Vision statement and mission statement are very often confused.
Vision Statement
A company vision statement outlines an organization’s aspirations – where it wants to be in the distant future and what its commercial success would look like. A vision statement is about the future of the business organization. It focuses on what the company wants to be in the future. It shows the business’s aspiration – the ideal situation of what the owners of the business and its directors want to achieve in the future. Therefore, vision statements are very long-term oriented.
Mission Statement
A mission statement is a statement of the business’s overall goals and its broad short-term and long-term objectives. It is a written declaration of the underlying purpose of existence and its core business values. A mission statement states what the business organization currently does, therefore it is about the present. It shows ‘Who we are as a business and what we do every day’ to describe the business activities toward the outside world. Check Best Mission Statements: 12 Examples You Need to See for some examples.
Major differences between Mission Statement and Vision Statement
The main differences between vision statements and mission statements include the following aspects:
1. Time-frame. The vision statement is focused on the very long-term into the future whereas the mission statement focuses on the present to the medium-term.
2. Scope. The vision statement outlines future aspirations of the business whereas the mission statement tends to outline today’s values of the business, its beliefs and guiding principles for internal stakeholders like managers and employees to operate on a daily basis.
3. Content. The vision statement answers the question ‘what the business wants to become’ (the business aim) whereas the mission statement answers the question ‘who we are and what we do every day’ (the business objectives).
4. Targets. The vision statement allows people to see what the business could become whereas the mission statement has actual targets that must be achieved.
5. Frequency of updates. The vision statement is updated very rarely whereas the mission statement is updated more frequently.
In summary, a mission statement supports the achievement of the company vison.
