How to Make Your Company's Mission Statement Come Alive

As part of my consulting work, I have reviewed hundreds of mission statements so I can understand the "heart beat' of the companies I work with. Most are noble sounding and should impress employees, clients, and prospects. But, I am always left wondering just how many executives at these companies look at the mission statement once it's been published. More importantly, I wonder how they measure just how the employees are executing on the stated values.

For most companies it is a bit of a process to come up with a mission statement that encompasses the core values around products, customers and employees. Many executives I have talked with have told me they spent days to get it just right so it reflects the soul of the company's values. Some even took their executive team "off campus" so they were in a setting where they could focus on just this topic without the normal day-to-day interruptions.

I think that's terrific. But what happens after that?

Well, you will probably find the mission statement engraved on a very nice plaque in the lobby of the company's headquarter, on the wall in the top officer's office, and on the company's web site.

My question is "What is the company doing to make sure these ideals are actually put into action and measured on an on-going basis?" Think about it...what good is a mission statement if you don't measure results?

Here's what successful companies do...they include core values related to the mission statement as part of the employee's annual appraisal. To do this right, you need to:

1. determine the competencies related to these core values
2. describe the expected results or behaviors
3. assign appropriate weighting to each competency
4. make it part of every employee's appraisal!

Now you have a way to measure alignment between your mission statement and actual results. Without measuring, how do you know if your company is living up to it's core values? Oh, you might say that your financial results give you that feedback. My response back to you would be, "how do you know it couldn't be even better?"

If you are measuring actual performance at the individual level against your expected results, you may find there is room for improvement. This gives you an opportunity to help your employees focus on improving those areas that map to the mission statement. The result...you are likely to see an even greater improvement on your bottom line and on your top line.

Bottom line--make sure you include performance measures on your appraisal forms that directly relate to those values contained in your mission statement. Now you will be able to track, measure, and improve alignment between your actual versus expected results.