Examples of Mission Statements - How to Develop an Effective Corporate Mission Statement

A mission statement is more than just a collection of values and goals – it is the heart of a company's identity. A well-formulated corporate mission statement describes a company's purpose, vision, and core principles. It serves as internal guidance and external communication, helping motivate employees and instill confidence in customers. Using examples, this guide will show you how to develop an effective mission statement for your company or school. You will also learn how Dialogbild, as an agency, can support you in visually designing and clearly communicating your mission statement.

What is a Mission Statement?

A mission statement is a formal declaration that summarizes a company or organization's values, vision, and purpose. It describes what the company stands for, what it wants to achieve, and how it plans to implement these goals. A mission statement can consist of several components:Vision: The company's long-term goal or desired state. Mission: The company's purpose – why it exists and what benefits it provides.Values: The core principles that guide the company's actions and decisions.A strong mission statement serves as a "North Star," guiding all decisions and strategies of the company in the right direction. It not only helps leaders define a clear direction but also motivates employees by showing them how their daily work contributes to the company's greater success.

Why is a Mission Statement Important?

A mission statement is crucial because it:

1.) Creates clarity: It gives employees and leaders a clear understanding of what the company stands for and what it aims to achieve.

2.) Shapes identity and culture: A mission statement helps build a strong corporate culture by defining values and behaviors that the company wants to promote.

3.) Strengthens external trust: Customers and partners learn about the values important to the company through the mission statement. This builds trust and loyalty.

Facilitates strategic decisions: When developing strategies and projects, the mission statement serves as a guideline to ensure that all measures align with long-term goals.

Examples of Mission Statements – Inspiration for Your Own Vision

It is often helpful to look at successful examples of mission statements to get inspiration for your own. Here are some example corporate mission statements from well-known companies:

1.) Google

Mission statement: "To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."Analysis: Google's mission statement clearly focuses on benefiting society by facilitating access to information. It conveys an ambitious vision that concentrates on the common good.

2.) Tesla

Mission statement: "To accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy."Analysis: Tesla positions itself as a company that is changing the world towards sustainability. The mission statement is clear and shows the company's overarching goal – a green future.

3.) Nike

Mission statement: "Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world."Analysis: Nike puts its customers, the athletes, at the center. The mission statement highlights the company's two core competencies: innovation and inspiration.

4.) IKEA

Mission statement: "To create a better everyday life for the many people."Analysis: IKEA focuses on improving people's everyday lives and clearly emphasizes the benefit of its products. The mission statement is simple and understandable to everyone.

Example Corporate Mission Statement – The Most Important Components

When developing a corporate mission statement, you should ensure that it contains the following components:

1.) Vision: What does your company want to achieve in the future? The vision should be ambitious and inspiring.

Example: "Our goal is to become the leading platform for sustainable technologies in the next ten years."

2.) Mission: What role does your company play today? Describe the purpose you fulfill and how you provide value to your customers or society.

Example: "We develop sustainable products that help people reduce their ecological footprint."

3.) Values: What values guide your actions? These could be principles such as integrity, innovation, customer orientation, or sustainability.

Example: "Our values are transparency, innovation, and sustainability in everything we do."

Mission Statements for Schools – Another Area of Application

Companies and schools use mission statements to communicate their pedagogical orientation and values clearly. Mission statements for schools create a foundation for pedagogical action and help align students, teachers, and parents toward common goals. A school mission statement could include the following points: Pedagogical Vision: What is the long-term goal of the educational institution? What skills and values should the students develop?Educational Mission: What is the specific educational mission of the school? How does the school contribute to preparing students for their future? Community and Collaboration: What values guide coexistence and cooperation at the school? How are these promoted?

Example Mission Statement for a School

Vision: "We strive for a school where every child can reach their full potential."Mission: "Our goal is to create a learning environment that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and social responsibility."Values: "Respect, diversity, and curiosity are the core values of our school community."

How to Develop an Effective Mission Statement

Developing an effective mission statement requires a structured process. Here are some steps that can help you:

1.) Goal Setting and Analysis

Consider what goals your mission statement should achieve. What vision do you have for the future of your company? What makes your company unique? A thorough analysis of company values and goals forms the basis.

2.) Employee Involvement

A mission statement should not be formulated solely by company management. Involve your employees and stakeholders in the development process. They bring valuable perspectives and ideas.

3.) Clarity and Conciseness

A strong mission statement is simple, clear, and easy to understand. Avoid jargon and complicated formulations. A mission statement should convey your company's identity and direction in one sentence or a short paragraph.

4.) Visual Representation

A mission statement gains impact when it is visually appealing. Graphic elements or infographics can make the mission statement more illustrative and emotional.

How Dialogbild Can Visually Implement Your Mission Statement

Dialogbild is a specialized agency that supports companies in visually designing and clearly communicating their mission statement. We develop customized explanatory images that vividly illustrate your vision, mission, and values. Our services: Visual Mission Statements: We create individual explanatory images that visually prepare your mission statement. These images help to clearly and comprehensibly convey your company's values and goals .Consulting and Conception: We support you in developing an effective mission statement and advise you on content and design.

Beiersdorf Fabrik der Zukunft Leitbild Digital Supply Chain Visionsbild Dialogbild Agentur für Visualisierung von Prozessen, Veränderungen und Visionen.

The Factory of the Future

Beiersdorf Digital Supply Chain Vision

Beiersdorf AG has stood for innovative, high-quality skin and body care and pioneering skin research for over 140 years. The company convinces consumers worldwide with its internationally leading brands and their product portfolio tailored to consumer needs. The supply chain, with its resilient and modern production network, also contributes significantly to this success.

Production processes are changing in the course of the fourth industrial revolution. Through the use of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and automation, they are becoming more efficient and interconnected. The "Factory of the Future" focuses on agility, sustainability, productivity, and transparency, all driven by digitalization. People and data play a central role in this. Our Dialogbild illustrates precisely these important points, thus painting a picture of the future.

VW Nutzfahrzeuge Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge Transformation Werk Hannover Leitbild Strategiebild Dialogbild Agentur für Visualisierung von Prozessen, Veränderungen und Visionen.

TRANSFORMATION PLANT HANOVER

Process optimizations, strategy, cultural work, and good communication are key for the plant management of VW Commercial Vehicles in Hanover on the path to a successful future. In the past, PowerPoint " battles " often accompanied strategy and transformation processes." Numerous charts were attempted to make as clear as possible what the company wanted to achieve and how the path there should look.

Now, they want to take a different approach and have developed a vision of the future together with Goldpark and Dialogbild. In an intensive process, the image was created on the one hand. On the other hand, the discussion about the important things to the management committee in the image has led to a common understanding. It has also repeatedly enabled different perspectives to be discussed and brought together. ...

Kärcher Changestory E2E supply Chain Excellence Leitbild Visionsbild Dialogbild Agentur für Visualisierung von Prozessen, Veränderungen und Visionen.

E2E SUPPLY CHAIN EXCELLENCE

Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG is a family-owned company headquartered in Winnenden, Baden-Württemberg. The world market leader in cleaning technology employs more than 13,500 people worldwide. The company is particularly well-known for its high-pressure cleaners.

To remain the world market leader in the future and to be able to supply customers optimally, Kärcher is constantly working on optimizing its own supply chain management. The current, strategically relevant project "End-to-End Supply Chain Excellence" changes processes, roles, and responsibilities affecting approximately 6,000 employees worldwide. To ensure a unified understanding among all project participants, Kärcher developed the dialog picture of the change project "E2E Supply Chain Excellence" based on internal workshops, which was then elaborated accordingly by DIALOGBILD. ...

Hellmann Promise For the Better. Together. Leitbild Unternehmenskultur Dialogbild Agentur für Visualisierung von Prozessen, Veränderungen und Visionen.

HELLMANN PROMISE

FOR THE BETTER. TOGETHER.

The family-owned company Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has been successfully delivering top performance across a wide range of services for over 150 years - forwarding services by rail, truck, air and sea freight are complemented by CEP services, contract logistics as well as industry and IT solutions. What began with goods transport by horse-drawn carriage developed over the decades with technical innovations into highly modern solutions.

To enable Hellmann Worldwide Logistics to meet the challenges of tomorrow, interdisciplinary work on new visions is already underway today. A new corporate culture was defined to position the company for sustainable success in times of constant change, including a vision, mission, and values. This globally valid culture, which connects approximately 14,000 employees with each other, was to be conveyed in the dialog picture and, at the same time, provided with foundational clarity.

Hahn Gruppe Strategie 2028 Erklärbild Leitbild Strategiebild Dialogbild Agentur für Visualisierung von Prozessen, Veränderungen und Visionen.

STRATEGY 2028

THE HAHN GROUP - TRADITIONALLY INNOVATIVE!

The automotive industry is undergoing the biggest transformation in its history. The Hahn entrepreneurial family has always implemented innovative ideas and taken new paths that have made the company an extremely successful enterprise. In 2018, the management developed a long-term strategy that, in addition to economic factors, primarily includes topics such as digitalization and new business models. The major challenge that brought the company DIALOGBILD to our attention was to make this approximately 150-page document understandable to all employees in a simple form. ...

Alunorf Leitbild Strategiebild Dialogbild Agentur für Visualisierung von Prozessen, Veränderungen und Visionen.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

Melting and casting, rolling and cutting: With over 2,200 employees, Aluminium Norf operates the world's largest aluminum rolling and smelting plant in Neuss.

In this extraordinary work environment, the demands on employees and managers are high and particularly diverse: Working with the ton-heavy, hot aluminum ingots requires not only a high degree of precision and teamwork, but above all, precise knowledge of the equipment, processes, and safety precautions.

Furthermore, environmental standards, quality, and customer requirements, and, of course, the company values play an important role in daily work. ...

Bäderland Unternehmensleitbild Leitbild Visionsbild Dialogbild Agentur für Visualisierung von Prozessen, Veränderungen und Visionen.

OUR CORPORATE MISSION STATEMENT

The corporate mission statement and company objectives of Bäderland in a dialog picture.

Bäderland is the municipal swimming pool operator in Hamburg with a wide range of offerings in the areas of swimming, fitness, wellness, and relaxation. With 26 indoor and outdoor pools, Bäderland is Germany's largest and Europe's second-largest swimming pool operator.

To communicate the newly revised corporate mission statement and future company objectives to employees and create a common understanding, Bäderland decided to develop a dialog picture.

The contents of the corporate mission statement and company objectives were developed in various workshop blocks in an interdisciplinary and cross-departmental manner. ...

Festo Leitbild Unternehmensleitbild Logistik individuell innovativ intitiativ Dialogbild Agentur für Visualisierung von Prozessen, Veränderungen und Visionen.

CORPORATE MISSION STATEMENT LOGISTICS

INDIVIDUAL, INNOVATIVE & INITIATIVE-TAKING

The Festo group of companies provides answers to questions in the field of automation technology. The success of these answers is evident in the 300,000 customers worldwide from over 35 industries in 176 countries.

If one of the approximately 33,000 catalog products is not suitable, Festo develops customized solutions: Individual, innovative, and initiative-taking.

To advance its own internal corporate development within the framework of OPEX, Festo initiated collaboration with DIALOGBILD. ...

BVR Bundesverband der Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken Leitbild Strategieagenda genossenschaftliche Zukunft des BVR Leitbild Dialogbild Agentur für Visualisierung von Prozessen, Veränderungen und Visionen.

STRATEGY AGENDA

THE DIALOG PICTURE FOR THE COOPERATIVE FUTURE OF BVR

The National Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR) is the apex organization of the cooperative banking sector. The BVR coordinates and develops the joint strategy within the cooperative financial group.

The strategy agenda was launched as a result of strategy development. The background is that the banking world has never been in such radical change as it is currently. Accelerated digitalization leads to new paradigms, customer behavior, and customer expectations.

Customers want to use services everywhere, tailored individually to them, with high service and convenience. Companies that offer exactly that are increasingly occupying the digital access to customers. ...

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a mission statement?
A mission statement is a formal declaration describing a company or organization's vision, mission, and core values. It outlines what the company stands for, what it aims to achieve, and which principles guide its actions. A mission statement serves as guidance for internal and external stakeholders.

Why is a corporate mission statement important?
A corporate mission statement is important because it:

  • Provides orientation for employees and leaders.
  • Creates a strong corporate culture and identity.
  • Strengthens the trust of customers and partners by clearly communicating the company's values and goals.
  • Supports strategic decisions by serving as a guideline to ensure all actions align with long-term objectives.

What components should a mission statement contain?
A complete mission statement typically includes:

  • Vision: The long-term goal the company aims to achieve.
  • Mission: The purpose of the company and how it benefits customers or society.
  • Values: The fundamental principles that guide the company's decisions and actions.

What are examples of corporate mission statements?
Examples of corporate mission statements include

  • Google: "To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
  • Tesla: "To accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy."
  • Nike: "Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world."

These mission statements are clearly formulated, future-oriented, and reflect the companies' core values.

How does one develop an effective mission statement?
An effective mission statement is developed in several steps:

1.) Define goals and values: Determine what the company stands for and where it should develop.
2.) Involve employees: Gather feedback and ideas from your employees to ensure broad acceptance.
3.) Clarity and simplicity: The mission statement should be concise and easily understood.
4.) Visual support: A visually appealing mission statement is more memorable and promotes understanding.

What can a mission statement for schools look like?
Schools also use mission statements to communicate their educational orientation and values. A mission statement for schools could, for example, formulate the vision for student education and community goals:

Vision: "Our school fosters the individual strengths of each child and prepares them for a self-determined life."
Mission: "We offer a holistic education that encompasses both academic and social learning."
Values: "Respect, diversity, and curiosity shape our daily interactions."

What role does DIALOGBILD play in developing a mission statement?
DIALOGBILD supports companies and organizations in visually designing and effectively communicating their mission statements. We offer:

  • Explanatory images that convey your vision, mission, and values simply and illustratively.
  • Consultation in creating and visualizing your mission statement to ensure it is clear and motivating.

What are the advantages of a visually presented mission statement?
A visually presented mission statement has many advantages:

  • It is easier to understand and more memorable.
  • It makes complex content more illustrative and tangible.
  • It promotes employee engagement as it is more inspiring.
  • It can be used for both internal and external communication of company goals.

How can DIALOGBILD visually implement my mission statement?
DIALOGBILD creates customized visual representations of your mission statement that convey it illustratively. Whether as a poster, interactive graphic, or training material - our explanatory images help you effectively communicate your mission statement and ensure it is understood and lived.