- September 13, 2022
- Posted by: Janet Maturwe
- Categories: Business Strategy, Business Success, Business vision
A vision is a description of something (an organization, corporate culture, business, technology, and act) in the future. It is also an important prerequisite to your business strategy. Once an organization is clear on its mission (raison d’etre) and has decided on the values that are important to them, the next step is to pick a time horizon (long enough to avoid constrained thinking) and articulate where they want to be by then. It is after this that they must choose a way to get there (strategy), usually in smaller time chunks. As an example, the vision horizon could be 15 years, but the strategy horizon is typically 3-5 years.
Karl Albrecht, a management consultant defines a vision statement as an image of what the members or people of an organization aspire for it to be or become. It is an aspirational statement made by an organization that articulates what it would like to achieve. Indeed, it is not just businesses that benefit from setting a good vision. Some of the much talked about legends of achieving rapid national prosperity such as Singapore and Dubai credit much of their success to having visionary leadership that set a vision that they follow or build on to this day. Closer to the home of Stratex, Kenyans refer proudly to their Vision 2030 crafted in the early 2000s. Most citizens and observers recognize the extent to which this created a coherent view of the future that has helped focus and inform the agendas of several 5-year government regimes since with arguably reasonable success compared to the years where no vision had been articulated.
Who requires a vision statement, you might ask? Well, it is important to note that all types of organizations, big or small, start-ups or well-established, need a vision statement because this acts as a guide on the destination to reach and some broad thinking on which route is best to use.
Is a Vision Statement Really Necessary?
Why does a business need a vision or a vision statement? Here we give you a short list of some of the reasons.
- A vision statement acts as a unifying force of all stakeholders, helping align decisions, resources, and everyone within the organization, to ensure they are working towards a single purpose hence having a positive impact on organizational effectiveness. It also helps Investors and others who show interest in the business to better understand the purpose of the organization.
- A vision acts as a reminder and gives a sense of hope for organizations during tough times, acting also as a guide and framework regarding which opportunities to accept and which ones to decline.
- A vision helps form the inspiration behind the organization’s marketing and advertising strategy, acting as a compass, where your company can circle back and determine if you are still aspiring for the realization of your vision from your company’s early days.
Conclusion
Now that we have convinced ourselves that there is some merit to having a vision and a vision statement, let’s consider how we could create one.
First, let’s look at the characteristics of a good vision statement: –
- It should be simple – It should be clear, concise, and easy for anyone, both inside and outside the organization to understand and remember, free of technical jargon, metaphors, or buzzwords containing one or two short sentences. For example, Disney’s, ‘To make people happy’ vision statement.
- It should be genuine, unique from competitors, and inspirational. For example, Google’s, “To provide access to the world’s information in one click”
- It should be realistic in terms of your capabilities, availability of resources, and growth potential. For Example, Heinz, ‘To Be the Best Food Company, Growing a Better World
- Forward-looking – which simply means, ‘having the future in mind’. For example, BBC’s vision statement, “To be the most creative organization in the world”
- Motivating and inspirational – For example, Microsoft: “To help people throughout the world realize their full potential
- Reflective of a company’s culture and core values– For example, Amazon, ‘to be earth’s most customer-centric company
- Aimed at bringing benefits and improvements to the organization in the future
Now that the characteristics are clear to us, the next step is to understand the steps to take to develop a vision statement as outlined below:
- Outline the Mission and values – Before you can fully outline a vision statement, it’s important to know the mission and values of the organization, Such as honesty, passion, integrity, and accountability among others.
- Determine a time horizon long enough to allow you to think in an unconstrained manner e.g., 15 years, 50 years, 100 years, etc.
- Take inspiration from companies that have defied the odds to become huge in a short period of time e.g., Apple, and Google, and also from those that have lasted for very long periods of time such as Otterton Mills UK, Kongo Gumi Japan, Marinelli Bell Foundry Italy, etc.
- Craft the organization’s long-term goals in terms of where the organization is headed, what problems it intends to solve, and how the realization of the Vision will change things, among others.
- Establish the achievement timeline – Since a vision statement serves as a guide for an organization’s success, it’s helpful to add time frames to each component. Consider when you expect the business to meet certain milestones and achieve the goals you’re outlining in the statement.
- Find no more than 35 words (preferably fewer) to summarize your vision, capturing the keywords of a future changed in and by your company.
- Share this with your shareholders, board, and senior leadership and validate a common vision in the event any of them was not part of the vision crafting process, and triangulate.
- Create a final statement and share it widely in the organization to galvanize energy and action and inspire strategic thought.
Below are some examples of vision statements from some renowned Companies. Since we expect that, you know of these, so we leave you to form an opinion on how well they have thus far shaped the businesses that articulated them, well equipped with the criteria for a good vision as you now are:
- Google – “To provide access to the world’s information in one click”
- Microsoft – “A computer on every desk and in every home.”
- Paypal – “The web’s most convenient, secure, and cost-effective payments solution.”
- American Express – “To provide the world’s best customer experience every day.”
- Netflix – “Becoming the best global entertainment distribution service”
- Safaricom Foundation – “Bringing Community Dreams to Life”
- Kenya Commercial Bank – “To be the preferred financial solutions provider in Africa with global reach”
- East African Breweries Limited – “To be the most celebrated business in every market in Eastern Africa”
Conclusion
By investing in setting a vision and articulating a vision statement, business stakeholders create a shared view of the future with key stakeholders and position their businesses to craft a strategy and direction aligned with their mission and values hence organizational unity, focused revenue generation, better time management, better resource allocation, cost management, and eventually overall business success.
We at Stratex help organizations create missions, visions, values, and strategies and execute them for success.
If you would like to know more or to get our assistance in creating your vision or related subjects, talk to us today at 0713601118, through email at sales@stratexalign.com, through LinkedIn@stratexalign.com or contact us on our linked in page (Stratex Alignment Solutions) and we will be happy to discuss how we can help put your business on the path to success. If you want to learn more about us, visit our website.