A simple question often stumps the best of leaders.

It’s one of those questions that should be on every corporate strategy document, and yet often isn’t.

“What sort of experience do you want to deliver?”

Sure, it might be answered ten different ways by ten different people, all of whom believe they are correct. But that isn’t really a consistent vision, is it?

That’s why defining, understanding and training to the mission is so incredibly important. And yet often overlooked!

Here are a few ways to define your customer experience:

1. Define what’s important to you as an organization.

Sometimes you need to make choices about one quality over another, like speed versus accuracy. What’s most important to your values? Make a decision and communicate that as part of your mission.

2. Define what’s important to your customers.

Understand what your customers most value from the experience you are providing. And keep up with what their expectations are overall.

Convenience and ease have become hallmarks of what most of us today look for in a great customer experience. How can you define the effortless experience for your customers?

3. Determine what to do when things go wrong.

Defining what’s most important when responding to complaints, problems, or challenges from customers will help you handle those situations consistently and easily.

Instead of waiting for each challenge to present itself and reacting, do your best to brainstorm the things that can (and most likely will) go wrong for customers. Then outline what’s most important to align with the values of your organization and your customer experience.

Get your leaders in shape!

Once you have your mission defined, help your leaders understand how to train to it. Instead of just focusing on the skills needed, ask participants to apply the goals and values of your mission to the area of training.

For example, train on case studies and scenarios where the mission was used as the appropriate guide and where it was not. Ask employees to put into their own words how to deliver to a customer in a judgement call where living up to the mission is the best outcome.

Mission drives the experience.

Customer experience is built on many layers, and the mission is the base for all of them. Without a mission, how do you know what to deliver?

This isn’t just for an overall organization, although that’s where it’s most effective. I’ve seen experience missions developed for teams, for specific initiatives, or for individuals.

If your team is reactive and resigned to meeting the status quo, you may want to shake them up with a mission. Help them understand and internalize the WHY and HOW of their role on behalf of the customer.

Do you have a mission? If not, you’re not alone. But now you have the tools to get started.