Setting up for Success Getting your Mission, Vision and Values Right

Don’t take it lightly, and buzzwords aren’t going to help you here. It’s not 

just some poster to sit on the company wall, or aimlessly on your business- 

landing page. This is all about a clear, pointed and well crafted 

statement that can tell your clients, your customers and your employees 

EXACTLY who you are, where you’re at, where you’re going and how you’re 

going to get there. 

If you fall short, or worse fail, then it is just a meaningless effort with little 

influence and impact- and a missed opportunity to use its power effectively. 

However if you take a little time to dig deep, it can provide a base for 

your company culture, how it organises itself, and strategic direction on how 

you operate and where you will approach the market. 

It can be your ultimate guidance system when the balls start flying in the air; 

driving focus and attention to the core fundamentals and purpose of your 

company.  As LinkedIn suggests, “The vision and mission statements define the 

purpose of the organization and instil a sense of belonging and identity 

to the employees. This motivates them to work harder in order to achieve 

success”. 

Unfortunately many businesses don’t take development of their Mission, 

Vision and Value statements seriously.  And they miss the opportunity to provide much needed clear and concise strategic direction and planning to address key goals and objectives and where and what resources are needed in achieving them. This often can lead to dis-organisation and a lack of pooled effort and direction in the business. Costing time, resource and energy on trying to work in reverse and align company efforts, employees and overall structure. 

What exactly are your Mission Vision and Value Statements? 

Your Mission Statement 

A mission statement should tell others why the business exists and what 

makes it different. 

“To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” – Google 

A mission statement is an essential key component of your company’s’ 

communications. With an energetic, inspired and exciting mission statement, 

you can demonstrate your company’s determination and dedication to your 

business. 

It must be a very clear description about what you do everyday and your 

businesses key operations and function- cutting through the noise of 

competitors and getting to the heart of your company’s passion. It serves as 

a daily reminder, motivator, driver and road map for your employees and 

your customers. It is the framework for decision-making and sets well-defined 

boundaries that for responsibility throughout the organisation. It provides 

essential alignment for current and oncoming staff and ensures alliance in 

core objectives. 

It expresses your unique value proposition and helps to determine your 

competitive edge. It expresses how your product going to improve the lives 

of your customers. It tells your customers what you can deliver for them and 

gives your employees and you the standard and expectation of what will be 

delivered each day. 

Your Mission Statement should consider 4 key elements 

? Value – What is the value of the business to both customers and employees? 

? Inspiration – Why should people want to work for the company? 

? Plausibility – Make it sound reasonable 

? Specificity – Tie it back to the business (inspired by BigCommerce) 

Make sure that it is concise, keep it open so that you can change it and allow 

it to evolve if the company evolves, and allow for reflection and feedback 

from employees and even potentially from the market. In order to create an 

effective Mission statement, simply start by asking “What does your Business 

do EVERYDAY?” and “What does your Business do for your Clients/Customers?” 

Your Vision Statement 

Your vision statement should look to the future and tell others what the 

company wants to achieve. 

“Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” – Patagonia 

It allows your employees, clients and your customers to have a greater sense 

of where you want to go and how you think you’ll get there. As Harvard 

Review states, “The ability to visualize and articulate a possible future state 

for an organization or company has always been a vital component of 

successful leadership.”It shows your ability to take leadership and create a 

bold, living statement on your place in the world and your global awareness 

of where your company has and can have an impact. 

Essentially your vision acts as your directive, and gauges whether or not you’re 

on the right path. With a clear vision intact, you are setting yourself up for 

sharp, well executed strategic planning and foresight. 

A vision statement can consider answering what a companies hopes and 

dreams are? Where do you see yourself, boldly, through the life-time of your 

company? What kind of future does the company envision and their roles in 

making that future happen? What kind of change for the world would the 

company like to inspire, be a part of or initiate? How do you want to be 

perceived in the market, to your customers? 

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams, who looks inside” – AWAKENS, Carl Jung 

Your Value Statement 

Your value statement should provide a reference point for others on your 

core beliefs and principles of your company. 

“Culture is living values. Values are written words, and your culture is how you actually live [them].” – Jeff Lawson, Articulating Company Values & Living Them Authentically 

A value statement allows others to clearly see how your organization 

operates and its viewpoints on social, environmental, or global challenges. It 

lays the foundation of drawing out customers and employees that align with 

you, your business perspective and ultimately your Vision and Mission goals. 

This alignment further drives core principles and creates a culture that 

empowers throughout the organisation and with the company’s customers. 

It can help build the company’s character, or personality in the market. And 

if well crafted and aligned it can serve as the company’s branding. If your 

value statement resonates with customers, then their loyalty and referral in 

the marketplace will have much greater and far-reaching benefits back to the 

company. 

For some companies it’s a matter of just starting by identifying all your own 

Personal Values. Do not be swayed whether you think they belong in your 

business – think about your own personal values and how they relate to the 

way you serve your clients and customers. And further how you perceive 

your personal values out in the world. 

Often this discovery of working through Values- can lead us into uncovering 

our greater Purpose in life, the foundations of why we are here- and our own 

manifest destinies. 

Your values should be the guiding forces in your life. They are the beliefs and 

areas in your life that are the most important to you. When you know what 

your values are, you’re able to make decisions quickly and easily, because 

you know what you believe in and what to prioritise. In living a life in 

alignment with your values, you live an authentic life. 

Knowing what you stand for and what you believe in, may seem intuitive. But 

it is often something we take for granted and have little reflection on. It 

changes as we evolve, and it’s worth revisiting and reaffirming as you gain 

wisdom and knowledge- how has your values changed, or not changed. 

Creating the holistic MVV- Mission, Vision, Value statement. May seem on 

the surface of little benefit to you and your company. At the end of the day, 

you need to work- and doing such a task seems to distract you from where 

you ‘feel’ you need to put your focus. However, for the investment in time- 

this investigation can set the stage and make remarkable and extraordinary 

difference with a clear path for success. Without the investigation, you create 

subconscious hurdles in achieving your objectives- setting your business up 

to waver and meander through the revolving business door of distractions 

and endless tasks without direction.

I’m passionate about helping small businesses grow and helping them find and achieve their dreams and visions they set out for when they first started to build their business. Financial freedom, time with your family, using your own creative and expert insights to provide real value to your clients. 

Feel free to call me, I appreciate the opportunity of getting to know my networks better. Finding opportunities, growing and developing a Tribe- and succeeding together as a community of like minded small businesses. Mary Ignatidis