Team Mission Statement Template

Crafting a team mission statement that is concise, effective, and impactful can be challenging. Use this team mission statement template as a starting point to help lay the groundwork to establish a statement that resonates with the purpose and camaraderie of your team.

Team Mission Statement vs. Team Vision Statement

Let’s begin by focusing on the term “team mission statement.” While often used interchangeably with “team vision statement,” the terms mean two different things.

A team mission statement focuses primarily on the present overarching tasks that your team is focused on (what your team is doing now), while a vision statement focuses on the future (goals your team is looking to achieve or accomplish later on).

For example, here is a team mission and vision statement for a marketing department:

Mission statement: “To drive brand growth through innovative marketing strategies that engage audiences and exceed client expectations.”
Vision statement: “We aspire to be the go-to resource for impactful marketing solutions that inspire positive change and shape the future of our field.”

It is important to differentiate what your team does (mission) from your team’s future aspirations and goals (vision). By focusing on your mission today, you can create the bridge to achieving your vision in the future.

What Is an Example of a Team Mission Statement?

Below are examples of team mission statements from that come out of renowned organizations:

• “Our marketing team’s mission is to help people discover our organization by sharing educational information that provides value to our customers.”
• “Our research team exists to ensure our products work effectively and to meet compliance standards by running tests and validating our capabilities.”
• “The sales team exists to help clients find the right product that ultimately elevates their organization’s customer service performance. We do this by providing one-on-one consultations that guide clients towards the right selection of products.”

How to Create a Team Mission Statement

There are four key steps when creating a team mission statement:

1. Select a cross-section of seasoned team members who will help create a mission statement.
2. Encourage the team to brainstorm and create a variety of options.
3. Narrow down the list of potential statements by seeking the input and opinions of key leaders in your organization.
4. Craft the final mission statement that reflects the best ideas and has the support of organization members.

We’ll walk through the process below and encourage you to use this template to establish a collaborative and effective team mission statement.

1. Determine Who Should Be Involved

Determine who should participate in crafting the team mission statement. There’s value in involving multiple minds and varied experience, so pick team members with various roles and opinion leaders in the organization.

Depending on the team dynamics, consider involving adjacent individuals from other departments like H.R., procurement, sales, or marketing. Including others (where appropriate) allows you to factor in outside perspectives and create your statement with a broad lens.

2. Brainstorm The Team’s Mission and Purpose

Inform selected team members about the team mission statement project and set up a meeting. Before participants arrive, ensure they come prepared with initial ideas for a team mission statement.

Writing a draft statement involves having team members reflect upon the following:

• The organization or company culture
• The audience or groups to whom you’ll direct the mission statement
• The team’s overarching purpose or reason for existence
• What the team would like the audience to know
• What the team produces

To drive the brainstorming process further, provide the team with standard questions for consideration.

Standard questions may entail:

• What our team does
• How we do it
• Whom we serve
• How we create value for the team and for the organization as a whole.

Additional questions and directions may include:

• What’s the team’s purpose? Your team must be clear on and excited about why the team exists. Is there already a company-wide mission statement? Your team statement may need to align with and build off of that.
• What does success look like to your team? Understanding team members’ impact on their company, their careers, and the industry gives the team a clear picture of why the team exists and what they desire to accomplish.
• What is your plan to fulfill the mission? Focus on creating a strategy for team member contribution to a flexible success plan. Consider your team’s current action steps to make those accomplishments a reality.
• Based on the answers from above, craft your team’s mission statement. Have each participant share their team mission proposal.

Encourage team members to be open minded during the brainstorming process and welcome all ideas. Doing so will set your team up for a productive and eye-opening discussion.

3. Discuss, Analyze, and Narrow Down a Possible Mission Statement

Have your team share their ideas from step #2 during the meeting. Encourage individuals to:

• Write down specific words or phrases that resonate with them.
• Share their opinions about ideas that might not fit with the team’s overall purpose.
• Provide reasons for choosing some possibilities over others (e.g., I like how a specific word aligns with the team culture; I felt this phrase didn’t clearly illustrate our team’s purpose of instilling trust with our customers).

4. Crafting Your Final Team Mission Statement

Give your team some time to reflect upon what was discussed. Reconvene to finalize a team mission statement.

Here’s a simple process to help craft a team mission statement:

• Start with an infinitive: “We exist to…” or “Our mission is to…”
• State your target: “Our mission is to empower B2B clients.”
• Conclude with an outcome: “To empower clients to achieve higher retention rates.”

When Is It Time to Update a Team Mission Statement?

An effective mission statement is flexible. As industry standards and strategies continue to shift, so does the purpose and needs of a team. Stay conscientious about the need to update your team’s mission statement when appropriate.

Reasons for updating a team mission include:

• Massive shifts in the target audience: Key stakeholders’ changing expectations and needs or shifting market trends or customer needs.
• Significant changes in your organization’s goals and priorities: Ensure that the team mission statement reflects and aligns with the organization’s purpose and core values.
• A rebrand: Consider including language that reflects the team’s commitment to ongoing learning, improvement, and reinvention.

Initiate an annual conversation with team members to revisit the mission statement and make necessary changes. A team mission statement template like this one should simplify the process.

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