When you start and grow a company you are often asked for a Vision / Mission statement. I went through this exercise several times with my team, analysts (like Gartner), my coach, etc. and I believe that understanding your vision is more important than you think for at least the following reasons: understanding why you do things helps you to 1) align you business, 2) explain your offering to prospects, and 3) re-invent your company whenever needed. Ultimately, it helps you to stay in the driver seat (vs. being driven by others).
I have read a lot about how to sharpen your vision / mission statement and can recommend to review 2 ideas from Simon Sinek – this is the best I have seen because it leads to clear and easy to understand messages. That does not mean that it is easy getting there, though.
- Read the idea of framing a vision by a “Just Cause” that meets the following criteria: 1) for something, 2) inclusive, 3) service oriented, 4) resilient, and 5) idealistic.
- The “Just Cause” is linked to your mission statement that can be derived following another of Simon’s ideas: the “Golden Circle”. According to Sinek many companies start messaging with the “what” they do, followed by the “how” and the “why”. Since your customers expect an answer to “why are you here?“ It’s good to turn this around in your mission statement and start with the WHY.
This is not a one-time exercise. Share some brains around this approach and get started. And then refine it over time based on feedback and insights that you gain on your way. I will continue to share my experience about a corporate model based on your Vision / Mission statement that helped my to grow my former company over the years.