Sun Tzu
In a world of no hold’s barred competition, a right series of decisions and actions could mean the difference between survival and destruction. The current economic meltdown has shown that there is no immunity from financial tsunamis.
Strategic planning (or political direction) is a key ingredient in defining the direction of an organization and the allocation of resources. Strategies are of internal origin and pro-active in nature. The outcome is used to define the roadmap for the present and future. It generally comprises of the following questions:
1. "What do we do?"
2. "For whom do we do it?"
3. "How do we beat the competition?"
Therefore an evaluation of the current situation, defining targets and a roadmap are a key. Organizations often outline goals and objectives into a mission statement and a vision statement. The mission statement and vision statement can be detailed as below:
A Mission statement informs you of the fundamental purpose of the organization while the vision statement outlines what the organizations wants to be.
Mission statements are rooted in the present while the vision statement is about the future identity.
The mission statement creates current processes while the vision helps in decision making.
The mission statement defines the internal SLA’s (Service Level Agreements) or parameters while the Vision is a source of motivation or inspiration.
With the current economic situation what does one make of a mission and a vision statement? Do companies need to rewrite their Mission and vision statements in line with new realities?
Take the situation of Investment Banks. Their raison d’etre has been wiped clean by their transformation into commercial banks. If the fundamental purpose of existence (Mission statement) no longer exists, whither thou vision statement?
Similarly with the huge layoffs being announced by organization, stoppage of work and strategic retreat, what of a vision of the future for the employees? Has the vision lost its relevance?
The Vision Statement can change, as detailed by this portion of a Speech by Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft on Sept 5, 2008
A New Microsoft Vision Statement
You know, for many years we had kind of what I would call the all encompassing mission, vision and scorecard statement: a computer on every desk and in every home. That was kind of a mantra, and really worked for our employees because it had a sense of purpose, it talked about what we were really trying to get done, and by the way it was a measurement system, which is counting desks and homes and how were we doing.
Well, our footprint and portfolio is broader than that, and we talk now with our folks about enabling people and businesses to realize their full potential.
I think that actually motivates not just our folks but a lot of people in the technology industry: The sense of really making a positive difference in society is important.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/2008/09-25vcsummit.mspx
Honda’s Vision is unique, because it has the flexibility inherent in it for change.
Honda Vision Statement
We see the world not as it is, but as it could be.
We see the world through the eyes of dreamers. Because we are a company founded by a dreamer. And we are a company built on dreams.
We see the pursuit of impossible dreams as an empowering force, capable of producing revolutionary ideas. Dreams inspire us to create innovative products that enhance human mobility and benefit society. Honda encourages all of its associates to pursue their dreams. And it's our mission to share these dreams with others and to make them a reality.
We see "The Power of Dreams" as a way of thinking that guides us and pushes us forward. The strength of our company comes from this philosophy
6 comments:
That is a very good question and one that many companies/organizations would need to consider.
Do the mission and vision statements reflect the internal qualities of the organization or do they depend on external conditions? I've considered such statements to be a representation of what an organization has to offer, what it sees as it capacity and capabilities and how it will shape its future and the future of others.
It is quite fitting to review mission and vision statements periodically to see whether the organization's "sense of self" has changed and whether it can better relate that to the "world out there." Yet, a massive re-write based on new economic realities suggests that the mission and vision statements were more like marketing pieces or, possibly, the organization itself has to be re-made (in which case, new statements are needed). Your example would be a case of an organization saying, "This is our new business."
I sometimes read mission and vision statements and feel that they are so much fluff and fancy words. Do they really reflect the core values of an organization? How dearly held are those core values? Were the statements expressed in a way that they apply through a range of circumstances?
My personal mission and vision statements are good for years to come. My goals, strategies and actions are what need to be reviewed and adjusted for changing circumstances.
The new economic reality is a wonderful challenge to reconsider the quality of the statements. If they don't stand the test, then they should be revised with more attention to what is at the heart of the organization.
Hello,
In my first comment to your question, "Do companies need to rewrite their Mission and vision statements in line with new economic realities?"
I answered:
I don't think your mission statement would need to be re-written. Mainly because your mission should be derived from the company's core principles and values. For example, an excerpt from my team's mission is, "...solving problem's in a creative manner that increases Tenet's wealth." As you can see no matter what the economic reality we would not want to divert from that ideal.
However, after being directed to your blog I would have to agree that it is possible that a vision statement may change in light of economic realities. I guess a "vision statement" is sort of a long term goal statement much like our country's Declaration of Independence right?
I must say, although I like the example of why Microsoft's needed to change their vision, I think it is important to realize what necessitated their change. That is, they achieved their goal of, "a computer on every desk and in every home". So I ask, what if this was not achieved by Microsoft (with the assistance of other companies like IBM, Intel, etc)? Would Microsoft have changed their vision? Or would they have continued to plug forward and perhaps only expanded on this vision?
So a final question for you:
Is it better to ask, if a company is unable to achieve their vision should they change it to meet new (economic) realities?
Sunli,
I am actually just a middle manager so I've only given thought to my company's mission statement and vision with respect to making sure my team's mission and goals are aligned. However, theoretically I find this topic fascinating so please allow me to continue our conversation.
Well, I feel we are in agreement on your point of an unchanging vision.
For example, I remember being taught in an undergraduate Political Science class that the Declaration of Independence was an unchanging principle established by this country. That is, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...” was a vision that our founders declared was not NOW , but somewhere in the FUTURE of this country. In this case, a vision would be unchanging until to achieved. Again I point you back to my previous comment that Microsoft likely felt compelled to change their vision because it was largely achieved (in first world countries anyway). So I would have to say in theory it may only be prudent to change a company's vision after it has been realized. Especially since, as you suggest, to change your vision statement in light of negative external forces would be negative and reactive.
Well, I think we've answered your question on Vision then right? That is, “Yes and No”. Yes if you are being pro-active and No, if you are being reactive.
Now to your point of an organization not being monolithic; interesting. I think I largely agree, but I've never managed with the idea of customers being a part of my company's organization (only that employees are customers too). How so? Please suggest any scholars that make this point too.
Andre
Sunil,
This is an excellent question and people need to constantly change their organization due to a variety of reasons including the economic conditions in the external world. This subject is called strategic renewal and I have tried to explain some of its characteristics here. The pace at which the world changes is very different now as compared to two decades ago. The rules of doing business have been rewritten due to some radical changes in technology, economic and the regulatory environment and this continues at a pace even faster now.
Organizations are struggling to keep their core businesses in its current form. Industries that have failed to innovate have just faded with the meltdown, think about the typewriter industry, the Polaroid camera industry or even the two way pagers. The aforementioned industries just vanished and with them disappeared some of the famous names from the last half a century like Polaroid and Remington. This meltdown largely happens because organizations do not renew their core business when they start to see turbulence in their industry and turbulence can be defined as a disruptive technology or a new rule that resets the traditional ways.
Look at VOIP as a technology and how is causing turbulence with spawning various products from Vonage to Magic Jack and impacting the traditional PSTN and cellular companies. These companies now have to force themselves to innovate, to adapt and to renew their core business and to refresh their strategy or go in for "strategic renewal". The renewal is driven by depletion of capabilities or getting misaligned with the needs of the market due various changes in the external market place.
If the renewal is not executed well in time or in the right way, this will then generate the need to do a rapid turnaround in a desperate attempt to survive. In my experience driving renewals and realignments are a bit harder than rapid turnarounds, because of the people factor. A need for renewal has to sensed, felt and changes need to be incorporated. Often people and executives live in denial that "everything is fine and will be okay" , piercing through this denial is critical in order to kick start a "strategic renewal" process. In a turnaround it’s a lot of despair and people are aware that unless radical changes are made, the hope of survival are grim.
Coming to your point on mission and vision statements, here is my take on it. Think about an organization set up as a solar system and “values” replace the sun, the core values do not change come what may. The mission, vision, strategy, execution plan, systems and structure are all like planets (order near to far) orbiting the value system. The farther they are from the value system, the easier it is to change them without causing heavy disruption in the way the organization functions. During a turnaround or a strategic renewal people to tend to change things starting from the periphery very commonly, however unless drastic examples of industry meltdown or turbulence occurs, we do not touch the thing near the value system like mission and vision, however a strategy refresh and a new approach and execution plan is very common in such times.
I hope this clarifies.
Nitin Kumar
Vision and Mission statements are very broad, long range perspective of what companies exist for. Like " We will be world leader in....." or " we would be ....$ company by ....." etc. Those statements may not alter much unless there is a drastic change in the technology making the company's business irrelevant or there is no more any need of its products and services.
you have asked for it.. so I am leaving my comments here too :-)
Hii Sunil,
I tend you agree with you however, I have a thought in my mind that if we have to change our mission statement now & then it means it was not created by a real visionary.. our Indian mission statement is '(satyam eva jayate सत्यमेव जयते)' is something which we can never thing of changing because it hold the whole gamate.
Ref :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyameva_Jayate
I am very much in agreement with you that we should update and refresh our Goal call them short target to active that ultimate vision. As you said right that essence might be lost so we must keep our goals updated based on review of the new situations.
I hope, I am making some sense of all this :-)
-Raj
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