Vision, Mission, Values and Strategies

Organizations without a clear idea of where they want to be or what they want to achieve over time often end up running around in circles, not achieving much over time, They seem to be treading water, staying where they are. This is not good for any business, because opposition organizations move forward, and those left behind simply cease to exist in the long run. Organization need to have a clear picture of where they want be over a specified time period, and how to get there. We call this the vision of the organization, supported by strategic planning and tactical planning.

Once a vision has been established, we need a road map to enable the organization to achieve its vision. Then organizations seem to move forward, achieving specific goals along the way towards achieving the vision. This blog tries to describe how this works.

Vision

First of all, a company needs what is generally known as the 'vision statement'. This statement provides the organization with a destination that it wants to reach over a specified time period. This time period is normally long, anything from 3 to 15 years, depending on the type of organization. 

The vision statement provides the organization with a clear mental picture of what it wants to achieve. The vision must be practical and sensible. Pie-in-the-sky vision statements like: "We want to be the best in the world" does not mean anything to the employees of the organization. It is not something that (under normal circumstances for most organizations) can be viably achieved, and therefore nobody believes in it, or will be willing to work towards it. Make it practical. Remember that the employees of the organization must believe in it, because they need to work towards achieving it. Leadership on its own cannot achieve the vision.

In other words, the vision of the organization is a statement that gives us the big picture of what the organization is going to achieve.

Mission

The mission statement is a general statement of how the  organization is going to achieve its vision. It must be an action statement. A good way to ensure that it is an action statement is to start the mission statement with the word "To".

A vision statement could be something like "A successful organization that supplies to 20% of the local market". The mission statement then could be something like "To provide high quality products at affordable prices to local customers".

The mission statement does not have to be a one-liner, but it needs to be as short and simple as possible. Detailed planning will follow later.

Core Values

The value statement of the organization states the core values of the organization that needs to be applied at all times by everyone who is part of the organization. They may never be violated. The core values tells us how to behave during the process of achieving the vision of the organization.

Value statements often define the morals of the organization, but also what is important to the organization. They are often linked to what is regarded as good corporate governance practices by the organization. Examples are:

• We focus on new and innovative ideas
• Ethical behaviour is a high priority and disrespect, bribery and corruption will not be tolerated
• We respect people and the environment
• We make changes to meet the changing needs of our customers
• Etc.

Every decision and action in the organization is measures against the core values of the organization. These values must be adhered to at all times. Anybody should be able to make decisions in the the organization as long as they conform to the core values.

Strategy

Once we have identified the vision (what we want to achieve), the mission (hew we will achieve the vision) and the core values of the organization (how we will behave in the organization and what is important in the organization), we develop strategy in the form of strategic plans to specify how the mission will be used to achieve the vision.

Strategies are one or more ways to use the mission statement to achieve the vision.There may be a variety of strategies, and they are determined by examining the context of the organization, and by performing business risk assessments. Strategy can be in the form of:

• Goals: General statements of what needs to be accomplished to implement strategy
• Objectives: Specific milestones with specific timelines for achieving the goals
• Action plans: Specific implementation plans for achieving objectives

To achieve strategy, we normally address 4 areas in the organization:

• Organization: The management structures, roles, responsibilities and resources
• Processes: The business processes used to deliver the organization's products and services to the customers, as well as the support processes
• People: The personnel responsible for implementing the business processes and doing the work in the organization
• Technology: The hardware and software systems used to support the work of the organization

At this point we start to address tactical planning. Tactical planning is the short term planning of activities within the organization to achieve strategy. Tactical planning takes the organization’s strategic plan and translates it into specific, short-term actions and plans usually by company department or function. 

The management system of the organization, based on the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 (other standards apply in industry specific cases) aims to enable the organization to decide on its vision, mission, strategic planning and tactical planning, and to evaluate the performance of the organization in terms of these plans, and make adjustments to the system when necessary.

SHEQ Management Systems can assist organizations with this process. Please feel free to contact us if you need any assistance, of if there are any specific information that you require.

Koos Gouws

Senior Consultant

koosgouws10@gmail.com