Many business owners and team leaders have a hard time making decisions, big and small.
How do you know you’re making the right choices? How do you determine the criteria for making those choices?
When I work with business owners to address this issue, we dig a little deeper and find a lack of clarity and transparency in their company vision, mission, and values. Maybe they have skipped those steps altogether; or maybe they created bulls@!t answers to those questions, not realising their importance.
When a company has meaningful vision, mission, and values statements in place most decision-making is clear. Without it, you’re making it up as you go along, inconsistent with room for interpretation from every person on the team.
Nothing you do matters if it’s not in alignment with the vision, mission, and values of your company.
There are differing opinions of what each of these words means and what order to place them in. Here’s how I see it.
Defining your Company Vision
Vision
The ideal imagined future of your business.
(Aspirational)
A vision statement encapsulates your organization’s core ideals and provides a roadmap to where it wants to go. It defines your company and more importantly, its future. A powerful vision statement stays with you and can guide you in the toughest decision-making moments.
It’s the company vision statement that sets the tone for what your business is all about. It defines who you are and why you exist, it spurs creativity, and it inspires employees to go above and beyond.
If there were just one thing businesses could do to guarantee success, many would say create an effective company vision statement. The truth is that there are plenty of other factors at play in determining whether or not a business will be successful but without question, an effective vision statement can provide a strong foundation upon which to build. Here are some vision statement examples from some brands you might know. ; )
“To Make People Happy”
— Disney
“Capture and Share the World’s Moments”
— Instagram
Defining your Company’s Mission
Mission
Measurable results we see in the world presently.
Practical and difficult to achieve
Creating a powerful mission statement is not as easy as it may seem. It takes time and effort to create something that speaks to your audience, embodies your values, and motivates you every day. But the payoff is worth it. If you already have one in place, but you’ve let it get a little dusty, now is the time to revisit it.
A powerful mission statement concretely looks at how you strategically and tactically plan to achieve the vision. It can be used for marketing purposes and branding but also helps employees decide what they should be working on at any given point in time.
Companies may share similar visions but use different missions to achieve them.
Vision
To make the world a better place
Mission
Develop drugs to address significant unmet needs. (Genentech)
To improve its customers’ financial lives so profoundly, they couldn’t imagine going back to the old way. (Intuit)
To help humanity thrive by enabling all teams to work together effortlessly. (Asana)
Defining your Company’s Values
Values
Fundamental beliefs that create internal behavior.
Psychological, Emotional, Internal
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” but what does it actually mean? Well in layman’s terms it means that your company culture is more important than any business strategy or tactic that you might implement to try and grow your company. Its foundational and company values are the building blocks of that foundation. They help you make important decisions, find the right people and keep them motivated.
This is because no matter how good of an idea something might seem on paper when it comes down to it; people are going to follow their gut instincts. When people feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves they’ll go above and beyond to be successful.
Values are what guide the behavior of your team when no one is looking. If you don’t have values, now is the time to create them. If your values aren’t being represented throughout your business, then it might be time to reevaluate what you’re doing and get some outside perspective on how to move forward.
Putting Vision, Mission and Values Together
Vision. The imagined future of your business. Aspirational
Ex. Empower every person and every organization to achieve more
Mission. Measurable results we see in the world presently. Actionable
Ex. PC on every person’s desk
Values. Fundamental beliefs that create internal behavior
Ex. Respect, Integrity, Accountability
(examples from Microsoft)
More Like This?
Let me take you through my tried and tested Year-End Review process – 7 steps to assess the past year and fully prepare for a smooth and successful next one.
Need help creating your own company vision, mission and values? As a business strategist and founder of Free Range Thinking, I help creatives and executives develop their leadership style, build their team, and bring their vision to life. Schedule a conversation to discover how we can help!
