What is a Mission Statement?

what is a mission statement that's our question today and whether you are part of a large organization a small team or whether it's just you by the end of the video you should be ready to write your own so let's get into the details [Music] this is the first video in a three-part series where we look at mission statements vision statements and values links to all three videos will be available in the description below as soon as those other two are posted today we'll look at the parts of a mission statement examples that will help

you craft your own so here is my everyday working definition a mission statement declares an organization's purpose assignment or job that it is setting out to do a mission statement is usually a single sentence or a very short paragraph for clarity and it focuses on the presence and clarifies the day-to-day business of the organization and what it's all about to put it even more plainly a mission statement is a concise job description for the entire organization and it's usually worded with an inspirational flair opinions vary on what a mission statement should include so feel free

to post your own opinion on that in the comments section below the most mission statements answer these three questions why who and how in no particular order first a mission statement explains the why why your organization exists the purpose most mission statements explain or imply the intended benefit or contribution the organization makes the problem the organization aims to solve the motivation that drives the enterprise the purpose or reason the organization exists for example heifer international is a non-profit organization and here's how they explain their mission the mission of heifer international is to end hunger and

poverty while caring for the earth heffert does this by providing appropriate livestock training and related services to small scale farmers and communities worldwide heifer's why or purpose is really clear to end hunger and poverty the company tesla makes electric cars among other things and their mission statement is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy their why their problem they want to solve is spelled out in every word of this statement they are all about speeding up our transition to sustainable energy the khan academy was a pioneer organization in the area of online education and

their mission statement is to provide a free world-class education for anyone anywhere their why is to educate people so question for you what is your organization's why or your personal professional why what purpose does your work serve what problem are you trying to solve feel free to pause the video and make a note of that because it'll help you draft a mission statement at the end of the video the next part of a mission statement explains who your organization serves the clients customers or community the organization is trying to help or the target audience the

market the organization wants to reach this can be very specific in terms of the audience and market especially if you're a smaller organization or it can be a huge community if your organization is bigger so we look at heifer international again they're who is people who are poor and hungry but specifically small scale farmers in their community so they niche down tesla's mission statement is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy the company youtube that owns this platform has a similar who in their mission statement our mission is to give everyone a voice and

to show them the world big companies usually go after a big market for youtube their client is potentially everyone either making videos or watching videos but the who is not always spelled out in mission statements it's often implied or already understood simply by the business the company is in for example khan academy's audience says anyone anywhere but their content images and the other text on their website shows that their typical learners are kids in school in the us we'd say k through 12 maybe so yes the company's reach is worldwide but they're aiming for students

specifically in that age group here's another where an audience for the organization is implied or understood simply by what the organization has to offer there's a luxury sailboat company named oyster and this is an interesting one let's see if you can figure out who their customer is just by looking at their mission statement oysters mission remains simple to design build deliver and support the finest blue water sailboats capable of sailing safely anywhere in the world in comfort and luxury so who do you think their target audience or customer is they're who as we have been

saying to me just at a glance their customers are people who sail because these are sailboats that narrows it down phrases like blue water and anywhere in the world mean that their customers are the types of sailors who want to sail across oceans and words like finest comfort and luxury also tell me that their target customers have plenty of money so in some cases like this mission statements define their who in the context of the rest of the mission statement question what about your work who is your audience or target market now unless you're a

huge organization it's best to be specific about who you intend to reach my channel communication coach aims mainly to reach professionals and emerging leaders that's true that students and lots of other people watch everybody's certainly welcome but most of my videos are for people who are already working professionals but back to your story who do you or who does your organization want to serve what community are you trying to reach feel free to comment on that in that section below the video and lastly the third piece of a mission statement is the how the how

explains the basic method or strategy the organization uses to do business the way the organization accomplishes its work the distinctive approach that makes the organization different khan academy's approach to online education is to make it free they are not trying to compete with harvard those fancy schools or paid services online like skillshare their content is free to students that's their how their distinctive approach not all organizations spell out their how and their mission statement itself some organizations in fact use extremely concise mission statements maybe just a phrase and then they give the rest of the

details in what's really an expanded version of their mission statement in other places on the website the organization ted is well known for the different lectures and inspirational talks that they post in video form on their website their mission statement is about as concise as they get ted's mission is to spread ideas that's the heart of it but without additional details if that were the only language of the mission statement it doesn't make any sense at all it could mean anything but on that same page right around that in their text ted explains in a

couple of paragraphs what that means the how of spreading ideas is through things like talks and lectures that are 18 minutes long that are meant to be educational and inspirational they come from respected experts and they are done in over 100 languages that's their how their method or approach to spreading ideas some organizations give a really concise mission statement like this but then they spell out the rest in another paragraph or so now whatever approach organizations take a textbook mission statement will explain the why who and how in one way or another question for you

what is your specific how is there anything that is unique or strategic about the way you do business what makes you stand out even a little bit from others now let's get into even more direct application here's where you can take what we've talked about and draft your own version of a mission statement this can focus on you personally as a professional or any kind of organization or team that you are leading so the bottom line question is this what is your assignment what is a concise job description of what you or your organization does

that includes those three elements your why who and how and you can put these in whatever order makes sense to you and shape it into a sentence that works but to sum it up your why explains the reason your organization exists what is the problem you're trying to solve what benefit do you want to create and second who are you trying to serve what community are you trying to reach and if you are a massive worldwide organization your audience is going to be a big one but if you are a smaller type of organization that

only serves a niche market then how would you boil that down who is your customer and third how do you do it what is your unique or strategic way to get it done what method or approach do you use to offer your product or service now you take those answers those three building blocks and shape it into a statement that is essentially a concise job description for you or your organization if you keep it concise it'll be much more clear if you fancy it up too much it'll just sound like a marketing statement instead of

a mission statement before we go remember that there are two more videos in this series the next one is on vision statements and the third one is on organizational values i'm going to post one video each week after this one and when all three are done i will put links to them in the description below this video and you can always find any videos on the video tab on my youtube channel thanks god bless and i will see you soon