Vision & Mission

Many people believe that vision & mission statements of an organization are of recent origin. In fact these organizational objectives in the form of vision & mission statements started much earlier. These statements were evolved over a period of time and now, have become the symbol of organizations culture. For a modern organization vision and mission statements attain importance because no organization can function without clearly defining its objectives. Moreover, vision & mission statements are for the each member of the organization to understand the organizational goals and its objectives. It also helps all the employees gain a direction.
“Vision” is a word often used in leadership studies. Some people swear by it; others think it a waste of time. What is it, precisely, and how should it be employed?

Vision, quite simply, is a way of spelling out for your listeners “the big picture,” to help them understand the effort in which they are engaged and win their “buy in.” that some vision statements are poorly crafted or restate the obvious does not invalidate the concept. Properly employed, vision is indispensable to serious leadership. Those who think they can do without it – the first President George Bush, who derided “the vision thing,” comes to mind – usually discover their error too late.

Often overlooked is the power of vision to motivate your listeners, Vision provides the essential “spark” that makes the difference between people who are just going through the motions and people who are really trying to achieve something. Vision appeals to their higher self, something above and beyond the mundane and the everyday. The ideal vision is elevating. Consider Henry Ford’s vision for his company, which was used in a television advertising campaign as recently as the late 1990s:

I will build a motorcar for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.

A vision presents an idealized view of what the future can be. It looks beyond the immediate future to what an organization – or a nation – can be. It gives employees, or citizen, something to strive for. Vision becomes particularly important in times of crisis. Source – John F Kennedy on Leadership