What are Mission, Vision, Values and Behaviours and why do they matter?

In our work with many companies over the years – whether with SMEs or large corporations – something has become abundantly clear: businesses with a well-defined mission and vision, with values and behaviours that align to that higher purpose, perform at a significantly higher level than others.

The unfortunate truth, however, is that for many businesses, ‘Mission, Vision, Values and Behaviours’ are abstract terms to which very little thought has ever been given.

Or where thought has previously been given, the core strategic elements are now outdated or obsolete for the business world in which they are now operating.

Worse still, in many businesses, people don’t even know what these terms mean.

In this article we define these terms and outline why it’s crucial for you to have clarity and a deep understanding around each element within your business.

The Strategic Elements: Mission and Vision

Your ‘Mission’ and ‘Vision’ are strategic statements. They should provide focus to everyone involved with your company: employees, Directors, shareholders and customers.

Mission:

Your mission statement is your underlying reason for being in business, your deep-rooted purpose. It is why you exist and why you do what you do. It is the North Star around which you build your culture.

Your mission statement should provide a clear focus to your Directors, Managers, Employees and often, Customers. It should outline the type of work you do, the clients you serve and the level of service you provide to them.

Vision:

Your vision is where you want to be – and what you want to be – in the future. Your vision statement outlines what you’re aiming to achieve as a company. It should be clear and memorable and communicate the journey you are on as a business.

Your vision should provide a benchmark for your progress and guide your day-to-day activities. It should be aspirational but also actionable, realistic, and achievable and not an unrealistic, abstract illusion of the future.

Cultural Elements: Values and Behaviours

There is an undisputable link between culture and business performance.

How your business achieves its Mission and Vision will be driven by your ability to articulate your values, and then get everybody in your company to embody these values in their everyday work and behaviours.

Crucially, you cannot simply dictate what you want your culture to be. Your culture is a function of your employees’ behaviours in the workplace over time.

Values:

Your values outline what you believe in and should drive how your employees behave. They identify how you will honour your mission and vision statements and should offer a unique description of the sort of business you are.

Your values are a ‘moral code’, a behavioural compass, a set of rules that guide your ways of working. They are the core principles that guide the way employees work with their colleagues and with clients.

Your values should be memorable, distinct, and meaningful. They should signpost the standards of behaviour to which everyone will be held accountable in the business. They should make it easy for everyone in your company to know what behaviours are desirable, what behaviours will be tolerated, and what behaviours will not.

Behaviours:

These are your values in action. They are how your people act and behave at work. They are the decisions and actions your employees take throughout the organisation when interacting with colleagues and customers.

Fundamentally, behaviours should align with your stated values. Sometimes companies will be very clear about the expected behaviours that are consistent with each value, but in truth, the specific behaviours your people use should not need to be spelled out if the values are clear.

Leaders should decide how they will exemplify and embody the behaviours they want to see and then do it! They should decide which behaviours they will tolerate and those they will not. how you will personally embody the right behaviours, and how you will police and reward the desired behaviours.

Behaviours spread by imitation and by the sharing of best practice stories and case studies.

The world of work has changed – do your Mission, Vision, Values and Behaviours need to as well?

In the last few years, the world of work has changed, and continues to change, at a dramatic rate.

Your purpose matters matters more than ever. It will determine whether employees and customers will choose to work with you or will continue to work for you.

Companies with a clearly defined mission and vision, with aligned values and behaviours will thrive.

Unfortunately, too often we still find that business leaders don’t have a clear picture of where they are now, let alone where they want to be in the future and how they’re going to get there.

Now is the time to reconsider your mission, vision, values and behaviours of your company. Having a clear strategy with an aligned culture will enable you to differentiate yourself from competitors, build trust, attract talent, gain new clients and to have a workforce that is focused and reenergised.

Launch Pad – Strategy and Culture Workshop with The Uncommon Consultants

If you would like to define or redefine your Mission, Vision, Values and Behaviours, then ‘Launch Pad’ is for you.

Launch Pad is a collaborative 3-day Strategy and Culture workshop for company leaders and Directors, that lays the core foundations for sustainable business growth.

It gives your management team the time, space, and opportunity – outside of their day-to-day activities – to reflect, to focus, to reset and to reformulate a clear and memorable plan of action for the future.

Through open, judgement-free, peer to peer discussions – facilitated by an experienced and objective Uncommon Consultant – your management team will work together to challenge the current business plan, to formulate a restructured and focused strategy, and to shape a company culture that supports the strategic ambitions.

Launch Pad is not based on abstract management theory, but around your real-world activities, with tangible metrics, KPIs and financial objectives at its core.

There’s no bull***t bingo or death by consultant PowerPoint.

In a rapidly changing world, Launch Pad will set the tone for your future, will reignite a spark in your Executive Team, will provide clear strategic direction, will provide a blueprint for sustainable growth, will inject an identifiable change of pace into your business and will give you the best chance of achieving the future business value you want.