Vision, Values, Mission, Principles, Purpose? How to Keep Track
If your company doesn’t have a “mission statement,” don’t fret. A meeting is probably going on right now (a corporate retreat, maybe) where people are working on it.
No doubt, there’s a consultant at the meeting, too, guiding your colleagues through the process.
But how about a “vision statement”? Do you have one of those?
Or a statement of “values”? Or “principles”? Got one?
And how about your “purpose”? Has anybody in your organization come up with a succinct summation of that?
Graham Kenny in the Harvard Business Review says all these various iterations of the way a company describes itself, its direction and its collective convictions differ in significant ways. They might look the same, but really they’re not.
A vision statement “says what the organization wishes to be in some years’ time.” It’s aspirational.
A mission statement “describes what business the organization is in (and what it isn’t)” both today and in the future, which suggests that it slops over, just a little bit, into vision statement territory.
A value statement provides a “behavioral compass.” A compass is helpful when you are trying to get somewhere — in the future.
Values describe a “desired” culture, meaning where the company wants to go, ethically. This, again, projects into the future — you know, like a vision statement or a mission statement. A value statement provides a “behavioral compass.” A compass is helpful when you are trying to get somewhere — in the future.
Principles, to distinguish them from vision, give employees “a set of directions.” They’re like a compass that way — a behavioral compass. Purpose emphasizes “how the organization should view and conduct itself.” It is “motivational,” which is a lot like aspirational, but different.
Got all that? Are the distinctions clear and concise, the way statements of this kind should be?
Are they “actionable”? And are you “passionate” about them?
If not, Kenny, a consultant in Australia, would probably love to walk you through it.
