This week my new assistant Alex began working with me. As I began thinking about her first week, I looked at what I could share with her that would quickly bring her up to speed in relation to what DebPilgrim.com stood for. There’s the usual focus on the description of her position, desired competencies, and how we would work together, but for her to have a strong understanding of who we are, I went back to what I’ve always worked on with others - creating a culture.

Creating corporate cultures was something I had been doing for years with some of our largest organisations. In most cases, when a strategic planning day was organised for focusing on developing mission statements, the response was a mix of blank expressions, disinterest, and lack of involvement by members of the organisation. This was because the participants knew that in most cases, at the end of the day the mission statement would be something that collected dust on the wall.

Well, remember the classic scene from Alice in Wonderland?

Alice was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire cat on the bough of a tree a few yards off.
The cat only grinned when it saw Alice…
“Cheshire Puss”, she began, rather timidly…”Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the cat.
“I don’t much care where-,” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the cat.
“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that” said the cat,” if only you walk long enough”.

The Cheshire cat is right. If you don’t know where you’re going, or what your business represents, then any path will do. But once you know where you’re headed, and what your brand means to you, you are able to focus your resources and motivate and inspire your people to get the work done, which allows you to represent your company as you intended.

This is what I love about supporting the creation of cultures within small businesses by developing your mission statement; you can actually make a living document. It’s something that can really create a legacy when you give it wings.

Do you have yours?

If not, why not start with thinking about why you started your business? What is the purpose of your business?

From here, you can look what needs your business is addressing, and how you best do address the needs of your potential clients. In simple terms this is being clear on what activities you engage in on a daily basis. Focus on the verbs that describe the core activities of your business.

The final part of a strong mission statement is about being clear on the values of your business. This is often harder to pin down than your purpose or what you do, because it’s not something you may see on a daily basis. But these values are important because they describe what is important to you.

Developing a mission statement is not something you can really do in an hour. It takes time to develop, and your first draft will not be your last. In fact, your first draft may not look anything like the final statement. But as you work through this process, begin to pull everything you have together and put it into a single sentence that describes your business purpose, actions, and values. Remember, your mission statement needs to be clear, concise, and compelling.

If you want to get started on your mission statement, why not book in for a 1 hour "Just in Time" session with me?