What makes a business successful? You might instantly start looking at sales or profit margins, marketing spend or advertising partnerships to answer this question. However, the fundamentals of success for any organisation come from the vision, mission and culture that it has been built on – if you have clearly established what these are then your business will be unstoppable.
Vision
The first component in the equation is vision and this at first appears the easiest to generate. Vision is the grand idea that motivated you to launch a business in the first place. It’s the thought or light bulb moment that made you think that this concept could be something much more tangible. However, although vision may start as a plan in your head that’s not where it should stay. Vision underpins everything else in the business – it needs to be clear and permanent. Crystallise your vision into a written statement. Does it show exactly where you want the business to be in the future? Every step forward, decision and move you make needs to be done with this vision in mind so it’s crucial to get it clearly defined right from the start.
Mission
Whereas the vision is the future of the business, the mission is effectively how you’re going to get there. This is all about clarifying the aims and values of what you’re doing. How do you want decisions to be made within the business, what direction needs to be prioritised to bring your vision to life and what are the steps that you see as necessary to get your business to where you believe it needs to be? The advantages of defining a mission statement for your business are numerous – it’s effectively a communication tool that will show customers and employees how the business aligns with their needs. It provides the basis for culture and will attract the type of people that you want to work for the business. Crucially, your mission statement should be concise – and clear. If it starts to become too long and complex, take a step back, edit and simplify so that the message is unambiguous.
Culture
Creating a culture within the business isn’t about setting out rigid structures but defining how things are done in your organisation. You’re essentially setting some boundaries, providing motivation and highlighting the behaviours that are encouraged, as well as those that are not. A winning culture will emerge naturally from the vision and mission statement that you define for your enterprise. The employees who are attracted to your vision and to the mission you’ve defined will most likely demonstrate the kind of personality traits that will enable people to collaborate and flourish. Business culture is increasingly being recognised as one of the most powerful influences on success. Positive culture can drive productivity and growth while a toxic culture leads to high turnover rates and disengaged staff.
These three components are essential when it comes to establishing your business – once you’ve defined them they really could change your business world.
