Why companies should have a mission statement and how to develop a good one
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2025 4:52 am
"Anyone who has visions should go to the doctor!" Most people will be familiar with this quote from Helmut Schmidt. However, very few know how to put it into context. Many years later, Helmut Schmidt did this himself in his own way when he was asked about that quote in an interview and answered succinctly: "It was a snotty answer to a stupid question."
Helmut Schmidt was certainly a pragmatist. Nevertheless, he also had very clear and ambitious goals and that is what this article is about. Why should companies set goals and how can they be formulated in a way that is understandable and comprehensible so that everyone in the company can get behind them?
As the poet Christian Morgenstern once said: “He who does not know the goal cannot know the way...”
The most obvious answer to the question “Why?” is: orientation!
Orientation at any time and in any phase of a company's development. Companies should therefore pursue medium and long-term goals beyond the short-term operational horizon. As well as a permanently valid, evergreen vision.
There is neither arrogance nor fantasies of omnipotence associated ukraine consumer email list with striving for a vision. It should simply give us permanent orientation, even when we have already successfully completed a major mission.
Some companies also try to achieve orientation by defining corporate purposes, attitudes and values that provide us with guidelines for our daily work. All in all, I summarize these points under the term mission statement, which I would like to explain in more detail below.
definition of the term
One thing in advance: There is a ton of good material on this topic online, but no uniform definition of a company mission statement. To avoid getting caught up in discussions about terminology when developing such a mission statement, it is advisable to provide clear and understandable methodological guidelines.
A mission statement should have an impact on all levels of a company. On the one hand, it should be specific enough to be able to derive decision-making criteria from it in conflict situations, for example. On the other hand, it should not be too specific so that it does not seem like a strictly hierarchical dictate. The differentiation and concretization should therefore lie in the individual departments.
In addition, the mission statement should not be developed in the quiet of the company management, but in concerted workshops with a broad group of employees. To do this, you can first collect information and opinions from the group using key questions and then put them to a vote on their importance. Then the final step of formulating clear and striking sentences from this is no longer difficult and the approval rate of the workforce is usually higher.
Helmut Schmidt was certainly a pragmatist. Nevertheless, he also had very clear and ambitious goals and that is what this article is about. Why should companies set goals and how can they be formulated in a way that is understandable and comprehensible so that everyone in the company can get behind them?
As the poet Christian Morgenstern once said: “He who does not know the goal cannot know the way...”
The most obvious answer to the question “Why?” is: orientation!
Orientation at any time and in any phase of a company's development. Companies should therefore pursue medium and long-term goals beyond the short-term operational horizon. As well as a permanently valid, evergreen vision.
There is neither arrogance nor fantasies of omnipotence associated ukraine consumer email list with striving for a vision. It should simply give us permanent orientation, even when we have already successfully completed a major mission.
Some companies also try to achieve orientation by defining corporate purposes, attitudes and values that provide us with guidelines for our daily work. All in all, I summarize these points under the term mission statement, which I would like to explain in more detail below.
definition of the term
One thing in advance: There is a ton of good material on this topic online, but no uniform definition of a company mission statement. To avoid getting caught up in discussions about terminology when developing such a mission statement, it is advisable to provide clear and understandable methodological guidelines.
A mission statement should have an impact on all levels of a company. On the one hand, it should be specific enough to be able to derive decision-making criteria from it in conflict situations, for example. On the other hand, it should not be too specific so that it does not seem like a strictly hierarchical dictate. The differentiation and concretization should therefore lie in the individual departments.
In addition, the mission statement should not be developed in the quiet of the company management, but in concerted workshops with a broad group of employees. To do this, you can first collect information and opinions from the group using key questions and then put them to a vote on their importance. Then the final step of formulating clear and striking sentences from this is no longer difficult and the approval rate of the workforce is usually higher.