so we want to break down the key elements for you.
Answer the question: Why does your company exist?
This might seem like a straightforward question, but if you dig deep enough you’ll realize how challenging it can be to have a concrete answer. Whether you’re the founder or in a leadership role, you should be able to understand what need is being met by your company. Why did this need lead you (or your company’s founders) to create this organization? Answering these questions will lead to more introspection, such as who do we serve? How have we changed our scope since our founding? And many more. It’s important to take this time to consider these questions and others in order to get to the root of your company’s mission.
Ask others for their thoughts.
Beyond introspection among leadership, it’s also important to hear from your employees and clients as well. Their insights can be key to understanding how your company is viewedboth internally and externally. This can be as simple as sending out a survey or having focus groups to gather informative answers. If there’s a disconnect between what leadership views as the importance of the organization and what the employees or clients view, it might be a great opportunity to go back to the drawing board and examine how your organization is presenting itself in order to move forward in the mission statement writing process.
Keep it short and sweet.
When it comes to writing your organization’s mission statement, it can be daunting to try tofit everything into a short sentence or twoIt might feel like putting everything down into the mission statement is critical, but hold back from that urge. Keeping your mission statement short and to the point is key to having it be understood by people at all levels within the organization. A complicated, long winded mission statement will not be easily remembered or repeated. Remember – at the end of the day it has to be something that you and your team believe and reflect in your values, actions, and decisions within the organization.At FullStack, our mission is to support companies in their growth by tangibly investing in their most important asset – their people.