How To Craft A Vision And Mission Statement

Most Nigerian companies do not know how to craft their vision and mission statement. Walk into the offices of most small and medium scale businesses in Nigerian and the vision and mission statements that you would see hanging on the walls are effectively useless.

While the great mission and vision statements inspire loyalty, innovation, and hard work, the statements adopted by most small businesses are mere recitations of what the company does.

It appears to me that most small businesses adopt mission and vision statements just to be fashionable – an item to be ticked off on a checklist as done, without really considering how strategic those two statements can be to the reputation and growth potential of their businesses. In the real sense of things, these statements ought to be the foundation of the very system that drives the business.

Unfortunately, these statements are mostly forgotten even before they are hung up!

When you have strong vision and mission statements in place, they serve as a funnel through which you arrive at decisions and prioritize what needs to be done, what is important and what is not.

I have to acknowledge, though, that the bad treatment that has been given to vision and mission statements can be owing to the fact that most small businesses do not even understand the purpose they serve, what they mean, and even how they differ from each other, nor how to get one into existence and write it out in a way that makes sense.

That said, after reading this article, a business owner who is willing to put deliberate efforts and work hard can craft vision and mission statements capture the core idea of the business while serving as a roadmap to where the path his or her company should go.

If you are ready for the task ahead, a great place to begin is to look at the definitions of the two statements.

How do you define a vision statement?

A vision statement is that big idea that the company is working towards as a goal. In the book, Vision: Your Pathway to Victory, Gordon D’Angelo describes a vision statement as “the definable intention from which preparation is formed.”

Plenty of grammar, I agree. Let’s break it down a bit.

A vision statement expresses in simple terms, what an organization hopes to become and accomplish in the long term.

It is aspirational. By the very definition, ‘vision’, it holds that it ought to be a lofty purpose – something that internal stakeholders must stretch to attain, yet completely believe it’s attainable.

Here are some things to keep in mind when writing a vision statement:

• It should be future-oriented
• It should be brief and concise
• It must be deeply oriented in your core values
• It must reflect your self-image as a company
• It must be easy to remember

Some questions to consider when creating a vision statement include:

• What are our hopes, dreams, and aspirations?
• What are the problems we are solving and how does that contribute to the greater good?
• What change are we bringing about?

A purpose-driven company knows their big why – which helps them to envision success as a whole.

What purpose does a vision statement serve?

Countless researches show that employees of companies who have meaningful vision statements have engagement levels of 68% – 18% higher than average. When employees are more engaged, they are both more productive at their jobs, and effective as corporate ambassadors of the company.

Since a vision statement sets the vision for the long-term success of a business, you will agree that it is worth taking time to craft a good one that can turn your people into believers and mobilize them to act.

What is a mission statement?

While I was studying at Harvard business school, I was taught that to establish a very vibrant company with the prospect for growth, we should start the company with the Mission statement.

It should be clear to all employees and they should be able to recite it without necessarily memorizing it – they should understand it and align their everyday activities to focus on achieving the goal of the mission statement.

While the vision statement is future-oriented, a mission is more realistic and present-based and is designed to communicate where the organization is at the present time and what they ought to be doing on an ongoing basis.

Mission statements are as important to a business as a business plan.

A mission statement is a broad declaration of your purpose that clarifies (1) What you do, (2) who you do it for, and (3) how you do what you do.

Apart from capturing the essence and philosophy behind your business in a few sentences, a great mission statement flags what your business is all about to both your internal stakeholders (employees, management, board) and external stakeholders (customers, suppliers and the larger community).

Your mission statement sets the agenda for the company. It defines what you do, what is at the core of the business and highlights the objectives of the company and the pathway towards which those objectives can be realized.

It is the most significant contributor to setting the culture of your company.

Some questions to consider when creating a mission statement include:

• Why are you in business?
• Which audience does your business?
• How do you serve them?
• What products and services do you bring to the marketplace?
• What quality and price should your customers expect?
• What kind of experience do you provide to your customers?
• What role do you and your team perform?
• What stands you out from the competition?

A company can use mission statements to establish a framework for acceptable behavior and performance standards for its people. This can help provide guidance for decision making on an ongoing basis.

What is the difference between a vision and mission statement?

To put it in as few words as possible, a mission statement is a summary of what a company is already doing, while a vision statement is the broader goal they would love to accomplish.

The vision statement focuses on the future and what the company would love to become, while the mission statement focuses on today and what the company is doing on a day-to-day basis in the process of becoming what they envision to become.

Keep in mind that the primary difference between a mission and a vision statement is the timeline. While sometimes there can be an overlap between the two, the mission statement captures what people do daily for the company to eventually achieve its vision. So, while the vision is the why, the mission is the how.

Are the two interchangeable?

Obviously not. This is a mistake that a lot of companies do, but it is not just important, but also critical that a business should have both. One does not work without the other. While the vision statement gives your company a sense of purpose, the mission statement provides meaning to what you do.

How to write an effective vision statement

1. Decide who will play a role in writing it: For a small business, you could gather insights from all employees and use that in crafting a vision statement, however, for bigger corporations, you would need to be more strategic than that in selecting those you work with. You may want to host a series of workshops during which you capture the voices of a representative cross-section of your employees and base your vision statement off that. This is important because if employees do not buy into the vision, they will not work with you to carry it out.
2. Have a look at the vision statement of competitors: Apart from showing you what is important to them, it can also help you to see how you can differentiate yourself from those in your market.
3. Project ten years into the future: Imagine a world in which your company is either the market leader in your industry or competing very favorably. How will the world and your company look like if you achieved on those goals? That world you see is what should inform your vision statement.
4. Determine your purpose and market position as an organization: To write an effective vision statement, you need to consider your company’s objective, advantage, and scope (OAS).

Providing answers to the questions below can help you write an OAS statement that truly reflects your company’s strategy.

• Objective: “Why do we exist as a company?”
• Advantage: “How are we different, better or more innovative?”
• Scope: “What do we need to do and avoid towards achieving our objective?”
• Describe a measurable goal: Vision statements are achievable. If you need to know when you have achieved it, then it is obvious that the statement better be measurable.

Consider the hypothetical vision statement: To become number one in the sports apparel industry.

Is that measurable? Of course, it is!

27 Examples of vision statements that inspire confidence

1. Guaranty Trust Bank: “We are a team driven to deliver the utmost in customer services. We are synonymous with innovation, building excellence, and superior financial performance; and creating role models for society.”
2. Unilever: “To make sustainable living commonplace. We believe that this is the best long-term way for our business to grow.”
3. Intel: “If it’s smart and connected, it’s best with Intel.”
4. LinkedIn: “Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.”
5. Oxfam: “A world without poverty.”
6. Guinness Nigeria: “To be the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products company in Nigeria.”
7. Life is Good: To spread the power of optimism.
8. Sweetgreen: To inspire healthier communities by connecting people to real food.
9. Patagonia: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
10. Flour Mills Nigeria: “To be the leading food and agro-allied group in Africa.”
11. Amazon: “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
12. TED: Spread ideas.
13. Access Bank: “To be the world’s most respected African bank.”
14. Nordstrom: To give customers the most compelling shopping experience possible.
15. Google: “To provide access to the world’s information in one click.”
16. Invisible Children: To end violence and exploitation facing our world’s most isolated and vulnerable communities.
17. American Express: We work hard every day to make American Express the world’s most respected service brand.
18. Warby Parker: To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses.
19. InvisionApp: Question Assumptions. Think Deeply. Iterate as a Lifestyle. Details, Details. Design is Everywhere. Integrity.
20. Honest Tea: To create and promote great-tasting, healthy, organic beverages.
21. IKEA: To create a better everyday life for the many people.
22. Cradles to Crayons: Provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school and at play.
23. Universal Health Services, Inc.: To provide superior quality healthcare services that: PATIENTS recommend to family and friends, PHYSICIANS prefer for their patients, PURCHASERS select for their clients, EMPLOYEES are proud of, and INVESTORS seek for long-term returns.
24. JetBlue: To inspire humanity – both in the air and on the ground.
25. Workday: To put people at the center of enterprise software.
26. Prezi: To reinvent how people share knowledge, tell stories, and inspire their audiences to act.
27. Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

How to write a great mission statement

The goal that you should have in mind for this exercise is that at the end of the day, the mission statement would be uniquely yours so much so that if a competitor would want to borrow it, they would have to rework it extensively to get it to fit.

1. Have a market-defining story in mind: Imagine a real person making the decision to buy whatever it is that you sell. What exactly does the person want? How does the person find you and what does her buying from you do for her? The more concrete and detailed you can make this story, the better. By identifying your buyer persona and how what you do does for her, your mission statement will be grounded and useful to both those who work for you and your publics.
2. Keep it succinct: A mission statement is a statement and not an essay. This is not the idea behind your creating this brand-building asset. You need a statement that is memorable and that will be easy to reflect on – long-drawn-out essays do not fit that bill. However, still ensure that it captures using a few words, the essence of your business goals and how you go about achieving them. It should clearly signal to your customers, employees, suppliers, and community what it is what you do, and how you are different from others who do similar stuff. Your task here is to communicate your business plan in a few words.
3. Use vibrant emotive words: Your mission statement should be able to galvanize your people to act every day. Hence, it best serves your purpose to use vibrant, exciting words.
4. Communicate it: Once you are done creating a great mission statement, your work is only half-done. The other half is to communicate it to your people and have them align their actions with the mission of the organization.
5. Don’t be afraid of changing it: As your business evolves, it may be necessary to reflect again on your mission statement and see what needs to be changed. The mission statement is not cast in concrete – at best, it is a shifting goal post that captures where the company is headed. Always make sure that the mission statement clearly captures that.

10 Examples of mission statements

1. Andela: “to advance human potential by empowering today’s teams and investing in tomorrow’s leaders.”
2. Flour Mills Nigeria: “To produce and supply products of superior quality and value to the market, thereby enriching the lives of consumers, customers, communities, employees and all stakeholders.”
3. Facebook: “To give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.”
4. Jumia: “Creating a connected digital Africa to improve people’s lives on the continent, thanks to the internet.”
5. Amazon: “We strive to offer our customers the lowest possible prices, the best available selections, and the utmost convenience.”
6. Access Bank: “Setting standards for sustainable business practices that unleash the talents of our employees, deliver superior value to our customers and provide innovative solutions for the markets and communities we serve.”
7. Samsung: “We will devote our human resources and technology to create superior products and services, thereby contributing to a better global society.”
8. Guaranty Trust Bank: “We are a high-quality financial services provider with the urge to be the best at all times whilst adding value to all stakeholders.”
9. Cadbury Nigeria Plc: “To serve Nigerians with products of consistently high quality, made readily available at prices which offer real value for the money spent.”
10. Flutterwave: To inspire a new wave of prosperity across Africa by building payments infrastructure to connect Africa to the global economy.

Conclusion

You have seen that crafting valuable mission and vision statements take time and effort. However, the investment is well worth it. Most business owners have found that the process of coming up with thoughtful vision and mission statements is as beneficial, if not more beneficial than the mission statement in itself, as it can help bring about clarity into aspects of what you do that you have not previously given concerted thoughts to. Additionally, the process will help you solidify your concept of what it is you do as a business and the motives that drive you to do what you do.