Reflecting on your Vision, Mission and Purpose. Are they clear?

Successful organisations are clear on 'what' they want to be. This cascades right through their organisation and people at every level know the role they play in achieving success.

I recently reflected on the web of words in mission, vision and purpose statements. They all sound somewhat similar. Organisations tend to use mission and vision interchangeably. Often they become intertwined and lose their meaning altogether.

Given these are the overarching drivers of your organisation’s strategy and focus, I thought it was time to reflect on the definition of each and challenge your organisation to be really clear on its 'strategic intent'.

Defining each term Firstly let’s look at a definition for each term, given they overlap each other. Mission A short series of statements, which often address some or all of the following: - Core values - Purpose - What the organisation offers - Who we serve - How we will stand out - Why we exist Vision A inspirational succinct statement, designed to engage and create impact, which may include: - What we hope to achieve - Future thoughts for the organisation - Impact we would like to make (for our customers or society) Purpose A short statement, focused on our purpose or reason for being. Increasingly tied to Environmental Social Governance (ESG) and elevating stakeholder interests to the same level as shareholder interests (1) Real life comparisons Whilst it would be great to put forward some average examples, we all have most likely seen many examples of boring, clunky, vision, mission and purpose statements. We will also call out that for purpose organisations tend to overcompensate here, thinking 'more is best', when in fact 'fewer words the better'. The less people have to remember, the more likely they are to remember it! Using Google as an example let's look at a succinct mission and vision statement.

Mission - “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Vision - "To provide access the world's information in one click" When Google first started it was the 26th search engine in the world and Netscape was number 1. Their vision was very clear, "To be the world's number 1 search engine"(2). Google absolutely achieved the vision they initially set.

What is your organisation's mission and vision? Is it succinct and clear? Or is it a clunky set of statements that fail to inspire anyone, let alone make it really clear on what you want to be?

Another lens: strategic intent

Whilst mission and vision are often crafted for an external audience, there is an opportunity to be really 'on point' with what your organisation is seeking to achieve, the impact you wish to make and communicating this to your people. A strategic intent statement should answer the question "What is the impact or change we want to make?" It should be: - More focussed on what we wish to achieve - More than simply ambition, create a stretch target, which is realistic - Set a target that deserves personal effort and commitment A strategic intent statement is the guiding point encompassing your strategy. Everything your organisation and people do should be tied to achieving this.

References

1. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/purpose-shifting-from-why-to-how?cid=app

2. Doerr J, 2019, Measure What Matters, First Edition, Portfolio