Vission, Mission & Core Values

What makes the truly exceptional companies different from the other companies? How can Disney get 38,000 employees to operate as one, to react to thousands of different situations a day - yet consistently? How did Dee Hock create an entirely new type of organization, VISA, which now dominates financial transactions across the world with a seamless service? Vision, mission & core values, which are aligned through all recruitment, training, controls and decision making. Developing a vision, mission and values is the foundation for long term success. If a vision and mission is recognized by all stakeholders and affects every hiring, strategic decision and communication; its effect can be magic. Developing a vision, mission and values is a serious business. It takes time and commitment, but it is worth it.

The vision, mission &core values answer three critical questions: "What?" "Why?" and "How?"

Vision

Vision is the "WHAT?" The picture of the future we seek to create.

Vision is a short, succinct, and inspiring statement of what the organization intends to become and to achieve at some point in the future, often stated in competitive terms. Vision refers to the category of intentions that are broad, all-intrusive and forward-thinking. It is the image that a business must have of its goals before it sets out to reach them. It describes aspirations for the future, without specifying the means that will be used to achieve those desired ends.

The corporate success depends on the vision articulated by the chief executive or the top management. For a vision to have any impact of the employees of an organization it has to be conveyed in a dramatic and enduring way. The most effective visions are those that inspire, usually asking employees for the best, the most or the greatest. Make sure you keep stretch in your vision, communicate it constantly, and keep linking the events of today to your vision, underscoring the relationship between the two.

Warren Bennis, a noted writer on leadership, says: "To choose a direction, an executive must have developed a mental image of the possible and desirable future state of the organization. This image, which we call a vision, may be as vague as a dream or as precise as a goal or a mission statement."

A vision helps unite people towards a purpose. Creating and living a vision is the role of leaders in organizations. They have to espouse it and help others to believe it.

Visions are aesthetic and moral; they come from within as well as outside.

According to Disney, a successful vision accomplishes six goals:

* gives a sense of the future

* guides decision making

* creates a shared purpose

* provides guidelines that determine behavior

* inspires emotion

* connects to values

Mission

Mission is the "WHY?" the organization's answer to the question, "Why do we exist?"

A mission statement is an organization's vision translated into written form. It is a unifying statement of what an organization is in business to do. It is a key reference point in the planning and implementation of change.

It makes concrete the leader's view of the direction and purpose of the organization. For many corporate leaders it is a vital element in any attempt to motivate employees and to give them a sense of priorities.

A mission statement should be a short and concise statement of goals and priorities. In turn, goals are specific objectives that relate to specific time periods and are stated in terms of facts. The primary goal of any business is to increase stakeholder value.

The most important stakeholders are shareholders who own the business, employees who work for the business and clients or customers who purchase products and/or services from the business.

Core values

Core values answer the question "How do we want to act, consistent with our mission, along the path toward achieving our vision?"

Values are the beliefs of an organization, the expression of what it stands for and how it will conduct itself. An organization's values might include integrity, openness, honesty, freedom, etc. They describe how the company wants life to be on a day-to-day basis, while pursuing the vision. Values are the core of an organization's being. They underpin policies, objectives, procedures and strategies because they provide an anchor and a reference point for all things that happen. Values of an organization are evidenced by its behavior. These core organizational values must be identified as any plan that is inconsistent with existing core organizational values is unlikely to succeed.

Core values are necessary to help people with day-to-day decision making.

Core values are only helpful if they can be translated into concrete behaviors.

Core values should be

* It's a collective belief organization-wide

* It determines the norms or standards of acceptable behavior as to "how to approach your work".

* People know and care when the value isn't operational.

* It's an enduring value and one of the last things you'll give up.

* There are myths, rituals, and other stories to support its existence.

There can't be very many like this.

Core values are few in number.

How to determine whether the values are core values or not?

One of the ways to determine whether a value is a core value or not is to ask whether it would continue to be supported if circumstances changed and caused it to be seen as liability. If the answer is yes, then it's a core value. If the answer is no, then it's not. Another way is to imagine the organization into a totally different industry. The values that would be carried with it into the new industry are the core values of the organization.

Some examples on some values firms choose to be their core values:

* Excellent