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It is fair to say that the face of business has changed radically in several ways over the past couple of decades. Forces such as digitization and globalization have changed the way we do and think about business. With change so abundant, it can be tempting to think that you can skip over other steps that would have once seemed integral to the process.

Case in point: mission statements. Once upon a time, the idea of skipping over these would have seemed ludicrous. Given the fast pace and digitized face of the startup world today, however, where businesses can be born faster than ever before, it can be tempting to skip this step.

Tempting, maybe, but as we’ll see, not prudent.

Defining and Focusing Your Goals

It can be all too easy to run away with your imagination or see your goals remain amorphous and unfocused. Mission statements can help give your business strategy a sense of focus. This, in turn, can help you develop a more concrete short and long-term strategy for succeeding in business. While these goals can shift, creating an outline can help give you the impetus to get started in the right direction.

A Sense of Purpose

In addition to giving your business plan structure, a mission statement can give your employees a greater sense of purpose. No one likes struggling towards a goal they not only feel they cannot achieve, but can’t even pin down. Setting out a detailed mission statement helps your employees know “what they’re fighting for,” and why.

Building Company Culture

These first two points lead here, the formation of company culture. Having a goal and a sense of purpose can help ensure that your company culture is positive, constructive, and, just as importantly, encourages engagement. You don’t want employees to be dispassionate or merely going through the motions at work. You want them actively engaging with your ideas, trying to make them and your company better – and a mission statement can give them a blueprint to work off of and encourage them to try and add to it.

Far from obsolete, a solid mission statement is as important as ever.