Does your team have clear direction and purpose?

Does your team have clear direction and purpose? Understanding the direction of your business, and what its core values are, is a large part buying into company culture. How can you align yourself to a business if their purpose isn’t clear. If you don’t already have a clear understanding of what your business's purpose is and what you stand for, use this opportunity to build out a mission statement, as a team, to endorse what you stand for and align the team to a common purpose.

Creating a mission statement is not just another task within the business planning framework. These ideas should evolve from the team, truly capturing the the company's purpose, and the values they believe will support the delivery of this purpose. The statement must be a clear and compelling goal, that serves to unify the business efforts. An effective statement must stretch and challenge the business, and the team, yet be achievable. A mission statement should include all stakeholders in the business, both internal and external.

Do’s

• Think about your customer and what your product will do form them

• Think about how your product will improve their life

• Think about how you can support your team

• Think about how you interact with the wider community

• Dig deep into your emotional basket and connect with all your stakeholders during this process

• Engage your entire team and seek feedback during the process

Do Not’s

• Copy and mission statement from your competitor

• Draft it up on your own, locked behind your office door

• Reuse the one you already have

• Park it in a drawer when you have finished

The Framework of the Mission Statement

A mission statement needs to be built in stages. Each one of these stages is promoting a different context of thought, on what the outcomes of your business are. This framework is designed to help you split your mission statement up into single business objectives and consider each stakeholder in the business, to provide a compelling and engaging mission statement for both your customer and your team.

1.0 Framework

1.1 Value & Beliefs

1.2 What is the purpose of your business?

1.3 Target Mission

1.4 Vivid Description

Completed example:

To establish our agency as the preferred property management business in our area, by building community relationships. To provide support and tools to our staff to enhance their careers and help them with personal success. To serve our clients with transparency and promote wealth from their investment.