Difference Between Mission Statement and Vision Statement

Mission Statement vs Vision Statement

Every company or organization needs some guidelines to follow which will ultimately lead to a successful and fulfilling future. They need some motivation for their employees to show passion towards their work and ensure that the employees’ passion is translated into a better customer response towards the company. To make this happen, every organization has to undergo strategic planning.

Strategic planning
Strategic planning is the process by which the organization defines its strategy for the present and for the future. How does the present have to be seen? How does the future have to be planned? There are three main considerations that strategic planning focuses on: What the company does? For whom do they do it? And how do they excel in what they are doing?

These three questions can be answered in three different statements. These statements are the mission statement, vision statement, and value statement. We will focus on the first two.

Mission statement
A mission statement describes in brief the fundamental purpose for the existence of the company. It focuses on the purpose of the organization, its activities, its capabilities, customer focus, and the business makeup. It is a combination of why and how your company does something and what it does.

It also describes what kind of business they do, who the customers are, the relationship between the organization and its customers. This statement basically helps the organization to move from the present towards the future. The mission statement should be able to work for the present as well as for the coming future. Some organizations target 3-5 years while others target almost 20 years in advance.

It should have both dimensions, internal and external. Internal is for the employees and external is for the customers. It should be broad enough to accommodate new and varied products for the present as well as the future. Most importantly it should have a specific focus for developing business.

Vision statement
A vision statement is a statement which is basically focused on not what the company is doing today, but what the organization will do in the future. It is a statement which the employees of the organization need to embrace. The vision should be able to motivate the employees to do better and to do their work passionately so that the vision established by the company can be achieved. They should be able to think about it all the time and be happy to be a part of the organization which has a vision which they believe in.

It doesn’t direct the organizations to reach somewhere but helps them to start visualizing how to give the business a direction. It is the framework for every organization’s strategic planning.

Summary:

1.Mission statements focus on the very purpose of the company while a vision statement focuses on what the company wants to achieve in the future.
2.Mission statements describe what the company is doing in the present and why they exist; vision statements describe the future plans for the organizations. They do not show how to reach it but where they have to reach.
3.A mission statement is meant to be for the employees and the customers; a vision statement is for the employees so that they can believe in their work and get motivated.

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