Mission statement development and mission statements – consulting

That depends on the purpose of the mission statement. Mission statements for external presentation are developed top-down. If a mission statement is also, or above all, to take effect internally, you have to involve many employees, that is, work more "bottom-up". We have described the approach in detail here.

Mission statements can have strong effects internally. They contribute to the motivation, orientation and sense of purpose of employees. For those effects to arise, however, there is a good deal to bear in mind. Mission statements can also be used as a starting point for further development processes in the company. You can read the details here.

We have written a separate in-depth article on this.

Yes, an enormous one. "Mission statement communication" usually means all the communicative steps, for example flyers, publication on the website, printing mugs and so on. Introducing a mission statement means embedding the statements, principles and values it describes in the company. That takes considerably more: we have described the approach in detail here.

Quite a few! We have written a detailed blog post on the opportunities and risks of developing mission statements.

If the mission statement is meant to serve external presentation, it is enough for the marketing department to write the text in agreement with the management. If it is to have a strong internal effect (orientation, change, agreement), then as many staff as possible should be involved. Depending on the size of the company we aim for a participation rate of 80 per cent (smaller companies with a strong culture of participation) down to 10 per cent (large corporations).

We have run mission statement processes with 150+ participants. The largest group we have ever involved successfully in discussion and development work was 870 people – all at the same time. In principle, then, that would be possible for mission statement development too. There are almost no limits here – our methods scale more or less at will.

For this we apply some of the basic principles from working with large groups: namely the alternation between small group work and plenary phases. The actual creative development work happens in small groups, with interim presentations and prioritisation of the results in the plenary. For the next steps it goes back into small groups, and so on. We often work this way, and all our clients find it decidedly creative and enjoyable. And the most important thing: it always produces very good results!

Mission statements may well formulate a certain developmental claim on the company. At the same time they must not move too far away from reality, because then employees stop taking them seriously. See also the chapter on the "credibility trap". In other words: if there are things in the mission statement that will only become reality in the near future, that is fine – but only if it was clearly agreed during the development phase which steps will be taken over what period to make the vision a reality.

The vision answers the question: “Why are we here in the world?, that is the question of the “what“. The vision describes the reason the company exists, often “short, sharp and memorable”. It sets out a target state that the company wants to reach. The wording is often chosen so that the state aimed for seems barely attainable. That underlines the visionary character of the vision. The mission describes how the vision is to be reached. The mission describes, so to speak, “the road” to achieving the vision, or in other words the “how“. The mission statement describes how vision and mission are put into practice in working together internally and with external stakeholders. The mission statement is often based on corporate values. Sometimes a company's core values are also described separately. If the mission statement has been worked out thoroughly, however (which is what we at initio make sure of), it sets out precisely how the values translate into daily work. A separate description of the values can then be dispensed with.

Strictly speaking these are different things. In practice, though, we recommend putting vision and mission before the mission statement, since they already give it a certain direction and “tone”. Where vision and mission do not yet exist, we regularly offer to develop them as well.

Vision and mission are important cornerstones of corporate strategy. Vision, mission and strategic objectives therefore have to be well aligned with one another. It makes sense for vision and mission to be developed “top-down”, that is by the board or the management and where appropriate the first level of leadership, without involving staff. Since the mission statement regularly makes statements about internal collaboration, a high level of staff participation should be aimed for here. See also above under “How many staff should be involved in a mission statement process?”.

A great many, because developing mission statements is one of our core topics. Here you will find an overview of some of the more prominent mission statement processes we have supported.

And gladly – and not at all rarely.

Very simply, with no barriers. Write to us and we will get back to you very promptly.