Create A Mission Statement That Inspires And Unites Employees

Every organization should have a clearly defined and powerfully communicated mission statement. A single sentence that describes your organization's raison d'être and becomes a common cause or shared goal that employees at every level can rally behind.

Your mission statement defines what you stand for and aim to accomplish. It reflects your company culture and values. It can be focused on your main products and services or customers. Or it can encapsulate the strategic direction of your organization.

A truly great mission statement gives you goosebumps. It points to a story or evokes a goal.

Here Are Some Examples For Your Inspiration:

APPLE: “to bring the best user experience to its customers through innovative hardware and software services.”

You can see how the focus on “user experience” can help drive decision-making. Whether it’s hardware or software, the idea is shelved if it doesn’t improve user experience.

NIKE: “bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. [*If you have a body, you are an athlete.]”

Nike has evolved from sneakers, and their mission statement reflects the shift towards “inspiration and innovation,” something broad enough to encompass all their apparel and reflects the inclusivity that’s an important value in their company culture.

McDONALDS: “make delicious, feel-good moments easy for everyone.”

While “delicious” is in the eye of the beholder, you can see the focus on convenience, affordability, and taste. Nowhere does it mention health or nutrition because that’s not who they are. Sometimes what you don’t say is just as important as what you do.

LULULEMON: “elevate the world by realizing the full potential within every one of us.”

Helping people achieve their potential becomes the driving force behind everything that Lululemon creates. You can see how that’s something employees can rally behind. This is an excellent example of an inspirational mission statement.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: “conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated.”

You can see the 3-pronged approach that Amnesty International takes (research, prevention, justice) reflected in its mission statement.

WORLD VISION: “partner with children, families, and their communities to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. We bring real and lasting change to the world’s most vulnerable children. For good.”

This mission statement combines inspiration (helping children fulfill their potential) and the practicality of how they will achieve it (by focusing on poverty and injustice).

WEFOREST: “empower communities to sustainably advance and implement innovative, high-standard, scalable and lasting solutions to restore forests and landscapes.”

This mission statement includes what they do (restore forests and landscapes) AND the criteria their solutions must meet (sustainable, scalable, innovative, high-standard), which are clear parameters every employee can consider as they make decisions. 

Your Mission Statement Isn't Set In Stone...

It makes sense to revise your mission statement every so often as the market shifts, you reach for new, loftier goals or your company culture evolves. Take Microsoft for example; in the early days their mission statement was “a PC in every home.” 

Once that mission was accomplished, it was time to update their statement. Their current mission statement says“to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.” While less concrete, their current mission statement reflects the growth of the business and gives them room to expand in many directions at once.

Try This Step-By-Step Activity!

Whether you’re writing a mission statement for the first time or revising what you’ve got, here is an exercise to help you clarify and articulate your mission:

STEP 1 -

If you’re doing this in a big group, it’s most productive to break into groups of three and answer the following questions. Grab some chart paper, head to a whiteboard, or create a fresh Google Docs file for each group.

• What does your company do? What's the organization's vision - and what’s the main purpose? Why do you exist?
• Who do you do it for? Who are your customers? Who do you serve?
• Why do we do what we do? Or why do we serve these customers?

STEP 2 -

This is called a gallery walk. If you’re all in the same room, you walk around and see what each group has come up with. If you’re doing this virtually, you can peruse the presented solutions using online tools such as a Google Docs, Mural, or PowerPoint. 

At this point, it’s not a discussion, just a chance to consider what stands out for you. Notice the words and phrases you’re drawn to.

STEP 3 -

In your groups of three, you’re going to brainstorm words or short statements that describe the following:

• What unique talents do we have that make us well-suited to deliver value to our customers?
• How do we define ourselves?
• Why is it amazing to work here?
• What’s special about our products or services?
• What are the values we hold?
• How do we want our clients or partners to feel or be treated?

STEP 4 -

Time for another gallery walk. This time, have everyone star the top five words or statements they’d like to see included in the final mission statement.

STEP 5 -

Back in your groups of three, take the words or statements everyone starred and put them into a clear, concise sentence or two.

STEP 6 -

Back in the larger group, led by one or two wordsmiths, work with the statements each group wrote to create a mission statement rated at least an eight out of ten for everyone present.

We hope you’ll go through the steps above when creating or revising your mission statement. Let us know how it goes! We’d love to hear what you enjoyed most about this process.