Your Vision and Mission [Part 1]: The What & Why

The excitement surrounding getting your business off the ground may have you thinking about skipping some key strategic planning steps to move forward quicker. Any successful business owner will tell you that would be a big mistake. The process of systematizing your business—creating standard operating procedures that ultimately allow it to run without you—must start with having a carefully curated vision and mission.

It may be tempting to put all your focus on day-to-day tasks that are by definition more short term in nature. It’s better to take a more long-term view—knowing where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. That’s going to pay more dividends as your business evolves and matures. Your vision and mission statements will help you do that.

In this two-part series, we’ll outline the differences between a vision and mission statement, why they are important and how to create compelling vision statements and missions.

Vision Statement Versus Mission Statement

It’s important to have both a well-conceived vision statement and mission statement as you set forth to build your business. They differ in significant ways, with each playing a vital role in the strategic planning process.

The vision is your “strategic intent,” i.e., the ultimate goal for the business. It captures the essence of success, is stable over time and is deeply motivating to the business at all levels.

The mission is a realistic, credible and attractive description of your ideal business. It’s a carefully formulated statement of intentions that defines why the business exists, how the business will maintain and increase its competitive advantage, and how the business will treat other businesses and people it comes in contact with.

Why Vision and Mission Are Important

Your business’ culture is going to be on full display as you seek to recruit, hire and retain employees in a very competitive employment market. Your vision and mission, along with your values, are the elements that go into determining what that culture is. You want to be true to your beliefs while showcasing your business as an attractive place to work.

The right vision and mission statements are so powerful they can actually jumpstart your business’ future. When you create a laser-like focus and call forth energies, talents and resources, great things happen—and there’s no reason you have to do it alone.

In the second part to this series, we outline how to create both a vision statement and mission statement.  

Schedule a complimentary call to discuss how we can help you create your vision and mission statements, part of the strategic planning process that will grow your business to the point where it runs itself, rather than the business running YOU.