VISION STATEMENT
By Dr. Leonardo Delizo, PhD., MSBA, SLH – JHS
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A vision statement is sometimes called a picture of your company in the future but it’s so much more than that. Your vision statement is your inspiration, the framework for all your strategic planning.
A vision statement may apply to an entire company or to a single division of that company. Whether for all or part of an organization, the vision statement answers the question, “Where do we want to go?”
Vision Statements define the organizations purpose in terms of the organization's values rather than bottom line measures (values are guiding beliefs about how things should be done.) The vision statement communicates both the purpose and values of the organization. For employees, it gives direction about how they are expected to behave and inspires them to give their best. Shared with customers, it shapes customers' understanding of why they should work with the organization.
The creation of a vision statement can be a great asset to just about any type of organization. Essentially, a vision statement takes into account the current status of the organization, and serves to point the direction of where the organization wishes to go. As a means of setting a central goal that the organization will aspire to reach, the vision statement helps to provide a focus for the mission of the corporation, business, or non-profit entity. Here is some information about the construction of a vision statement.
While vision statements and mission statements are very similar in nature, there is a fine point of difference between the two documents. A mission statement is more concerned with the overall aim of the business, a simple statement of the company’s reason for being. Often the statement will include verbiage that makes a pledge to deliver a superior product or service to customers on a consistent basis. From this perspective, a mission statement is about maintaining a certain quality or attribute.
Mission Statement Creation
- To create your mission statement, first identify your organization's "winning idea".
- This is the idea or approach that will make your organization stand out from its competitors, and is the reason that customers will come to you and not your competitors (see tip below).
- Next identify the key measures of your success. Make sure you choose the most important measures (and not too many of them!)
- Combine your winning idea and success measures into a tangible and measurable goal.
- Refine the words until you have a concise and precise statement of your mission, which expresses your ideas, measures and desired result.
Vision Statement Creation
Once you've created your mission statement, move on to create your vision statement:
- First identify your organization's mission. Then uncover the real, human value in that mission.
- Next, identify what you, your customers and other stakeholders will value most about how your organization will achieve this mission. Distil these into the values that your organization has or should have.
- Combine your mission and values, and polish the words until you have a vision statement inspiring enough to energize and motivate people inside and outside your organization.
The creation of a vision statement can be a great asset to just about any type of organization. Essentially, a vision statement takes into account the current status of the organization, and serves to point the direction of where the organization wishes to go. As a means of setting a central goal that the organization will aspire to reach, the vision statement helps to provide a focus for the mission of the corporation, business, or non-profit entity. Here is some information about the construction of a vision statement.
While vision statements and mission statements are very similar in nature, there is a fine point of difference between the two documents. A mission statement is more concerned with the overall aim of the business, a simple statement of the company’s reason for being. Often the statement will include verbiage that makes a pledge to deliver a superior product or service to customers on a consistent basis. From this perspective, a mission statement is about maintaining a certain quality or attribute.
The vision statement, by contrast, is not about what the company currently is, but what the company hopes to become. As an example, a vision statement may acknowledge that the company already meets industry standards in customer support, while at the same time setting goals for moving customer care to a higher level within a given time period.
The vision statement is a form of values statement. Value statements are simply an acknowledgment of the inherent worth of the company and the products it produces. Value statements are usually brief and to the point. In like manner, a vision statement also is intended to be no more than a couple of sentences that clearly outline a specific goal of the company, while not providing the details of how that goal will be reached. Thus, the vision statement provides the direction for the company, while not inhibiting the development of the strategy that will allow the company to reach that lofty goal.
Many different types of organizations operate with a vision statement. Along with businesses, many faith based organizations, including religious denominations and individual congregations find the drafting of a vision statement to be helpful. Not for profit organizations have also found that a vision statement is a way of keeping everyone focused on an ultimate goal, even if there may have to be some changes in operation. As a means of reaching toward the future, a properly drafted vision statement can provide motivation and inspiration, without stifling creativity in finding the way to the ultimate aim of the statement.
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