A Vision Statement outlines a company’s long-term aspirations, while a Mission Statement defines its purpose and strategic intent, both aiding in decision-making and aligning employees towards a shared goal.
Primary Implication
A Vision and Mission Statement only matters if the business realizes its profit plan targets. If a business isn’t making money and is always scrambling for cash, having a well-crafted Vision and Mission isn’t going to improve profits or cash reserves.
When a Vision and Mission Statement matters, your business is doing well, and you want it to improve. This is the time to articulate the purpose of your business and what you are pursuing.
When you have no cash, your number one pursuit is profits. The BusinessCPR™ Management System is the best method for positioning your business to need Vision and Mission Statements.
Overview
A Vision Statement paints the picture of what everyone in the company is working to achieve. It is about purpose, direction, and knowing when you have arrived.
The Mission Statement guides decision-making, with the core values framing how the decisions are to be made. While the vision statement helps align decisions with what the business plans to achieve.
Your Vision and Mission help you be definite on your business’s purpose. Use both to articulate the reason for being in business as the cornerstone for your business model and your strategy foundation. Both statements help to identify your purpose and your strategic intent. In combination with your Core Values, your Vision and Mission should work together to help contributing employees see the what, why, and how of their roles in your business.
Do I need a Vision and Mission Statement?
Yes, if you want to rally people to what you are trying to accomplish together, but they are not as crucial for small businesses as knowing your customer value proposition (CVP) and unique selling proposition (USP) are for your customers. You need to know this to help more people buy from you.
Your profit plan is a more valuable business tool used religiously by corporations yet not enough by small business owners. The value of a well-thought-out business plan for profits is how it forces you to think about the future and the challenges you will face. It forces you to consider your financial goals, marketing, management plans, competition, and overall strategy. You know you have a viable profit plan when it helps you confirm your vision and define your goals as you lay out a clear plan to realize them.
The goals and objectives to be reached in your profit plan set the course of action your employees will follow to reach your desired destination. This only occurs when you define the intended means of reaching those objectives.
Influential leaders advance their vision by setting the strategic direction being pursued through the planning period then use their management skills to organize their employees and control their business every day towards accomplishing their stated goals and objectives. They make decisions and changes as required to keep the business progressing toward the planned destination.
As sales increase and more people are hired to help you deliver value to your customers, having a Vision and Mission Statement helps you connect those in your employ to what you are working to accomplish through your business.
Remember, the mission articulates the purpose of your company. It will not change too much over time in that it represents something to be accomplished, whereas a vision is what you are pursuing, and it should be updated as necessary.