Mission Statement Deep Dive, Part 3: Explain Why It Matters

If you missed Parts 1 and 2 of this series, where we dissected the first components of a quality Mission Statement for your business, check them out below!

Now, it’s important to focus on the final step: Why does your mission ultimately matter?

When you dig into it, the “because” is actually the whole mission. Without any reason to complete the journey, all you have are economic goals with no true incentive or purpose. By stating why it’s critical to reach the finish line, your team will have the motivation to drive their mission forward each and every day.

At the heart of every mission is the “why.” It’s the foundational purpose for the business’s existence, one that goes beyond profit. It speaks to your company’s services, products, and the need it fulfills in the market.

If you want to fully engage your company, this last part of your mission statement is absolutely necessary. Close it out with a selfless reason to take action:

• Lawn care service: We will mow lawns for more than 300 families by the end of the summer because everybody deserves to come home to a lawn they love.
• Footwear store: We will double our sneaker sales in the next 12 months because everybody should be able to have a new favorite pair of shoes.
• Software company: We will add 100,000 more subscribers in the next two years because no business should be punished when their vendors aren’t compliant.

You want your team to be energized around a good cause. Contrary to popular belief, people really do want to help others. Despite the world turning into a crazy place over the last decade, most companies are invested in helping society take a step forward — they just want to offer their product or service as the vehicle to achieve it.

This is why, after outlining your objectives and deadline, you need to define the altruism that makes it a societal mission.

There are two things your statement can include to turn your business goals into a mission:

1. A vision of a better world for your customers: Tell us specifically how the world will be better if you accomplish the mission. What will your customers see or feel?
2. A counter-attack against an injustice: Tell us about the suffering that people will no longer have to experience if you accomplish the mission. What broken thing is going to be restored?

Put It All Together!

Let’s piece together all three components of your mission statement. These are some examples of how it should look:

For a brewery:

“We will increase our distribution of beer to 75 more restaurants, four more grocery stores chains, and 27 bars by the end of 2024 because people deserve to have a new favorite beer.”

For a popular magazine:

“We will increase our subscriber base to 22,000 people, increase our advertisers by 40%, and increase our average advertiser spend by $15,000 by January 2025 because our readers need to be informed in order to make important decisions about their life and work.”

For a consulting firm:

“We will serve 30 new clients, sell five new retainer packages, and receive 98% client satisfaction survey results by the end of 2024 because business leaders shouldn’t have to feel like they’re alone.”

A mission statement isn’t merely a collection of words; it’s a narrative that encapsulates the core purpose, values, and approach of a business. Crafted well, it reflects the very essence of why a company exists and what tangible difference it aims to make in the world.

One of the biggest challenges all businesses face is the struggle to keep everyone engaged. The best way to engage yourself and your work force is to create narrative traction around your mission. Narrative traction is what happens when people get interested in your story.

You see it all the time in sports and movies. Will the team will the championship? Will the soldiers free the hostages? Will the couple find each other and live happily every after?

The point of a mission statement is not to check a box and have some meaningless words on a page. It’s to invite your team into a story that everybody finds engaging. Business leaders should certainly invest time in crafting a mission statement that resonates deeply, not only with customers, but within every facet of the enterprise. It’s the silent commander behind every great business venture.

Next Steps

Once you have your team fully invested and your mission statement is complete … what are you going to do with it?

Don’t just write it down and file it away. Don’t let it become buried in the small text of your website. If you and your team members can’t remember the mission statement, they aren’t living inside of a story. Thus, they are not experiencing the narrative traction you’re striving for.

As the CEO or leader of your business, you want to enter into a communication campaign that helps your team take action on the statement.

The number one key to ensure the company stays on track to complete the mission is reinforcing it regularly. Repetition is the easiest path to memorization.

To help your team remember the mission, you can:

• Open all of your staff meetings by reading the statement, which can lead into a conversation between each department about the current progress.
• On a monthly or quarterly basis, acknowledge a team member for advancing the mission. Tell their individual story as a way of highlighting the mission itself.
• Ask potential hires to read the mission statement and write down why it’s so important to them.

By following the formula we described — economic objectives, deadline, and why it matters — you can be on your way to success.

Remember, this is the embodiment of your ambition, the narrative of your brand, and, ultimately, the reason your business will endure and thrive.

If you would like to workshop your mission statement or discuss any issues your business might be facing, book a call with our team!