No - a business does not need a Mission Statement.

If people at a business want a Mission Statement then the first thing to do is ask them to define ‘Mission Statement’.

If your people can truly communicate and reach a shared agreement on what a Mission Statement is then that might warrant further discussion of the merits of a Mission Statement. However, if your people do not, for whatever reason, truly communicate and instead give the exercise just ‘lip service’ then there is no value in pressing on to create a Mission Statement. We see this happen at many businesses. For most businesses a Mission Statement is a waste of time and an object of confusion.

Similarly, if people communicate well but cannot reach a shared agreement on what the words ‘Mission Statement’ mean to them then there is no value in pressing on to create a Mission Statement.

In those two scenarios, which are very common in business, people will not buy into the words of the Mission Statement.

Those scenarios are common because most businesses do not define precisely what they mean when they use the words `Mission Statement`. Instead, they debate and end up agreeing to words that confuse [or annoy] themselves and all others who take the time to read them.

If you review the Mission Statements of businesses then you will notice they range from tag lines to one-page ‘procedures guides’.

There are two problems colliding here: (1) the word ‘Mission’ has multiple meanings and (2) people have difficulty taking the time to reach agreement on how to think through and word things.

Many business gurus speak of ‘Mission’ as if it is ‘Purpose’…as in “This business exists to _____________________”. The word ‘Purpose’ can naturally align with long-term intent…as in, “As long as this business exists, it exists to ____________________”.

In common language, missions are not extended things like life-purposes. Missions are desired outcomes. For example, military people go on a mission – taking the hill. And caring people go on a mission – helping to solve a problem for people in another country, for example.

These desired outcomes are in fact goals.

Since they are goals, we can call them goals rather than missions.

If, in business, we are doing a project then perhaps a mission statement for that project would be of value…the mission statement could capture the ‘Commander’s Intent’. For more thoughts in this area see: https://rickbaker.ca/search.aspx?q=commander's%20intent

On the other hand, if a business wants to make an over-riding statement that explains why it exists in a way that at least everyone at that business understands and buys into then that statement should have a better name than ‘Mission Statement’.

The word ‘Purpose’ works much better than the words ‘Mission Statement’. When we link the word ‘purpose’ to something we usually are not tempted to be long-winded or express things in a complicated way.

Here’s an example: When asked, “What’s the purpose of a fork?” most people would answer something like “It’s a thing that helps us eat.” Most people would not go into lengthy descriptions of materials, form, colour, co-ordination with knives, spoons, plates, etc.

The question, “Why Do We Exist?”  works much better than ‘Mission Statement’.

In everyday life, if someone [say, a child] asks us “Why does a fork exist?” we answer “To help us eat.” Then, “Watch, I will show you how to use it.”

That is clear, concise communication. And, it works better than other types of communication. If we want to convey an important piece of information such as an explanation of why we are in business we must be clear and concise.

Yet, in business practice, for most people, it is not easy to answer the question, “Why does your business exist?” But, at least business people can understand the question. And, that’s a lot better than the situation that follows when you sit at the boardroom table and ask business people to create a Mission Statement.

So, NO - businesses do not need Mission Statements.