5 Ways to Help Connect Your Employees’ Work to Your Company’s Mission

Ensuring your employees know and understand your company’s mission, vision, and core values is important for your organization. But making sure they embody them is vital. In this guest article from Roman Shvydun, you’ll learn how to make that happen.

Clarity of aim and well-drafted directions are pivotal in the smooth functioning of an organization. It is also how you can keep your employees motivated and more productive. 

That’s why establishing your organization’s mission and vision and sharing them widely with employees is vital to your company’s success.  

But how exactly do you ensure that your employees fully align with your missions and visions? You’re about to find out! 

Why Does Connecting Your Employees to Your Company’s Mission and Vision Matter? 

Imagine yourself riding in a horse race.  

You know that you have the skill and the technique. You also have the right tools like a good saddle, a great bridle, perfect riding clothes, and boots.  

But you don’t know which way to go.  

No matter how good your technique is, a horse moving in the wrong direction will never win you the competition. 

The majority of employees who are loyal to their organization want to contribute their full potential and do the right thing. However, a lack of proper direction can hamper their motivation and productivity levels. 

Giving employees a specific set of guiding principles secures a few benefits: 

• Employees know where to pool in their efforts 
  
  
• The principles drive your team to work harder and perform better 
  
  
• They help your company in making the processes more streamlined and in sync with future goals  
  
  
• They act as an incentive for the employees helping them feel appreciated for inculcating these missions into their work 

So, how do you go about creating this vital connection?  

5 Ways to Align Your Employees Work and Mission Statement 

Connecting your employees to your company’s mission and vision takes proactive and ongoing effort.  

But these five tactics can help you create and maintain that connection for the long run.  

1. Distinguish between mission and vision 

The most important thing is to clearly define the differences between and purposes of both your mission and vision.  

While your company vision and mission are intertwined, they aren’t interchangeable. They run parallel to each other, both headed in the same direction, but are strikingly different.  

You can think of it this way: while vision answers the “what,” mission answers the “how.” 

It’s vital to ensure your employees understand the difference.  

Complimenting employee training with a small introductory session about company mission and values—as part of onboarding—can clearly spell out your expectations and the direction you want them to move in. 

Working with an end goal trumps working blindfolded. 

Remember, though: in order for your employees to understand your company’s mission and vision, they both need to be clearly defined and shared from the top down. If you’re not entirely clear on yours yet, it might be worth participating in an interactive workshop like Creating Mission, Vision, and Values which will help bring your company culture to life.  

2. Communicate your mission and core values 

Communication is the key to unlocking every door in your organization. Ensure that your employees not only listen to and understand the mission, vision, and core values of the company, but that they embody them as well.  

A morally, ethically, and socially-responsible company will always be a step ahead in manifesting these core values in every employee.  

Social media is a highly effective tool because it allows you to convey information in easy-to-follow bits and pieces. Social responsibility engages well with employees of every age group. 

3. Make performance surveys a must 

Performance surveys are significant for effective employee management: 

• They help understand if all your employees are on the same page and align to the organizational goals. 
  
  
• Surveys give you data for comparing an employee’s previous performance. This can show whether there has been a jump in the performance or if they are ready to take up new responsibilities. 
  
  
• These reviews also help keep your employees on their toes, so they think faster, better, and more innovatively.  

Use email programs to send out regular reminders to your employees to inform them about these reviews in due time, so they are better prepared. Alternatively, you can integrate the reminders into your weekly schedule template. 

You could also direct emails towards regularly reminding the employees what the visions and missions are. This can happen through group discussion between peers and leaders, where everyone comes together to discuss the plans for a future in line with the organizational values. 

It also goes a long way in building a more collaborative and equal workspace where everyone feels heard and valued. Responding to survey results individually or as a company progress report can make performance reviews a conversation rather than an exam. 

To ensure your performance surveys are positive and productive, it’s never a bad idea have your company’s leaders take part in a training program like Productive Feedback and Performance Reviews which can teach them to deliver feedback in a more impactful way.   

4. Align all processes in the company with the mission 

When you want someone to learn and remember a certain point, you need to talk about it constantly. Eventually, it will get ingrained into their minds and daily processes. 

At the same time, you should encourage employee feedback to managers. It can help you identify any gaps between what you communicate and what reaches the employee. 

When you make your vision and mission an integral part of your company processes, you bring your employees in direct touch with these essential aspects. They are more onboard with the company mission and try to incorporate the same in their work routines. The result being, knowing this information by heart. 

5. Celebrate achievements that align with the company mission 

Incentives need not always be monetary. Sometimes, a little pat on the back goes a long way in boosting an employee’s morale.  

When you see an employee moving well in line with the organizational missions and is doing well for the business and the stakeholders, take some time and appreciate that effort. 

You can create a reward program directed specifically towards noticing employee efforts and bringing that to the limelight. It will motivate the employee to make more efforts towards incorporating these healthy habits in his work schedule and encourage others to work in a similar direction. 

A happy and motivated employee builds a comfortable and holistic workspace that encourages people to share their ideas and views openly. 

Help them become more productive with better time and task management skills, conduct regular surveys that drive them to work harder. Also, use effective employees training methods to make them adept at handling challenging situations. 

Learn More About How to Craft Your Company’s Mission, Vision, and Values and Intergrate Them Throughout Your Organization

For more information about how to get your team aligned on the company’s mission and vision, reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants.

Author Bio:

Roman Shvydun

Roman Shvydun writes informative articles mainly about everything related to e-mail. His articles have become extremely popular in such areas as Marketing, Business, Productivity, Workplace culture, etc. His articles focus on balancing informative with SEO needs–but never at the expense of providing an entertaining read. See a few more examples of Roman’s articles by visiting the Mailbird blog.