Chasing Scale: Vision, Mission and Core
Once you have defined your target market and estimated your obtainable market, it is important to set your vision on where you want to go next. Historical context and experience always helps, I once heard a phrase which stuck with me — “If you don’t know where you are coming from, then you don’t know when you are going”. Regardless of the historical context, you need to set a vision for yourself and for your company. This vision will always be your guiding principal, your north star, and help keep you aligned to your ultimate goal. In the toughest times, when the chips are low, it should be the one sight you should always have your eyes on, this is the light at the end of the tunnel.
This vision, in simple terms, should be a statement about what you want to become when you grow up, it’s aspirational. Key questions your Vision Statement should answer are as follows:
1) What are our hopes and dreams, and what kind of a world do we envision?
2) What problem(s) are we tackling?
3) What behavior(s) are we trying to change or inspire?
It is crucial that the vision of the startup is communicated and bought into by all founders and team members even before they come on board. For employees, it is best practice to do so as part of the hiring process, and can help determine fit with the organization, so they can actively contribute towards realizing this vision. A clear vision helps teams focus on what matters the most for their company, and also invites innovation in pursuit of achieving that vision. A lack of vision is synonymous with a headless chicken or a road to nowhere. Moving without a north star, without light at the end of the tunnel, outdated processes, and feeling uninspired is the perfect recipe for disaster. A study by Bain & Company found that businesses with more engaged workers more than doubled their revenues compared to other companies over a seven-year period.
It is of course understood that the mission of any business is to make money and create shareholder value. However, you will be surprised at how many of the best ones actually have a larger sense of purpose. This is best expressed with a well-defined mission that establishes your company’s core and highlights your goals, defining what your organization is currently doing or plans on doing. The mission is the driving force behind the company, and sets the tone for what it takes to reach those objectives. It also plays a strong role in shaping company culture, which some may argue is more important than strategy — heard the phrase “Culture eats strategy for breakfast?” A Survey from Deloitte reveals that over 90% of executives and employees believe a distinct workplace culture is key to business success. Leading questions your Mission statement should answer are:
- What do we do as a company?
- Who are we catering to?
- How are we catering to them?
A strong mission can really help motivate your team to advance toward your vision, as it will help keep the team on track to work together to reach that same end-goal. On the other hand, a weak mission will likely create silos, miscommunications, inefficiency and a lack of motivation.
Core values and core competencies is what defines an organization and what it does best. It should be identified early-on based on founders’ and teams’ strengths, and will be further solidified after pilots have been conducted, commercial-launch has taken place, and feedback from customers has been received. Core values and competencies help guide strategy and allow for better decision making to take place. It’s okay to experiment and try new directions with different pivots over time, but in tough times the best companies succeed because they go back to their core competencies, and really excel at it. Stick to your core, focus on what your product or service really is and what it stands for.
A clear vision, mission and core also allow customers, suppliers and investors to decide whether or not they wish to be associated with you. Furthermore, it is not only important for stakeholders to align themselves with the company’s vision, mission and core, but it is also important to continuously reinforce them in the minds of all stakeholders, so that they start living them, breathing them, and becoming obsessed with them. Once it becomes a part of the company and its peoples’ DNAs, everything will flow seamlessly from there on in the pursuit of CHASING SCALE.
