Writing Good Vision Statements

byDrTerry

63 followers

2 years ago

A well-written Vision Statement describes your business's "why" and reveals your employees' common goal and direction. Writing good vision statement is compelling through passion, inspiration, and positioning it with the goals and values of your business.

A Vision Statement Is Strategic

Writing good vision statement involves strategic planning to create a clear and concise vision of the future for our business and will define a period 3-5 years ahead. Why not five years or even ten years? Today's fast-paced world market changes too fast to plan that far ahead. Disasters, wars, conflicts, disease, and government coups profoundly affect the market. Before the Global Network, five-year, ten-year, and even twenty-year plans were possible and encouraged.

The Vision Statement provides additional loyalty by keeping your readers/sponsors/affiliates emotionally committed to our brand. A great Vision Statement turns our readers/sponsors/affiliates into walking, talking billboards for our products/services! The Vision Statement is paramount because it can impact our business's long-term success, so take your time to consider all points as you write it!

The Mission and Vision Statements define our brand! While the Mission Statement focuses on the purpose, the Mission Statement looks at the fulfillment of that purpose. The Vision Statement should be our business's guiding light!

A Period Of Time In The Future

Before creating a vision for the future, though, you must know where you are today (Mission Statement). The Vision Statement presents a quick map of how we will get from point A (present) to point B (future).

When your Vision Statement is complete, it should provide much-needed impetus for you as things go sideways, as they often will, and provide added importance to the value you provide to your readers/sponsors/affiliates!

Your Vision Statement should be long enough for your readers/sponsors/affiliates to get a good idea of what value you bring to the table, but just as important, short enough to easily remember for your elevator speech. Suppose you have employees/contractors/volunteers. In that case, they need to be able to convey your vision statement in similar, if not exact, terminology, as the Vision Statement brings clarity and purpose to your guiding principles

Vision Statement Questions To Consider

Following are some questions to consider when creating your Vision Statement:

1. Where will we perform our work/services?
2. What will we make, or what services will we serve?
3. What problem will we solve for your clients/sponsors/affiliates, and what is the value of those products/services?
4. Why are we in business? Why did we begin this business, and what compels us to venture forward?
5. What is our prime goal? Making money is not a goal without a reason why we want to make money. Our readers/sponsors/affiliates won't bother reading any further if there isn't something in it for them. Remember, your readers/sponsors/affiliates care about one thing: WIIFM (What's In It For Me)!
6. Why will questions 1-5 be essential for our clients/readers/sponsors/affiliates (WIIFM)?
7. How will we evolve against a constantly changing world market environment?
8. How will we manage change?
9. How do we want our readers/sponsors/affiliates to see us? Otherwise, in what light will our Vision Statement place us in our reader's/sponsor's/affiliate's eyes?
10. How will we accomplish this vision?
11. How will we be characterized through our culture?
12. Will this be a local model or a global model?

Gain a 360° Perspective

Knowing where your readers/sponsors/affiliates are in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Saul Mcleod, P. 2023) is vital when writing your Vision Statement. If you are unfamiliar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, I've supplied a link to an excellent writeup by Dr. Saul McLeod, Ph.D.: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html. I strongly suggest you read the entire article, as this subject will come up frequently as we define our customers and how our business responds to changes in our customer base.

Reading a competitor's Mission/Vision Statement gives us the capability to view the problem from different angles, allowing us to capitalize on new insignts. While you're at it, start thinking about performing a competitive analysis (Fairlie, M. 08/31/2023). The following link provides invaluable insight into a competitive analysis's what, how, and why (https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15737-business-competitor-analysis.html). Mark Fairlie did a great job on this article; it is a must-read by anyone starting up or redefining an existing business.

After crafting our Vision statement, find someone who knows you well and is familiar with your products/services and have them read it to ensure it defines your values. Another point of view can illuminate holes that need to be filled or defined.

Examples Good Vision Statement

• Google: “To provide access to the world’s information in one click”
• Instagram: “Capture and share the world’s moments”
• Microsoft: “To help people throughout the world realize their full potential”
• Nike: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world”
• Whole Foods: “To nourish people and the planet.”

My vision statement for my WA business, You and Me and ADHD, is a bit longer because I wanted to define my goals and pathways: Creating compelling and creative content that engages the reader through passionate and meaningful dialog to build two-way trust and loyalty.

Conclusion

The Vision Statement is the most essential definition of where you want your business to be 3-5 years from now. The Vision Statement gives your products/services meaning and value for your readers/sponsors/affiliates while building two way trust and loyalty.

References

Fairlie, M. (08/31/2023, 08/31/2023). "How to Do a Competitive Analysis." Retrieved 10/07/2023, 2023, from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15737-business-competitor-analysis.html.

Saul Mcleod, P. (2023). "Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs." Retrieved 10/07/2023, 2023, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.

Wesemann, E. (2012, November 1). Five Questions: Creating A Vision For Your Firm. Of Counsel, Vol. 31, No. 11. Retrieved July 15, 2023, from www.LRGLLC.com