Your company needs clear Purpose, Vision, Mission, and Values - Here’s Why

Picture this. You launched a mental health support product a year ago. You’ve gotten traction but you’re not exactly where you thought you’d be.

Now, you’re at a dinner party and a friend has introduced you to a department head of a big company. The department head has already seen your materials and really wants to collaborate with you and your company. She is throwing all sorts of program ideas at you. You should be excited - this could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for! Instead, you are a mix of confused and anxious; you feel like she doesn’t “get it”.

Why? Because you don’t have a strong foundation yet. Your gut tells you that the ideas she’s throwing at you aren’t really where you want to go. But you haven’t solidified your foundational elements and so it’s hard to pivot the conversation in the right direction.

So what? You could get lucky and the idea from the party acquaintance works out to be a perfect fit for your growth. More likely though, you’ll be frustrated that someone else is taking up your time with a program that doesn’t make sense for you. You now have to put all your resources into something that isn’t aligned with why you started the company in the first place.

If you can’t articulate the foundation of your company’s reason for being, you can’t expect strategically aligned products or services to just fall into place.

Let’s break it down.

PURPOSE your “Why.” Why does your company exist? What kind of society do you want to create? What problem are you solving?

VISION is the “What.” What will your company achieve in the next 10+ years? Think Big.

MISSION is the “How.” How will you achieve your vision? What is the core of the work? Who do you serve?

VALUES are your “Compass.” How do you behave to achieve your goals and mission? Are the decisions you make aligned with your stated values?

Now picture this. You have done your Mission, Vision, Values and Purpose work. You can clearly articulate how you want your company to grow, where you want to be in 10+ years and who you serve. You’re back having that conversation with the department head. You are now excited and calm and full of ideas.

You are now listening to her ideas in order to understand her problems and asking her great questions. You are now able to pivot her ideas into a program that makes sense for you, your business and her business. If she isn’t interested in your mission-aligned ideas, you are also comfortable walking away knowing that working with this big company would shift your focus away from your purpose and vision.

Now what?

If you have your Purpose (Why), Mission (How), Vision (What) and Values (Compass) in your head, write them down. If you have just one or two, write them down and then start working on the others. If you have none, work on the one that feels easiest to tackle from the start, we recommend determining your values. For exercise ideas, stay tuned.

Once they are all written down, think about the next decision you need to make. Use these as your starting point to figure out where to go next.

Let us know how it goes! Book a Chemistry Chat and we can work through it together.