Why does a company need to establish the mission, vision, and values of its organization?

Simply because a statement of this type is a tool that will help it accomplish what it has decided to do and will provide a framework for strategy, direction, and decision making.

The vision describes the ideal future state of the organization. It clearly expresses what the organization is trying to accomplish.

Vision Statement’s example:

Hyderabad & Associates will be the first virtual CFO organization by providing impeccable customer service and high-quality advice that exceeds any competition.

A mission statement describes why the organization exists and why it does what it does.

Mission Statement’s example:

Hyderabad & Associates exists to help its clients take care of their finances, leverage their assets to grow and extend the life of their investments.”

A values statement describes and lists the core values and principles upon which the organization is based.

Example of a values statement:

Hyderabad & Associates operates under the following guiding principles:

Honesty, Integrity, Quality, Diversity and Innovation.”

one thing to note is the shorter the statement, the more likely employees will be able to absorb it, remember it, and, ideally, explain it to others.

Employees need to have a clear understanding of what the company is trying to accomplish and why it does what it does. This contributes to unwavering employee commitment and enables them to provide excellent customer service.

Every organization needs to understand where it is going before it can develop a strategic plan and define the steps to get there!

5 steps to writing a vision, mission, and values statement

1. Research & Brainstorming

Find out how others have created businesses you admire and read about their vision and values.

Ask yourself lots of questions: why does the company exist, or what problem can it solve? Think about what you want the company to look like, what it currently looks like, and how others perceive it. These questions are designed to determine the company’s culture, what it stands for, and what you value. Meet collectively and identify a facilitator

Listen to the field. People are the lifeblood of the company. What is the set of behaviors and values that currently drive you? You won’t know until you get everyone in the room to intentionally discuss what the business is all about. You may find that many employees/leaders have different opinions and are leading the company in opposite directions.

If you don’t have a formal board of directors, put together an advisory team.

If you are a small business, bring in anyone who has helped you get to where you are in an advisory capacity.

Whether the facilitator is a staff member or hired by a third party, their role is to help lead the process without influencing the content.

3. Dream big & record everyone’s ideas

Make it as visual and accessible as possible – everyone needs to be involved and give their input. You will be able to reduce the ideas to themes, and eventually the themes to phrases that can be turned into values. You may need a long time to do this (but not too long – a few weeks or a month or two max).

4. Review the statement

Find out where the customer stands and how they experience the company/product.

Do this in two ways: ask employees and ask customers themselves. This will reveal how your employees’ behaviors showcase the company’s vision and how your customers feel about it.

Yes, this has to do with branding and marketing, but it’s also an opportunity to compare perceived values with actual customer experiences. Based on your findings, decide what needs to change: the behaviors of your employees based on the set of values, or the values of your company based on the experiences of your customers.

5. Get buy-in at all levels of the organization

As mentioned in point 4 above, your company’s vision and values come to life in the day-to-day interactions between employees and customers. The vision and values should be the guiding principles of your company, not just a sign at the front desk.

Do your employees care about and remember these values? How can your company values be integrated into every fiber of the workday without being overdone and ultimately ignored? Getting buy-in is the hardest part of this process, and how you do it will depend on your culture and team dynamics.

Once the vision statement is written, go through a similar exercise to define the organization’s mission.

Does your organization have a vision, mission, and values statement?

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