At People Centric, we have the formal strategic planning experience to help organizations navigate challenges. When we work with organizations, we often begin by evaluating their Vision and Mission statements. In our experience, we have found that the development of a strong mission and vision statement is of the utmost importance.
A quality mission statement should be the guiding force of every decision an organization makes and should be worth not only remembering, but repeating. It can act as a formal mantra adopted by a not-for-profit staffed by a handful of volunteers or a reminder for tens of thousands of healthcare network employees to always deliver to the best care. As a leading healthcare strategic planning firm in Southwest Missouri, we’re always looking for examples of organizations who are using their mission statement effectively; one such example is CoxHealth, as evidenced by their concise and focused mission statement:
To improve the health of the communities we serve through quality health care, education and research.
Not only does Cox wish to provide healthcare, but its mission emphasizes the value of providing that same care in ways that set it apart from other healthcare providers without minimizing its overarching purpose—to improve the health of the communities it serves.
Our team of experts can help you find your mission statement by focusing on what values drive your business and how you plan to use those values to emphasize your final vision and mission.
Vision & Purpose
Your vision or purpose is a simple statement of the ideal(s) you want your organization or business to embody. Are you providing a service? Or are you providing a service with unparalleled customer service and care?
Buffer your vision with more details about your standard of service and what you want your organization to achieve. What makes your business stand out? Is it your dedication, quality, customer service, or efficiency? What is the impact and affect your organization do you want it to have? All these aspects of your business should feed into one purpose that lets your customers or clients instantly know what kind of company you are.
Core Values
Think of your core values as pillars—a favorite theme of strategic planning. What holds your business up? What specific qualities set your business apart? Much like the classic interview question “what three words would you use to describe yourself?”, what words would you use to describe your business? When discovering core values, it is important for you and your people to consider what is important to each of you and how you want to represent yourselves as an organization.
Once you find your core values, reflect on think why those values are important to you and how they affect your business.
Mission
Our strategic planning consultants can help you analyze what sets your services and your company apart from competitors to define your business’s key objectives. What is the basic need you are meeting, and how? Not only should your mission statement reflect those objectives; it should also be bold, inspirational and compelling. Take, for example, one of our favorite mission statements of all time:
“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
The writers of “Star Trek” knew how to inspire. They wrote a specific five-year mission to explore new worlds and civilizations, and paired it with the ethos of discovery: “to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
What defines your work?
Think about these questions below and how you, your co-workers or employees, and customers would answer each.
Vision: How do you value your service?
Values: Write down words that you want customers to associate your business with. What do you want to live up to for you and your organization?
Mission: What needs are you providing and how are you providing them? Where do you want your business to be in 5 or 10 years?
