4 Steps to Create a Mission

After you’ve created your vision story, create your mission

Once you’ve created your vision story using the template provided in our previous article you will want to spend time creating your mission. Your mission will become a commonly repeated phrase that everyone in your organization can quote on the spot. After you’ve implemented your mission for a few months go ahead and start giving pop quizzes by asking your team members to repeat it on the spot. If they get it right, reward them with a coffee or Amazon gift card. Your mission will be used on several of the other documents we encourage you to develop and utilize so take your time and make it count.

Your mission is not what you do, but why you do it

Your mission is a one sentence statement of why you do what you do. It is not what you do, but it is what drives you to do what you do. Our mission with CLINK is to, “Bring value to the construction industry by connecting them with opportunities, education and information.” The reason we started CLINK was first centered around creating a platform that added value and gave opportunity to contractors and the equipment they had sitting idle. As we build on that foundation we also strive to give helpful information to our users that can add value and raise their businesses to new levels. Whatever future products or services we look to add will fit within that mission statement. When presented with a new opportunity we can evaluate it against our mission to see if it will add value by connecting our users with opportunities, education or information. If it doesn’t meet those requirements then we scrap it. This is true even if the opportunity promises more profits or notoriety. If it isn’t aligned with why we set out, then it must be for someone else to pursue.

Avoid the bright, shiny objects

You and your team will be presented with a lot of bright shiny objects that promise more money and opportunity. These can quickly become distractions and hindrances if you don’t have a litmus to test them by before you deploy your limited resources. When you have a one sentence mission that everyone knows in your business, time and focus will be better directed at what you are trying to accomplish. You could spend four hours a week creating content and posting it to social media, generating thousands of followers, because you see others in construction doing so. If that aligns with your mission then you absolutely need to dedicate that time to those tasks. However, if it isn’t doing what you set out to accomplish with the business then you need to stop at all costs and reallocate that time elsewhere.

Make it reflect you and your team

Your mission is going to be specific to you, your business, your personality, and your vision. You will want to try to incorporate as much of that in your twenty word mission statement as possible. You can follow these steps in creating your mission:

Four steps to create your mission

Step 1:

Start by writing down all the reasons why you started your business. There isn’t a right answer for this. It’s really just what comes to mind when you think about what caused you to set off on this journey. 

Step 2:

Next, write down what problem(s) you were trying to solve and for who you were trying to solve it.

Step 3:

Don’t just be a problem finder, but be also be a problem solver. Write down how you are going to solve those problems for your clients. 

Step 4:

Lastly, write how you would like to be viewed in your industry.

Put it all together

Once you have all of this down on paper you can start writing sentences that incorporates as much of that as possible. The more you write, the clearer it will become. This may take a few days as you think, write, scratch out, toss around in bed, and eventually land on a final statement. 

Once you’ve completed your mission, submit it to one of our CLINK coaches by filling out the form at the bottom of this article. We would love to hear from you and learn about your business.