Day-to Day Use of Mission and Vision Statements

Talk to almost anybody about Mission and Vision statements and you will probably get a classic eye-roll in response. Everybody knows they were just a fad, right? Well, wrong! There may have been a faddish element to their development years ago. Every organization had to have one and considerable time and effort went into developing one of each. Generally, they were well done. They looked really good hanging on the wall in the lobby above the receptionist’s desk and that’s as far as they usually got in day-to day utility.

It’s a little like all the hype that surrounded brain-storming and other thinking tools that dominated business planning sessions for a while and then went off into oblivion, dismissed as ultimately over-hyped and of low utility. As Tim Hurson points out in his book, Think Better, people typically give up too soon on thinking tasks before the real rewards are reached because going deep is hard work. Typically, the low hanging fruit gets picked and people give up, blaming the task itself for their shortcomings.

Einstein summed it up well when he said, Thinking is the hardest work men do, that’s why so few do it,” or words to that effect. So it is that people give up on mission and vision statements once they are made. When the really hard work is needed, applying them in daily work and planning, most throw up their hands and walk away.

It’s tough subjecting everything you do daily and in the future to ideas and statements you created last month. A mission statement is going to be used to evaluate immediate plans and performance. It’s a standard created by the players and needs to be applied as it was meant, as a measuring stick. Take your plans or performance and ask the question, “How does this measure up against our standard?” does this activity advance our mission or push us toward achieving our vision. If the answer is no, maybe the whole thing needs to be reevaluated, or maybe just the activity in question. The point is that having a measuring stick allows all concerned to be systematic in advancing their business.

Likewise, a vision statement is a long-term measuring stick against which to measure daily activity. This is what we want to be someday. Is what we are planning and doing today going to get us there if we keep it up? If not, why are we doing it? Those can be tough questions against which to measure your business plans and performance in the short-term. It takes no small amount of will to haul those standards out and apply them in this way. Most businesspeople aren’t up to this much effort daily. Iron discipline is not that common. Unfortunately, it is the foundation of predictable success.

Share your thoughts on such statements and your business. Do you have one of each? Do you use them to guide your activity and planning daily? If not, what’s your alternative? Register and make a comment.