Mission

MISSION

Every organization has a mission, a purpose, a reason for being. Often the mission is why the organization was first created — to meet a need identified years ago. 10 or 20 years can change the landscape so re-markedly that the original mission must be updated, altered, or changed dramatically in order to address those new realities.

A good mission statement should accurately explain why your organization exists and what it hopes to achieve in the future. It articulates the organization's essential nature, its values, and its work.

Mission Statement should be accomplished in a brief paragraph that is free of jargon and "terms of art."

An effective mission statement must resonate with the people working in and for the organization, as well as with the different constituencies that the organization hopes to affect. It must express the organization's purpose in a way that inspires commitment, innovation, and courage.

Key Components of a Mission Statement:

• The role or contribution that the business makes - is it a voluntary organisation or a charity? Are you in business to supply goods and services and make a profit?

• A definition of the business - this should be given in terms of the benefits you provide or the needs that you satisfy. It should not define what you do or what you make. These should have been outlined as part of the first component.

• An outline of your distinctive competencies - the factors that differentiate your business from the competition. These will be the skills or capabilities you offer that are not, or cannot be, offered by your competitors.

• The indications for the future - what the business will do. What it might do in the future and what it will never do.

Any organization's mission statement should answer three key questions:

1. What are the opportunities or needs that the organisation exists to address? (the purpose of the organization)

2. What is the organisation doing to address these needs? (the business of the organization)

3. What principles or beliefs guide organisations work? (the values of the organization)

Example: