Building Your Mission Statement

In this week’s blog, we’re going to look at mission statements for business. These are (usually) short sentences which describe a company’s vision and activities. We’ll look at the benefits of a mission statement and we’ll look at some real companies’ mission statements. Most importantly, we’ll learn how to write a business statement in English.

Before we begin, let’s take a look at our Facebook quiz from 1 January.

Post by English42.

And here are the answers:

a) “To devote our talent and technology to creating superior products and services that contribute to a better global society.” (Samsung)

b) “To be the Ultimate House of Luxury, defining style and creating desire, now and forever.” (Chanel)

c) “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” (Google)

 d) “To create a better everyday life for the many people...offering products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.” (Ikea)

e) “To refresh the world - in mind, body and spirit. To inspire moments of optimism - through our brands and actions. To create value and make a difference everywhere we engage.” (Coca Cola)

All of these mission statements are great for their use of English. Hopefully, you’ll be able to see some of the language features which they all share. In a moment, we’ll look at these, but first we should answer one very important question...

WHY SHOULD WE MAKE A MISSION STATEMENT?

It’s important to remember that, like many other business tools, a mission statement does not have to be used only in a business. It can be very useful for your department, your employees – or even just your own personal life. If it’s used in any of these ways, a mission statement is good for you in two different ways:

Internal benefits: a mission statement can help managers to direct, and it can help give a strong feeling of purpose and reason to the employee, the team and the company in general. Everyone knows what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it.

External benefits: by describing your work, a mission statement can tell the world about your beliefs, and (importantly) it tells customers how you are different from other companies like yours (competitors).

THE ENGLISH OF MISSION STATEMENTS

Step 1: verb + noun

The best business statement is made up of two parts: 20% good English, and 80% original thought. It requires a good English vocabulary, but this is much less important than your ability to describe your (your team’s or your company’s) vision and purpose.

There is one thing we can see in all of the statements: they all start with an infinitive verb. An infinitive verb is a verb with “to”: 

“To create”

       “To be”

 “To organise”

All mission statements, like snowflakes, are different – but they all start with an infinitive verb. This is usually followed by a noun:

“To create a better everyday life” 
 

       “To be the ultimate house of luxury” 

  “To organise the world’s information”

 

Together, the verb and the noun basically describe what the company is or what the company does. This is the first step to writing your mission statement.
[Coca Cola have done something clever: they have chosen a very strong, descriptive verb, to refresh. (This is what something new, different or desired does to you: e.g., a cold, sweet Coke on a hot day)]

Step 2: adjectives

After this, you can improve the statement by adding adjectives if you like. Chanel have already done this: they want to be the ultimate house of luxury. Ikea want to create a better everyday life. This step is optional, but the next step must be done.

Step 3: more nouns You’ll need to add more information, to give more details to yourself, your team or your customers. Usually, you will use nouns for this. For example, Chanel have chosen “style” and “desire”. Like Coca-Cola’s verb “to refresh”, these are very powerful nouns.
 

Step 4: more adjectives

Samsung have chosen the nouns “products”, “services” and “global society”, and they have added some strong adjectives to describe two of these things: “superior services” and “a better global society”. Like step 2, this step is optional. You don't need to add adjectives, but you can. If you do decide to use adjectives, be sure of two steps:

1) don't use too many adjectives - two or three is best.

2) try to use strong, descriptive adjectives. (e.g. Samsung's products aren't just good - they're superior!)

One last tip

If you decide to do a mission statement after this blog then congratulations! However, don't do it alone. Teamwork is essential - "two brains are better than one" - especially because there are two main ingredients to writing a mission statement:

1. a great vocabulary, so you can choose the best verbs, nouns and adjectives;

2. original thought about your company or team.

Be careful, but be adventurous!