Vision, strategy, and roadmaps build upon each other. However, you need all three (3) to create “winning” plans and realise your organisational goals.
The success of your mission and vision working together depends on how you communicate it, align your organisation to it, then inform your goals and objectives with it. Road mapping is an essential part of any strategic planning process because roadmaps make strategy work. However, a Strategic Roadmap is still just a visualisation of your plan – since you need to have a vision and strategy behind the plan.
One critical step an organisation can take toward reaching its goals is to determine an unclouded vision, strategy, and roadmap. These elements are essential because they help define your business purpose, provides direction and intent, and allows the development of actionable steps. What these concepts are and why each is important helps with the crucial understanding to establish clear objectives, thereby ensuring that every employee understands their responsibilities and the long-term goals of the organisation.
What is the difference between Vision, Mission, and Strategy?
Vision, Mission, and Strategy are the drivers that help your organisation reach its destination.
Whilst striving for consistency across each area, it is easy for these elements to overlap significantly.
- Vision is your starting point (but forward-looking) – it establishes where your organisation is heading into the future and why it matters.
- Mission captures (high-level) what you will action – to realise your Vision.
- Strategy lays out the goals, objectives, and Go-To-Market (GTM) approach – that will help you achieve both the Vision and Mission.
Vision
Vision seeks to outline where the organisation journey is heading and what Values (including ethics) are guiding that journey. It enables the organisation’s purpose by focusing on the imaginable future and the relevance of its existence to achieve; by forming the beginning of the strategy.
The Vision Statement should not need revising at all or too often; since it embodies the foundation of the organisation and is based upon its core beliefs. These Values remain constant regardless of business change, market fluctuations, and industry competition.
Many organisations will specifically list their core values as part of their Vision Statement. When undertaking this approach, then consider that this list needs to be short – typically no more than about 3-5 items. Thus, the importance of business values represents the ingrained core values that are institutionalised within the organisation.
The Vision Statement demonstrates the organisation’s purpose and values, so this influences the company culture and stringent expectations within a certain timeframe, thereby giving direction for all employees to work towards creating the ideal future. It should be typically short, easy to communicate, and understand its meaning.
Mission
The Mission describes the organisation’s purpose – What does the organisation exist to do? What are the business objectives? It goes further than the Vision, however, by making a clear delineation of organisational goals and more importantly – How the vision will be accomplished?
The Mission Statement is how to express the Vision in practical terms. It should be robust, with a solid structure, and include purposeful language. Additionally, it should include measurable cross-functional objectives so that every employee within the organisation can evaluate whether their individual activities will contribute to help the organisation achieve its Mission.
A Mission Statement is usually disseminated and internally communicated. It is aligned with employees, Senior Management, Executive Management Teams, Corporate Boards, and by leaders throughout the organisation. Like the Mission, it should be short – it could even be a single sentence!
While the organisation’s Vision is future-focused, the Mission combines forward thinking with present day goals and objectives. It may be modified over time, but it should always stay on course to the business vision and values.
Strategy
Strategy clarifies the direction of the organisation to achieve its Vision. Strategy aligns the entire organisation around what it needs to accomplish and guides the direction for how to turn the Vision into reality. It outlines the goals, objectives, and the key strategic initiatives to be successful.
Strategy informs every decision that is made and about which activities to invest in. It exists cross-functional as every internal team needs to understand how their work is related and then action their part to achieve the key objectives.
An organisational Strategy should include both short-term and long-term goals, but must consistently explain – How those goals will be achieved? It is clearly focused on the present actions and outcomes needed to achieve the Mission. These strategies continually evolve and updated (over time) to adjust for current factors and business needs.
Values
Values are important because they form the foundation for an organisation’s culture and guide the behaviour of its employees. When a business has a clear set of Values, it makes informed and better decisions that align with its strategic goals and mission.
A Values Statement lists the core principles that guide and direct the organisation and its culture and creates a moral compass for the organisation and its employees. It is the set of ethical rules that all employees embrace and abide by, which holds everyone accountable to the correct behavioural standards – What core principles will provide guidance on the way we work together as colleagues and for our clients?
By outlining clear and well-defined Values can help an organisation to attract and retain employees who share those values, as well as build a positive reputation and customer loyalty. They also help to align the actions and behaviours of employees with business goals and objectives (with priorities) but fosters a sense of unity and cohesion within the organisation.
When an organisation’s actions align with its Values, it conveys a sense of trust and confidence when supported by a strong business purpose, brand, and reputation – creating a positive and productive work environment. It is the persona that communicates to customers and stakeholders what the organisation embodies and by playing a key role in its business success and sustainability.
What is the importance of Mission v. Vision with Strategy planning?
Your Mission and Vision provide the purpose and direction for organisational goals, objectives, and day-to-day duties. Without this crucial foundation, your cross-functional operations will exist in silos without any sense and purpose of direction.
Mission and Vision provide input with the strategic planning process in three (3) key areas:
Alignment
Think of Vision as the top echelon of your business existence. It is everything your organisation does, brings clarity to its future direction and from Vision flows the Mission, which defines how your organisation will attain its end goal.
Organisational goals and objectives sit below the Mission. With Mission and Vision combine to inform corporate strategy, goals and objectives give direction to your business and function-level strategies.
Alignment can be challenging because some organisations begin with goals first, then connect those goals to higher-level strategic objectives, rather than using strategy (Mission / Vision) to inform goals.
The impact of Vision and Mission takes on a higher meaning. The tactical process and daily operations now have structure (and purpose and intent) to align to, making your organisation more productive and efficient.
Engagement
Your teams are much more than a group of employees, with roles and responsibilities – they are human beings who want to be inspired through business purpose. Your organisation’s Mission and Vision provides this purpose and intent.
Engagement sits in parallel with alignment. When your employees have a clear sense of how their individual contributions align with the organisational vision, mission, and each other, engaging them within the process becomes easier.
Focus
When an organisation’s Vision and Mission is clearly communicated, there is no guesswork on what needs to be accomplished in your organisation for driving true impact. When paired with the right goal-setting methodology, Vision and Mission are more than just statements – they both define your organisational focus.
In the OKR Framework (Objectives and Key Results), high-level objectives connect directly to your Mission and creates immediate clarity on the desired outcomes for the organisation, key stakeholders, and employees.
- The resulting key results quantitatively inform how those objectives (tied to your Mission) are going to be achieved.
- Then, daily operational tasks and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) drive your forward progress to key results, objectives, and your Mission and Vision.
Summary
Defining your organisation’s strategic vision, mission, and values must be established before commencing your strategy development. The following execution process will advance the organisation on its change journey.
Your Executive Management Team and Corporate Board define the organisational vision, mission, and values by undertaking a fundamental role in its strategy development and by using these guiding principles. Strategy exists to achieve the Mission, which in turn is the practical, goal-led embodiment of the organisation’s realistic and achievable vision.
Organisational strategies will include a mix of mid to longer-term goals and define the Strategy Roadmap (the plan) to achieve these goals – adjusting over time in response to changing market and internal conditions. Any strategy must always have a clear, concise, and obvious link back to both the business vision and mission. Additionally, what is critically important is that the deliverables of the Strategy Roadmap are substantiated by a resilient understanding (by all stakeholders and employees) of the organisation’s capabilities, gaps and priorities that must be addressed.
Is your organisation’s vision achievable, believable, and relevant to engage your entire organisation?
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