What is a Vision Statement?
Vision statements are enduring, short and simple descriptions of what you want your business to be in five to ten years’ time. They can also include an explanation of why it’s important for your organisation to exist at all. A good vision statement should be short, simple and specific to your business. It should be memorable and be the guiding light for your business.
Whilst many businesses publish their vision statement on their website for the world to see, the customer is not the intended reader. It’s for the business owner, management team and help motivate and inspire your people to make that vision a reality
What is a Mission statement?
If you think of a vision statement as the why and the when, a mission statement is the how and the now. A mission statement defines who or what a business serves. It can be as simple as “to provide quality products” or something more complex such as “to create jobs.” In either case, it should describe how the business will accomplish its vision.
The mission statement should address key questions like:
What do we do?
Who do we do it for?
How do we do it for them?
It should be clear and concise, but not too simple that it fails to guide. Big businesses naturally have vague mission statements as they are large businesses and serve many customers with different product lines. But with a smaller business you need to avoid vague, meaningless statements.
Patrick Hull writing in Forbes, says your mission statement should answer 4 key questions for a great mission statement. (what do we do, how do we do it, who are we doing it for and what is the value we are bringing?)
What is the difference between a vision statement and a mission statement?
While both statements describe how a company intends to operate over the next few years, there are key differences: A mission statement focuses on the short-term goals of the company while a vision statement addresses the longer-term aspirations of the firm. For example Apple’s vision statement “to make the best products on earth, and to leave the world better than we found it.”
Whereas the Mission statement should include not only the products and services offered but also the values and principles by which those offerings are made.
For instance, Apple’s current mission statement reads: “To enrich and empower individuals’ lives through creative expression and intuitive technology.”
I like this quote from Jamie Falkowski – Day One Agency
”A vision is aspiration. A mission is actionable.”
As a company grows, its objectives and goals may be reached, and in turn, they’ll change. Therefore, mission statements should be revised as needed to reflect the business’s new culture as previous goals are met and revisited every 12-18 months.
How do I write my own vision/mission statement?
Vision and mission statements aren’t just words that sit on paper. They need to be part of every employee’s DNA and they take time and thought.
Because the vision and mission statements greatly impact the success of your business, it’s worth taking the time to do it.
But before you begin your vision statement you need to decide what it is not. I’ve already said that your vision statement shouldn’t be confused with the mission statement. So it has to be future based and meant to inspire.
The best way to write a vision statement is to start with a blank page. Don’t worry about grammar or punctuation until after you’ve finished writing. You don’t even need to put anything else on the page besides the title “vision.” Just let yourself flow into the words that come naturally.
Another way of writing your vision statement is actually not to use words, but use pictures to represent your ideas and create a vision board for your business.
If you do decide to add some text to the beginning of your vision statement, keep it brief. If you try to explain too many things right off the bat, people may lose interest and it won’t have the desired effect.
A good vision statement has 5 key elements:
Short and memorable
Your vision statement should be not so long that to remember it, you have to look it up.
Culture and core values
Your vision statement should reflect your/your businesses culture and values.
Inspiring
When you read your vision statement, you should feel inspired to achieve your vision and accomplish your company mission. This should be something your people can point to and work towards achieving it.
Ambitious
Your vision statement shouldn’t be something you can easily achieve. Instead, it should be a statement that your team can rally behind and commit themselves to, even if it takes time, effort and energy.
Realistic
Whilst your vision statement shouldn’t feel easy to achieve, it should feel achievable and not beyond the realms of possibility. Otherwise it will feel disconnected from reality and you will loose all credibility.
Examples of Vision and Mission Statements
Tesla
Vision: “To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles”
Mission: “To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy”.
Amazon:
Vision: “To be Earth’s most customer centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
Mission: “We strive to offer our customers the lowest possible prices, the best available selection and the utmost convenience”.
Google:
Vision: “To provide access to the world‘s information in one click.”
Mission: “Our mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
Sometimes even well known companies mix things up by calling Vision, Mission. Although inspiring, I’d say Patagonia’s new mission is actually it’s vision.
“We’re in business to save our home planet”.
One final thought, your vision statement or mission statement doesn’t need to look like anyone else’s. Decide what’s important to you and the customers you want to serve.
Now it’s your turn.
