IS IT A MISSION OR A VISION?

By: Scott A. Romeo, MAOM

scott@newhorizonconsulting.com
Founder and President New Horizon International Consulting, LLC
www.newhorizonconsulting.com

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IS IT A MISSION OR A VISION?
Many leaders and managers of organizations often confuse the
differences between mission statements and vision statements. Since these are
the foundation to a business or strategic plan, it is imperative that
organizations not only know the difference, but actually use these tools to
advance their organizations.
MISSION STATEMENTS
From an historical perspective, mission and vision statements have
been around for some time. In fact, these, like many business tools used today,
are carried over from the military and the military industrial complex. Military
commanders used to (and still do) send their troops on missions. As part of the
preparation, the troops were told the purpose and objective of the maneuver
that they were about to perform. This mission briefing kept the troops focused
on the short-term goals associated with the day-to-day activities they were
performing.
Those organizations supporting the troops with supplies, military
contractors, who have become known as major stakeholders in the military
industrial complex, soon realized the value of the mission statement and began
to adapt the use of the mission statement into their organizations. Over time,
the rest of the business environment has observed the benefits of
communicating the mission to the workforce and has adopted the tool as part
of the regular business and strategic planning process. Mission statements
began within organizations in a similar fashion to its use in the military it
was a way for leadership to communicate to the workforce this is who we are
and this is what we do to help them focus on their tasks at hand.
Thus, a mission statement describes the current state of an
organization, including who the organization is and what it does. For example,

Copyright 2008. Scott A. Romeo, MAOM. All Rights Reserved.

IS IT A MISSION OR A VISION?
New Horizon International Consulting, LLC is a global management
consulting firm dedicated to helping clients evaluate the past, understand
the present and achieve the future.
Mission statements should be written in the present tense and should
convey to the stakeholders who the organization is and what it does. If
possible, the mission statement should be behavior- or action-based, meaning
it should convey in its mission to the workforce what they are to do today.
When mission statements were first introduced into the work
environment, they were used primarily as an internal communication tool. For
example, someone once told me that one of the early mission statements for
Zale Corporation (the diamond store) conveyed the message that the
associated were to charge the most amount of money the customer was willing
to pay. I dont know if this is true or not; however, a modified version of this
can be seen in the current mission of Zale: The mission of Zale Corporation is
to be the best fine jeweler in North America. Our goal is to develop and
market the finest collection of jewelry brands by creating a customer
experience that builds lasting relationships and generates superior returns for
our shareholders. To achieve this objective, we are committed to educate,
motivate and reward our employees to maximize the talents of each
individual.
The above describes the introduction of the mission statement into the
work environment. Over time, organizations have learned that the mission
statements can also be used as a marketing tool as a means of communicating
to external stakeholders, as also evidenced above in the Zale mission
statement. Introducing the mission statement to the outside world meant that
many mission statements needed to be refined.

Copyright 2008. Scott A. Romeo, MAOM. All Rights Reserved.

IS IT A MISSION OR A VISION?
At this stage in the life cycle of a mission statement, the use of the
mission statement changed from the leader communicating to the workforce to
a message from the organization to both the internal and external stakeholders.
Displaying the mission to the outside world now required the assistance of
marketing, legal, behavioral scientists and other experts to help ensure that the
right message is communicated to all of the stakeholders.
We are presently experiencing the third phase or transition of mission
statement. Not only is it important to communicate to the world who an
organization is and what it does, today, the mission statement also has to
instill confidence in the stakeholders that the organization is also a good
corporate citizen. In the wake of Qwest, Arthur Anderson, Enron, WorldCom
and others, organizations now feel compelled to incorporate terms associated
with social responsibility into mission statements in order to display to the
world that they are good corporate citizens. Consequently, since 1999, many
mission statements have been modified to reflect this current trend. Those
organizations that have not modified the mission statement have incorporated
value statements or a code of ethics into their organizations.
VISION STATEMENTS
We now must move on to the discussion of a vision statement. A
vision statement has very little to do with the present state of an organization
so it is only remotely related to the mission statement. A vision statement
describes the state of an organization at some time in the future, upon the
successful implementation of a business or strategic plan. So, while the
mission statement currently describes an organization, the vision statement
describes what an organization will be and the products and services it will
offer 3-5 years from today.

Copyright 2008. Scott A. Romeo, MAOM. All Rights Reserved.

IS IT A MISSION OR A VISION?
The vision statement of an organization is usually developed by
leadership, who is looking ahead. The mission statement is usually being
implemented by management, which is concerned with the day-to-day
activities of the organization. The vision that the leader develops today, the
manager will implement weeks, if not months, in the future.
Consequently, a vision statement is always written in future tense,
where as the mission statement is written in present tense. While a mission
statement may begin with the words, We are a vision statement may begin
with the words We will.
It is surprisingly the number of organizations, even large ones, who
confuse these concepts. Here are some real-life examples taken from
corporate websites:
Lowes Vision: We will provide customer-valued solutions with the
best prices, products and services to make Lowe's the first choice for home
improvement. Since this is the vision statement for Lowes, one can only
assume that it presently does not feel as if it provides customer-valued
solutions at the best price and it hopes to do so in the future.
Home Depot is so unsure of its statement that it titles it
Mission/Vision, which we now know is inaccurate. As one reads the
statement, it appears to be more of a mission statement that lacks any vision at
all. You can view the link and read the complete statement at:
http://corporate.homedepot.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_14
2/_s.7_0_A/7_0_142
Wal-Mart correctly states its vision statement as follows: To become
the worldwide leader in retailing.

Copyright 2008. Scott A. Romeo, MAOM. All Rights Reserved.

IS IT A MISSION OR A VISION?
Starbucks has defined its vision to: "Establish Starbucks as the
premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our
uncompromising principles while we grow."
Yahoo, a company that is currently struggling, when asked, Does
Yahoo have a mission or vision statement? responds with Yahoo! Powers
and delights our communities of users, advertisers, and publishers, -- all of us
united in creating indispensible experiences and fueled by trust. One gets the
sense that Yahoo leadership was unsure if it had created a mission or vision
statement and elected to use it for both. In actuality, it is a mission statement.
Enrons vision statement once read, to become the worlds leading
energy company -- apparently that meant at all costs.

Copyright 2008. Scott A. Romeo, MAOM. All Rights Reserved.

IS IT A MISSION OR A VISION?
EXERCISE:

It is always a great idea to have an individual mission and vision statement.

Now that you are clear on the distinction between the two, you should write a
mission statement that describes your present actions, and a vision statement
describing where you want to be in the future.

MY MISSION IS:

MY VISION IS:

Copyright 2008. Scott A. Romeo, MAOM. All Rights Reserved.