Writing a Mission Statement: The ACORN Test

Digital Marketing

Have you ever wondered what makes a good mission statement? Thomas Gilbert is someone who has influenced what many of us do and believe in trying to shape the direction of the organization, although he may not be a name many are familiar with.

Gilbert was a student of BF Skinner, the famous psychologist, and was well trained in the principles of behaviorism. However, Gilbert felt that behaviorism was fundamentally wrong because it focused on the actions people take, not the results of their actions. Instead, Gilbert argues that we should focus on worthy achievements, or results that have value. These are the objectives that we must identify, measure and align the actions of people. Without the context of valuable accomplishments, focusing on people’s behavior can be incomplete, misleading, or both.

While this may seem simple and obvious, Gilbert provides example after example of how organizations routinely reward for behavior and not results. If you don’t believe me, just think about the last time you worked with an organization where managers from different departments had competing metrics, and therefore when one department won, another might lose. In Gilbert’s view, the gains of value in these types of situations are not sufficiently well defined at the policy level to influence and support the creation of appropriate metrics at the departmental level.

There are many applications of Gilbert’s work in organizations today. For example, he considers the time people spend creating mission statements for departments, divisions, and companies. Ideally, these statements are carefully constructed simple sentences or phrases that describe an organization’s reason for being. Mission statements should also help guide and focus a group’s work. However, it seems that many organizations start the journey to create them without thinking about their practical use.

Here’s a test: Think of an organization you’re a member of. Can you recite the mission? Better yet, can you describe how the mission of the organization, your department or team guides your daily actions?

Gilbert offers a simple model, ACORN, for creating a good mission and aligning organizational actions.

A – Realization. Use words that describe a result or outcome. If a mission has been described as a behavior and not as a worthy achievement, it has not really been identified.

Control C. Those who work in the organization must have primary control over the options, strategies, and decisions that lead to mission accomplishment. If the way the mission is articulated depends primarily on others outside the department, consider rewriting it.

OR – General Objective. Make sure the mission truly captures the organization’s reason for being. Avoid writing a mission that is simply a secondary goal of that general purpose.

THE MINISTER – Reconciliation. Check that the mission can be reconciled with other objectives of the organization. Various units must work in harmony to achieve the overall mission of the organization.

Number N. Make sure the mission or mission accomplishment results are measurable.

The next time you think about creating goals, plans, mission statements, or objectives, consider Thomas Gilbert. He could help you produce a worthy achievement.

Gilbert wrote the book “Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance,” with a tribute edition published in 2007 by the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI).

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