Evaluating your mission: a practical approach to developing and assessing a facility's organizational culture

Health care organizations must define and establish a core set of expectations about behaviors and values, which could give health care providers and administrators the guidance needed for the successful implementation of continuous quality improvement principles. This article describes how the Division of Mission Effectiveness continually assesses and takes actions to improve mission effectiveness within Alexian Brothers Health Systems. Mission effectiveness or an organization's "mission health," as operationalized in terms of values and behaviors, is assessed by an annual employee "opinionnaire." Once results are in, an "operational mission plan" is developed with objectives on how to improve mission effectiveness for the following year.