A mission statement is commonly defined as a kind of phrase that summarizes the purpose of an organization or project. It explains its overarching goals, the kind of products or services it plans to provide, and the primary market or customers it is addressing (Entrepreneur, 2021). Often, such statements reflect values or philosophies that the organization attempts to uphold. It can also reflect the advantages and benefits the organization is able to present and its mission towards a future state of the company. A mission statement implies that it’s a description made by an organization’s leaders as an expression of intent. It is important to note that it is also an affirmation for employees, stakeholders, vendors, and clients about the identity of the organization.
According to the professor of strategy and governance at McMaster University, Chris Bart, a mission statement has three vital factors. These three are a reference to the key market or target audience, contribution to the market in the form of a product or service, and the company’s distinct focus and unique attributes. However, Bart also holds some doubts about the significance of a mission statement to a company or organization. Still, it is commonly used and offers many advantages to an organization’s motivation and mission.
A mission statement can evolve with the organization, as both should follow the same progress track and avoid stale and boring features as the company ages. A mission statement is different from a vision statement, though both play a part in defining the primary goals of their respective organizations. However, their purposes are not the same, as a mission statement is usually implemented in communicating current goals and identities.
Forbes has a slightly different interpretation of the formation and presentation of the mission statement. Essentially, it should ask and answer four questions which are: what does the organization do? How does the organization do it? Who does the organization do it for? What value does the organization bring? The four questions are similar to the factors identified by Bart, but being inquisitive in nature allows for a cohesive design of the mission statement.
A vision statement has more emphasis on the future of a project or organization as opposed to its present focus. Frequently, it’s inspirational and has emotional or even idealistic connotations that reflect the desired outcome. In fact, it can even encompass a simple human emotion that the founders or leaders of the organization want to instill in their employees, customers, or other individuals interacting with the company. On a very basic level, a vision statement is almost a navigation tool. This is because it’s a phrase that offers directions and standards on which the beliefs, behaviors, and decision-making of the organization are built. It has a very philosophical basis because by being a vision it suggests that it imagines a world and a state of the organization that does not yet exist but is in the works. Additionally, the services and products of the company are not part of the vision statement, as this would limit the organization’s scope of influence via their work. As such, the vision statement is ingrained in the actions of the organization and the individuals in it.
Unlike a mission statement, a vision statement is unlikely to change over the progression of the organization’s growth. Even incredibly influential factors such as development in technology, market status, and trends in society should not alter the statement. This would result in undermining the foundation of the organization altogether. In fact, frequent changes can reflect negatively on the organization’s financial, operational, and technological processes due to the changes taking only short-term factors into consideration.
A vision statement is likely to guide the strategic outlining, roadmap plans, and execution procedures of an organization. Unlike a mission statement, which is time-bound with specific goals, a vision statement is written in infinite and is unlikely to really be achieved. This does not take away from its value as it affects many other important components of the organization. A simple vision statement should be concise and clear, which will allow it to be easy to remember and reflective of a primary goal. It should be oriented towards the future and to have an estimation of the organization’s position in the future. Stability, a challenging nature, abstract and emotionally-centered values, and inspiring features should be present in a vision statement.
Mission and vision statements each have definitive influence over an organization’s general strategic plan. First, both statements provide an audience or target customers and the needs and values of these individuals. In this first step of understanding these components, executives within the organization are able to begin a step-by-step outline of their strategy. A mission statement targets short-term and measurable goals while a vision statement implements a strategy for long-term development.
Second, goals are what can help a business or organization measure performance and future standards for their future achievements (Ahmed, 2019). This element is more relevant to mission statements which provide specific goals for employees to attain. With ongoing mission statements that meet their designated goals, the organization will be able to correlate efficiency and productivity with its strategies.
Third, mission and vision statements have the power to become public-relation tools. They inspire and direct leaders and employers, but can also influence other stakeholders, such as clients, suppliers, and partners. They can do so by appealing to social media attention, appearance and interaction with audience segments, and the cooperation between like-minded companies and organizations. The statements would be the driving force that could spark dialogue and collaboration between the company and different entities. As such, they can trigger a strategy that has an expanding focus, both in the short and long term.
The Houston Department of Health and Human Services has both a vision and mission statement that is a part of their strategic planning. The vision statement, “self-sufficient families in safe and healthy communities”, is broad, long-term, and ingrained in human values (Smith, 2021). The mission statement states that “the mission of the Houston Department of Health and Human Services is to work in partnership with the community to promote and protect the health and social well-being of Houstonians” (Smith, 2021). It has clear goals in the promotion and protection of its jurisdiction health care system, which can be narrowed down to quantifiable goals. Both statements meet the previously mentioned requirement and make room for expansion outside the organization. This can be seen in the self-sufficiency part of the statement, which suggests motions to create programs and services for the healthcare of their citizens. The mission focuses on partnership and community work.
Creativity is vital to the success of both vision and mission statements. This is because innovation relies on the creativity of leaders, employees, and other personnel involved in the structuring of the organization. Creativity can manifest in many ways within an organization which can be labeled as investment, improvement, imagination, and incubation (Frith, 2019). Investment creativity usually reflects in competitive employees with a direct approach stemming from the organization’s vision. Improvement innovators frequently have a systematic approach that clarifies the goal and obstacles in the way of it and produces incremental progress. Imagination creativity has unique features and is usually the source of revolutionary solutions and methods which are anchored on exploration tactics. Incubation innovations focus on the empowerment and shared trust between individuals and the organization itself. It relies heavily on teamwork and collaboration. Though there is no direct connection between a vision or mission statement and the kind of creativity it inspires, each type has its benefits, and executive leaders can use the advantages of each in their strategic planning.
It is the facilitating environment that allows for both the formation of vision and mission statements as well as for the creative solutions inspired by the statements. As such, it is important for organization leaders to notice the language used in their statements and the kind of effect it would have on their employers, stakeholders, partners, and clients. The integration of innovation provided by employees and the company’s goals is all part of a long-term, reliable strategy. Cohesive and certain mission and vision statements, creatively-driven workers, and corresponding and thoughtful strategies are essential to the well-being of an organization. Activities, programs, and discussions should enable conversation about the relationship between the three factors and how they can be maintained or improved.
References
Ahmed, A. (2019). Importance of Mission Vision in Organizational Strategy. HoustonChronicle. Web.
Entrepreneur. (2021). Mission Statement. Entrepreneur. Web.
Frith, E., M. (2019). Acute Exercise and Creativity: Embodied Cognition Approaches Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. The University of Mississippi.
Smith, R. (2021). 7 Mission Vs. Vision Statement Examples In Government & Healthcare. Clear Point Strategy. Web.