That Corporate Vision-Mission Thing

You’ve likely seen those convoluted corporate statements that appear to have been written by a Buzzword Bingo generator. They’re strung together haphazardly with a consecutive series of ponderous adjectives and laborious nouns:?“Our strategic imperative is to be world class, best in class, purveyors of superiors strategic alternative custom solution platforms catering to exceptional output optimization. With a touch of class.”

This is what the phrase mumbo-jumbo was invented for.

If you can simplify and cut through all the clutter, there is value in articulating what your business stands for, and what it aspires to be. By doing this you will make better decisions about which bold initiatives to pursue, and which off-track ideas you should turn down.?

Creating a Vision

It starts with a vision statement. Vision implies that we can see things, often in the far-off distance. ?For an organization, the vision is a positive picture of success. It is usually expressed as a short, punchy statement that shows what your aspirations are. If you could wave a magic wand and create an ideal future, this would be your vision. It’s both aspirational and inspirational. Customers, employees, and suppliers will get excited about it. It is concise, clear, and challenging. In other words not too long, not too ambiguous, and not too easy to achieve. ?

The best ones sound similar to a slogan, the sort of thing you might hear at the end of an advertising commercial. Researchers at topnonprofits.com ?calculated the average length of vision statements among a group of 30 non-profits to be just 14.6 words.

The Humane Society uses just six words. Its vision is: “Communities that value and respect animals.” Oxfam defines its vision as: “A just world without poverty.” It then goes on, “We want a world where people are valued and treated equally, enjoy their rights as full citizens, and can influence decisions affecting their lives.” ?

Finding A Mission

After clarifying a clear vision, the organization next defines what it does through its mission statement. Sometimes the mission comes first, sometimes the vision. The order doesn’t matter - they are linked.

Generally, we think of a mission as something active – something a military unit might do. Or all those clandestine assignments that Jim Phelps and his Mission: Impossible team embarked on to overthrow evil dictators in an endless array of Central People’s Republics. For companies, non-profits, entrepreneurs, and governments, the mission expresses the business they are in and those they serve. What is it they do to achieve the vision that they expressed so eloquently?

Mission statements are occasionally far too wordy. A series of bullet point doesn’t express breadth of engagement, it expresses indecision. If your board members or employees can’t paraphrase the mission statement, it’s probably too long. Look to a company’s “About Us” section on their website. It should succinctly explain what they do.

Here is an inspiring mission statement from Blue Mountain, a Canadian resort that offers both winter and summer programs. It focuses not on what it does, but on the benefits it offers: “There is magic in our mountain. A visit here is transformative. Physically, emotionally or spiritually, Blue Mountain will move you.”

On the other hand, the simple two-word mission for TED succinctly describes what it does; “Spread ideas.”?Both of these are exquisite.

How do you write a mission statement and get consensus? Contact me and I'll show you how.