The backbone of any organisation is its mission and vision; why does the company exist? Starting a business just to raise money is no longer enough for consumers in the 21st century. Being successful and staying that way in the long term means providing added value to consumers, where a strong mission and vision are crucial. The mission and vision of an organisation are often seen as the calling card, where it becomes clear at a glance what the organisation does and what it stands for. Everything that an organisation does is an expression of the described vision and how that contributes to its mission.
Mission
The mission statement reflects what the goal of an organisation is and what it strives for. In principle, it outlines a utopia that the organisation wants to work towards. A mission so big that it almost isn’t feasible, but small enough to get started anyway. As long as the mission has not yet been realised, it gives the organisation the strength to strive for something. Therefore, a strong mission relates to a larger whole than the organisation itself and also includes external factors, such as the field in which the organisation falls, society itself or the entire world.
A strong mission:
- Clearly indicates the direction you want to go as an organisation;
- Is focused on the organisation;
- Contributes to change and transformation;
- Is inspiring and something the target group wants to connect with;
- Has the ‘What’ in your organisation in view and can make this concrete.
Vision
The vision describes how the organisation sees the future and how it is broadly achieved through the mission. The vision build on the mission by making concrete and guiding statements. If a mission reflects the core missions and asks the question ‘Why do we exist?’, the vision tries to reflect the core values and answer the question ‘What do we stand for?’. Both the mission and vision are the foundation of a good strategy, in which objectives are actually discussed.
A strong vision:
- Describes in broad terms how you are going to achieve the mission;
- Is about the vision of the future that the organisation has in mind;
- Takes its core values in mind.
Formulating a mission and vision
In order to establish a strong mission and vision, we look at various models and theories that can help us. Applying Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle to your company is a great way to start. For more information, see the article we wrote about it here. This is followed by establishing the company’s core values; what does the company stand for and what is the common denominator of the employees?
In order to be successful with a mission and vision, it’s important to determine your Unique Selling Point (USP) and that a ‘brand promise’ is established: what is promised to customers and what does the company do if that promise cannot be kept?
Finally, it’s important to consider which Sustainable Development Goals the company will commit to. This gives the organisation insight into what it stands for and how this can contribute to actual changes by means of the targets within the 17 goals.
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