I’m not saying that these companies became successful because of their mission statement.  But, a clearly defined mission statement does provide for a clear direction for which everyone in the organization can pull.  To create the most success in any organization, no matter how big or small, you need everyone to be working toward the same goal.  This is just as important in your private practice, with one or two staffers, as it is with a Fortune 500 company.  A clearly stated mission statement will also remind you of why you are in practice and help you to stay focused to meet your goals.

If you have not yet established a mission statement for your practice, then stop wasting time and establish one.  You may think that an easy way to incorporate a mission statement in your practice is to copy one from another practice with which you agree.  While you can do that, you would soon find that you will not benefit greatly from the statement, because it does not capture YOUR purpose.  It has to be your ideals and goals; the other statement already defines someone else’s aspirations.  Make your mission statement an extension of your personality and philosophy.

You can start by answering the following question about your practice:

• What are we known for?
• What do we care about?
• How are we perceived by the community?
• What do we provide?
• Who is our client base?
• What makes us unique?

Try to get to the essence of your philosophy in as few words as possible. Don’t make your mission statement too global or abstract.   Make it realistic, so that there is not a huge gap between your current status and your mission statement.  It also needs to state your mission clear enough so that your staff can understand and support it.

As you answer these questions, you will begin to establish the goals which bring meaning to your practice.  Next you need to formulate the answers to the questions into a clearly defined (and hopefully brief) mission statement.  A place to start would be to fill in the blanks in the following template:

We exist to ___________(insert purpose) for __________ (your customers) by providing  _________ ( service) with ___________ (the difference you make) and ____________ .(your unique quality)

Your answers to the questions that you provide may not fit exactly into the sentence structure above, but hopefully this will give you a starting point.

The following are examples of mission statements from existing practices:

“To partner with our patients in creating healthier lives.”

“To be a positive force and resource for our community’s health through family-based, state-of-the-art healthcare.”

“To be the best healthcare providers available for our patients as we help them achieve healthcare goals and achieve their full potential.”

You get the idea.