Why is it important for a company to have its mission vision and core values?

Imagine driving into work each day, full of purpose and conviction. You know where your business is going (vision), you have a plan to get there (mission) and the standards (values) on how to operate your business.

What a great place to be!

Unfortunately, not every business owner has this satisfaction.

When I have an initial Coaching & Mentoring meeting with a business owner, I ask imagine we are having this conversation in +3 years, tell me what you have built and how you achieved it? Most business owners can answer this with some semblance of vision, but when I go on to ask have you clearly and eloquently established this informal vision & mission statements they say no. Some business owners have most of this in their business plan, if they have one, some do not.

The understanding of how important a clear vision, mission & values are in a business is grossly underestimated.

Business owners, plus their stakeholders, can be genuinely inspired if their business has a compelling vision and a clear, worthwhile mission. These statements can be highly motivating when they are expressed clearly and with intent. Especially when you communicate them effectively to everyone in the business. They also express the business’s purpose to customers, suppliers, and the media, on whom it can have the same effect as well. These statements are the words leaders use to explain an organization’s purpose and direction. When expressed clearly and concisely, they can motivate your team. or the business as a whole. With an inspiring vision of the future.

What do they mean?

Mission statements

They define the business purpose and primary objectives. These statements are in the present tense, and they explain why you exist as a business, both to members of the business and to people outside it. Mission statements tend to be short, clear, and powerful.

Vision statements

They define your business purpose, focus on its goals and future aspirations, and should be uplifting and inspiring. They’re also timeless: even if the business changes its strategy, the vision will often stay the same.

They underpin the vision and mission and are the core beliefs or DNA of the business. The standards of how the business owner wants to operate the business. Whether it is how to treat customers and other employees, what they strive for, and how employees want to feel when they work there. The importance of business values is seen in a number of different ways. They help guide decision making They inform customers about what the business stands for, and what they can expect as a customer. And as a business, they are valuable for recruiting and retention. Everyone in the business needs to understand your values. Don’t become preoccupied with trying to sound like the next Shakespeare and create values from the heart. Use strong concrete language to make it clear what your values mean and how they represent your business.

Therefore the importance of vision, mission, and values so vital in your business. They become the very foundations upon which an owner will build a solid, sustainable, and growing business.

• Use them to get the most from your employees, they will be as enthused as you if you have direction and a route. This is Alignment – everybody pulling in the same direction.
• Communicate them to your stakeholders
• Use the vision to become the lens to determine decisions, operations, and customer experiences. When your people see first-hand how purpose and vision translate to decisions, actions, and customer experience, they become true believers.
• Review the mission regularly as to whether you are on track or not then take actions to get back on course if needed. Implement measures to track progress.
• Be a leader and excel at your values, this will give you the right behaviours and set the culture and standards of your business.

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Strategic planning is a key function of an organization’s management that helps to set priorities, allocate resources, and ensure that everyone is working towards common goals and objectives. However, for strategic planning to be effective, there are two important tools that are needed – a vision and a mission statements. These serve as a guide for creating objectives and goals in the organization, thus providing a road-map that is to be followed by everyone.

Unfortunately, despite the importance of vision and mission statements, many organizations do not have them. In other cases, the two statements are lumped together as one or used interchangeably despite their distinctive differences. This creates a confusion in the organization that makes it harder to achieve the set objectives and goals.

In this article, we will take a look at both of these statements, the differences between each one of them, and the important roles they play in an organization.

What is a vision statement

A vision statement is used to describe the future state of the organization, i.e., what the organization hopes to become in the future. It is, therefore, a long-term goal provides direction for the organization. It also communicates the purpose of the organization to the employees and other stakeholders and provides them with the inspiration to achieve that purpose.

What is a mission statement

A mission statement describes the current state of an organization and its primary goals or objectives. It provides detailed information about what the organization does, how it does it, and who it does it for. Unlike the vision statement, it is short-term in nature. However, it is related to the vision statement in that it outlines the primary goals that will help to achieve the future the organization desires (i.e, the vision).

Importance of vision and mission statement in an organization

Both the vision and mission statements play an important role in the organization. Below is a look at these roles:

1. The vision and mission statements define the purpose of the organization and instill a sense of belonging and identity to the employees. This motivates them to work harder in order to achieve success.
2. The mission statement acts as a “North Star”, where it provides the direction that is to be followed by the organization while the vision statement provides the goal (or the destination) to be reached by following this direction.
3. The vision and mission statements help to properly align the resources of an organization towards achieving a successful future.
4. The mission statement provides the organization with a clear and effective guide for making decisions, while the vision statement ensures that all the decision made are properly aligned with what the organization hopes to achieve.
5. The vision and mission statements provide a focal point that helps to align everyone with the organization, thus ensuring that everyone is working towards a single purpose. This helps to increase efficiency and productivity in the organization.

The vision and mission statements are important tools of strategic planning, and thus they help to shape the strategy that will be used by an organization to achieve the desired future.

Conclusion

The mission and vision statements are very important and they can best be described as a compass and destination of the organization respectively. Therefore, every organization should develop clear vision and mission statements, as not doing so would be like going on a journey without knowing the direction you are to follow or the destination.