Mission and Vision Statements 

Vision

·         Corporate vision is essentially a tone setting idea, which is designed to align and inspire the stakeholders in an organization (principally and crucially those who work for it). It should be concise, easily understood and stirring. Vision statements vary in length and content. One of the best known was the vision statement for Fuji Film:

·         “Kill Kodak”

·         It can be seen to fulfill all the requirements above in two words. Vision statements which are this succinct are rare, but this should be the aspiration. Below are further interesting examples:

·         “Democratize the automobile” Ford Motor Company (1900s)

·         “To be the number one athletic company in the world” Nike

·         “To make people happy” Walt Disney Corporation

·         “Become the company most known for changing the worldwide poor quality image of Japanese products” Sony (1950s)

·         Again, they capture an inspiring vision for the organization at the time; of course, vision can change over time.

Mission

·         Mission statements add detail to the vision statement. It captures who the organization is and what it will do to achieve its vision. Examples are:

·         “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” Google

·         “McDonald’s vision is to be the world’s best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile” McDonalds

·         “The Walt Disney Company’s objective is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information, using its portfolio of brands to differentiate its content, services and consumer products. The company’s primary financial goals are to maximize earnings and cash low, and to allocate capital profitability toward growth initiatives that will drive long-term shareholder value.”

·         Walt Disney Corporation Leaving aside any personal views on the organizations concerned it can be seen that these develop the vision to suggest more practical aspects of strategy and set boundaries, be they industry sector, geographic, or temporal.

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Values

Alongside vision and mission it is important to develop organizational values. these are the things in which the organization espouses belief. They are an indication of the way in which missions will be delivered. Values add nuance to vision and mission statements, but are actually more enduring than either; while external circumstances may affect the vision or mission of an organization the values should be unchanged in most circumstances.

Values need to be properly respected in an organization. If the espoused vales are not supported by the corporate behaviors they will be unconvincing to the staff of the organization, and they lose all relevance and value. In fact, they can become counter-productive, serving as a parody of the actual behaviors and a focus for staff resentment. For example, many organizations claim that ‘people are our most important asset’, but in companies where the actual experience falls short of this ideal such statements are viewed with bitter irony. On dishonest values statements, noted leadership author Patrick Lencioni points out that:

Companies use Mission and Vision Statements to:

Internally

·         Guide management’s thinking on strategic issues, especially during times of significant change

·         Help define performance standards

·         Inspire employees to work more productively by providing focus and common goals

·         Guide employee decision making

·         Help establish a framework for ethical behavior

Externally

·         Enlist external support

·         Create closer linkages and better communication with customers, suppliers and alliance partners

·         Serve as a public relations tool