Welcome to the next post in the Business Plan series where we’ll cover the importance of having a clear Vision, Mission statement and strong core values.

Mission and Vision statements provide direction for your business, without which it is difficult to develop a cohesive plan. When used properly such statements can be very powerful tools.

Your Mission and Vision statements are inspiring words used clearly and concisely to convey the direction of your business. By crafting a clear mission statement and vision statement you can powerfully communicate your intentions and motivate your team or organisation to realise an attractive and inspiring common vision of the future.

“Mission Statements” and “Vision Statements” do two distinctly different jobs, though they are often confused.

Your Vision statement defines the organisation’s ultimate purpose and the impact of its efforts. How will the world benefit as a result of your business: it is the “why” of the business.

A mission statement outlines what your business does now, the present, the organisation’s purpose and primary objectives – the “what”– and “how” they will be achieved.

Values are guiding beliefs about how things should be done. 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 business.

Writing a Vision statement

A typical corporate or company vision statement will be brief and succinct; it will say a lot in just a few words, so those words must be very carefully chosen.

The key to a good vision statement is to think of things in a long-term, broad sense, without sounding generic.

If you’re too specific, you will limit your vision and it won’t be applicable ten years down the road: for example, if a current goal for your business is to move into a larger building, that’s a vision for the future but it’s not the vision for the future of your entire business. It’s too narrow and short term in focus.

On the other hand, if you say that you want to achieve success – well, any business in the world could say that. It’s too generic. The best statement will be clear about who you are as a company, as well as whom you wish to become.

Think about what your business does and what, in an ideal world, you would like it to do and how you would like to appear to the outside world.

Consider the services and attributes that your company provides, then imagine how it would be if you provided the very best version of them possible. List those visions, and incorporate them into a brief statement that gives a good overview of the kind of image you want to represent.

There are 6 core elements in making a Vision statement compelling are:

• Make it clear
• Make it specific
• Make it possible
• Communicate progress often
• Obsess over it
• Make it fun

Sometimes a vision statement can be summarised in one sentence. Examples include:

• To help people be healthy
• To have our product in every home in Australia
• To help people enjoy life
• To offer an affordable solution to health care. 

Vision statements may also be longer as well. Some examples include: 

• As we move towards our goal of being a world-class university, we will support research on a global scale. Locally, our campus will service the research needs of the learning community, granting access to many informational resources.
• Our vision is to bring our students into the 21st century through innovation and modern technology. Learning will be enhanced with computer software and educational games that will allow students to proceed at their own rate according to their ability.

Here are some company vision statements. In each of these examples, the vision statement helps to define goals, creating something to work towards in the future.

Amazon.com: Our vision is to be earth’s most customer-centric company

Dell: Dell listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value.

eBay : eBay pioneers communities built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity.

CBA: To excel at securing and enhancing the financial wellbeing of people, businesses and communities

So write you Vision statement now, print it, hang it up and view it often. Review until it inspires you every day.

Write a Mission statement

A mission statement is something you would typically use as an “elevator pitch” when at a networking event or someone asks ‘So what do you do?”

To create a Mission Statement:

1. First identify your business strengths (yes, from the SWOT Analysis we completed before).
2. These are the ideas or approaches that will make your business stand out from its competitors, and is the reason that customers will come to you and not your competitors.
3. Next identify the key measures of your success…what problems are you addressing and how will you impact those
4. Combine your strengths and success measures into tangible and measurable goals.
5. Refine the words until you have a concise and precise statement of your mission, which expresses your ideas, measures and desired results.

You should be able to recite your mission statement in 30-60sec.

Clarify Your Values

Your values drive your decisions so if you become more aware of your own set of values, you live your life according to them, and the greater the peace and contentment you experience.

Take the time to explore what’s really important to you in the context of your life. It’s one more step toward living congruently with your true self.

Examples of values are freedom, wealth, love, family, peace, health and so forth.

However, what’s particularly interesting here is that what we believe is important to us can differ considerably from what we actually spend our time doing. You may think you value family but actually spend very little time with your family. You may think that building wealth is important to you but how much time do you actually spend doing that? So our lives reflect back to us what we value which may differ from what we think we value.

Here is a method to help you define your core values.

1. Ensure you are alone, find a quiet place, perhaps have some of your favourite relaxing music in the background. Then start thinking about your values. Ask yourself these questions:
   • How do you spend your time and energy?
   • Where are you most disciplined/reliable/focused?
   • Where are you the most organised?
   • What do you think about or visualise?
   • What do you talk to yourself and others about?
   • What do you react to?
   • Where are your goals?
2. What’s important to you; list them in order of importance. List your top 10 values. Let them “sit” for a few days or even weeks if need be. You can rearrange them.
3. Select your top 5 values.
4. Print them out and place them where you will see them each day.

In the next post of the Business Plan 101 series we’ll be looking at the importance of a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) to your success.

For more help defining your Vision, Mission and Values get in touch through the contact form, call me or email me direct on rob@grapestogrange.com.au