How to Create a Lasting Vision Statement?

What does the business want to become? Where do they want to go? For most business owners, they are just looking to the near term - how do I keep the doors open. The Vision Statement doesn't have to take too much time. It is supposed to be a quick glimpse into what could be.

Vision statements seem like they should be relatively easy. I mean you see your business as being successful, so stating how you expect your business to be in the future should be easy – right?

Why do we both with them? When your business has a Vision Statement, it also ensures that your employees (if you communicate the Vision - separate article Coming) will understand the direction you are trying to head - even when the leadership isn't around.

The vision statement should help to focus the direction that the business will head. The statement should be your declaration of your expected outcomes. It should identify a direction and a purpose for the business. What it should not do is – think in the short-term, be steeped in tradition, or be limited due to fear of ridicule. If you think your business will be the leading Widget manufacturer in the Galaxy – it might be difficult, but then again – who thought Facebook would take off the way it has.

Some Examples of Vision Statements:

Stokes Eye Clinic in Florence, SC – “Our Vision is to take care of Your Vision.”

Institute of Management Accountants – “Global leadership in education, certification, and practice of management accounting and financial management.”

Project Management Institute – Baltimore Chapter – “PMI Baltimore Chapter is a service oriented, not for profit organization dedicated to the advancement of project management for the benefit of our stakeholders; including academic, corporate, governmental, & members; within the community we serve”.

Royal Caribbean – “Our vision is to empower and enable our employees to deliver the best vacation experience to our guests, thereby generating superior returns to our stockholders and enhancing the wellbeing of our communities.”

As you can see, a vision statement can be short and sweet, or it can point out the how and when that a company expects to reach their vision. Make your company’s vision your own.