Writing a mission statement for your business tells your colleagues, employees and customers what your business intends to do and how it will do it. The mission statement serves to describe the company in present terms and does this by describing measurable goals and objectives. A vision statement is very much like your mission statement except it outlines where the company would like to be in the future. The vision statement has more human value to it and describes how the company wishes to be perceived.
These statements are simply that – statements. No need to get extremely elaborate, they should be succinct, interesting and smart.
Mission Statement Vision Statement
Present tense Future tense
Lists overall goals Describes how it sees itself in the future
How the organization will get there Lists where the organization wants to be
Developing Your Mission & Vision Statement
It’s helpful to answer these questions to guide you in developing your mission and vision statements.
Mission Statement:
1. What does the company do today?
2. For whom does the company do it?
3. What is the benefit to the end user?
Vision Statement:
1. What does the company want to do in the future?
2. When does the company want to do it by?
3. How does the company expect to do it?
You should be able to turn these answers into a well-crafted mission and vision statement for your business. Here are some great examples of mission and vision statements:
Boy Scouts of America
Mission Statement
The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.
Vision Statement
The Boy Scouts of America will prepare every eligible youth in America to become a responsible,