Your mission, vision and values.
Whether you have clarified it or not, you are communicating what your mission, vision, and values are to your team, and externally to your customers.
The challenges you run into or maybe experiencing without having clarity around these simple, yet critical declarations, are uncertainty and a lack of consistency. It doesn’t mean you are not going to have a business, or that you are not producing results, but it is guaranteed to hold back your growth and overall effectiveness. No mission is like having a shotgun approach rather than the sniper who is focused and clear about the target. No Vision is having a bunch of individuals or a fragile team, potentially burning out, misleading, miscommunicating, or not being engaged with your company and customers. Having no values allows for organizational chaos, inconsistent customer experience, a team that will do what they want, how they want, and say what they want regardless of the impact it has. Or having a team member not doing what they’re supposed to do as a result of no clarity, accountability, and lack of direction.
Used effectively, your mission, vision, and values, can be a supportive strategic management tool for your business. It can connect your brand promise to your organizational behaviors which will, in turn, support your service/product delivery.
A simple example for context:
Mission: I want to see a beautiful sunset from the highest peak of a mountain.
Vision: I will climb to the top of this mountain.
Values: I will climb safely and slowly, and I will stop to help other climbers on the way.
Plan. Know who you are trying to reach, be open to feedback and constructive criticism. Make it flow and most importantly, be authentic and consistent in your message.
Deliver on your mission, follow your vision, and practice what you preach with every core value. Like the example, reaching the highest peak is what you’re doing, to see the sunset is why, and to climb safely, slowly, while helping other climbers is the behaviors and characteristics of your business and team. Make sure your people know this with certainty to establish your successful mission, vision, and values.
If the message gets you excited, if it has more meaning than simple words read out on a page, and you can feel it inspire as you communicate it. You’re on the right track!
