The company’s vision, mission, and values are part of the organizational culture; three elements are essential for any business. These contribute to defining, among other aspects, the image of a company, its objectives, and the strategies that the company intends to use to achieve them. It also lays the foundations for the relationship between the organization and the people who are part of it, such as workers, clients, and its target audience. Therefore, in addition to being clear about the meaning of the company’s vision, it is also essential to know what characteristics it must meet and why defining the vision is so important.
Key points
- A company’s vision is its path to follow or goal to reach.
- Defining the company’s vision correctly will allow you to determine the most appropriate strategies to achieve the objectives.
- The company’s vision must be clear, understandable, ambitious, and realistic.
What is the company’s vision?
The concept of company vision refers to those objectives or achievements the company intends to achieve. In other words, the vision of a business is related to where the company wants to go or the path it wants to follow. It also refers to how the company’s members intend to achieve these objectives in the medium and long term.
The company vision is, therefore, an expectation of what the organization wants to achieve; it is how the people who make up the company envision the business in the future. This expectation may be ambitious, but the proposed objectives must also be realistic. SMART goals can help define the business vision.
What impact does your vision have on the company?
Defining the business vision correctly is essential since, together with the mission and values, it constitutes the pillars that will determine the organization’s actions, objectives, what the company intends to contribute to society, and how and howled.
The company’s vision also serves as a reference for all the people who are part of the organization since its purpose is to provide an image of the objectives it intends to achieve or where it wants to be. In short, the mission, vision, and values are fundamental parts of the business culture and are also related to the work environment. Furthermore, they are factors that will define and determine the functioning of the organization and the different departments that make it up.
How is the company vision built?
To define your company’s vision, it is important to ask yourself the following questions: where do I want my company to be in a few years? How do I envision my business in the future? To do this, it is advisable to follow the following tips:
- Set ambitious but realistic goals.
- Keep the company’s mission and values in mind when writing the vision.
- Also, consider all the people who are part of the company.
- Write a simple, brief text that is easy to understand, not only for people who are part of the organization but also for users who may be interested in the company but are unfamiliar with the sector.
- You should also know that the business vision should be adaptable to possible future changes and collaborative with managing these changes.
On the other hand, it may also be a good idea to hold a brainstorming session in which different organization members propose concepts or keywords that should be part of the company’s mission, vision, and values. There are also several questions you can ask yourself that will help you define your business vision. These are some examples:
- What is the main purpose of the company? What do you intend to achieve in the long term?
- What image would you like the public to have of your business?
- What would you like the company to contribute to society?
- What values will be necessary to achieve the established goals?
- What activities will the organization carry out in the future?
- How does the company want to make a difference?
What is the difference between a company’s mission, vision, and values?
As has already been seen, “vision” is often used with the concept of mission and values. These are three fundamental aspects of company culture; it is important to know how they differ. These three concepts are defined below:
Mission
Defining a mission as an organization’s main function or purpose in society is possible. In other words, it is the main reason a company exists and mainly focuses on the present. This is a fundamental aspect for companies since a well-defined business mission helps correctly define a business plan and also helps determine the organization’s strategies to achieve its objectives.
Vision
A company’s vision consists of how an organization views said company in the long term. Therefore, business vision is closely related to the future of the company in question. In other words, it is the place or objective you want to reach. It motivates and inspires people in a company to work as well as possible and achieve the proposed goals. A company’s vision determines its intention to achieve its mission.
Values
This concept is closely related to business ethics. Values are the principles and characteristics that define a company’s work, decisions, and employees’ behavior. Their ethical bases play an important role in any company, help organizations differentiate themselves from other companies, and are closely related to the mission and vision.
Why is it important for the company to define its vision?
Defining the company’s vision is essential for several reasons. Among the main benefits that this entails, it is important to highlight the following:
- The various people who are part of the company have a much better understanding of its purpose and how they should carry out their work.
- It allows you to highlight the company’s strengths and stand out.
- Together with the mission and values of the company, it helps define the most appropriate strategies to meet the objectives.
- It also helps ensure effective internal communication between people in the organization and keeps team members motivated.
- It helps you make better decisions.
- It contributes to defining employer branding and is also beneficial for talent management.
Explore: Employee Policy For Remote Company
What characteristics are desirable in the vision of a company?
Although there are no rules about a company’s vision, there are several desirable characteristics due to the benefits they can bring. These are some examples:
- It must be able to be defined or written briefly.
- It must be written clearly and must be understandable.
- It has to be ambitious and realistic at the same time.
- It must be relevant to the people who are part of the company and the target audience.
- It must be in line with the company’s culture, its mission, and its values.
- It should be attractive and inspiring. This will allow others to identify with the company and help motivate team members.
- It must be flexible since changes in the company over time may require the vision to be modified.
Examples of the vision of some companies
Several examples of company culture can help you better understand the importance of a company’s mission, vision, and values and the difference between these concepts. For this reason, the visions of several globally known companies are detailed below.
- Google. Google wants to be the world’s most prestigious and important search engine.
- Disney. Disney aims to “become the largest producer and provider of entertainment and information in the world.”
- Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola’s vision is to create brands and beverages that refresh people in every way, through a sustainable business that contributes to a better future for everyone. The company’s vision considers all the people related to it and aims to make a difference in people’s lives, society, and the planet.
- Manzana. For Apple, it is about creating great products and innovating.
- IKEA. IKEA aims to “create a better everyday life for most people.”
- Patagonia aims to offer high-quality products without damaging the environment, using the resources at its disposal.
Frequent questions
What is the vision of a company?
A company’s vision is its long-term goal or purpose. In other words, it is the company’s people’s vision of it. A company’s vision also refers to how the company intends to achieve this goal.
How is the vision of a company created?
To define the vision of a company, it is important to ask questions such as:
- What objectives have I defined for the company in the long term?
- How would I like people to see my company?
- What would I like this company to contribute to society?
- How do I imagine the company in a few years?
What should a vision have?
The company vision should be clear, brief and easy to understand. It must also be ambitious but realistic. Finally, it should be inspiring.