Mission Analysis

We've talked about having a vision for your company and the importance of having a mission statement, but how do you understand what your vision and mission are? These aren't things you just sit down and scratch out after 5 minutes of sitting in Starbucks (well, at least, they SHOULDN'T be). If they're going to be meaningful, if they're going to help you lead your employees, and if they're going to help you with your planning, then they need to be grounded in the real world and have some real applicability to what you want to do. If you just pull them out of nowhere then that's exactly where they'll lead you. But if you put some thought into these, then they will serve as the bedrock of your strategic planning process and help you figure out what your employees should be doing and what resources they need to do it. And in the end, you should be far more successful.

Mission analysis should be the first step in any strategic planning process. Whether you are writing your initial business plan or preparing for a transformation of an established company, you need to understand what you want and the basics of how to get there. there are some things you have to accept in this world and there are other things you can change...we'll talk a bit more about those in future weeks but for now just understand that you really need to know what it is you what to achieve and how that fits into the environment where you'll be achieving it.

First, you need to have some guidance from the top dog in your company. If YOU are the top dog, well then ask yourself why you started all this in the first place. Write down all the things that occur to you. Knowing all of the rationales for having this creative group of employees will help shape the set of "acceptable options" for your vision and mission statements.

Look at the state of your competitive field. Are you all alone, so unique that you have no direct competition? Or are you in a field that is already pretty filled up, which might require you to create your own niche, or maybe take up the excess demand that exists in your market? Understanding what's already out there will give you an idea of what goals will be realistic, and what's needed in the industry. Are you going to provide a service to any potential customer or only to those with particular needs? How broad, or how narrow, will your vision be? Only by understanding the competitive market will you have an idea what you should be doing.

Take a look at the industry's history to understand what works and what doesn't. There's no sense in aiming for a goal that has been proven unattainable. Santayana said "those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it." So don't be like those guys. At the same time, if something's been tried before and failed but the circumstances are different now, then it may be time to go for it again and see what happens. If you're going to jump into an industry, know what you're jumping into.

Consider your own history too, of course, with "your own" being defined as both yours and your firm's. If you're leading the firm then think about your own demonstrated skills and resources. Whether you're at the top or not, give some thought to what your firm has tried before, what's worked and what hasn't, what opportunities seemed out of reach in the past. Is your firm ready to evolve into something new, maybe growing bigger or expanding into a new field? Or do you perhaps have enough on your plate for now, and maybe just some tightening up of your business processes is all you should really attempt for now? In order to have a firm grasp on where you are and where you want to go it helps to understand how you got here.

If you're able to articulate your own desires, and the limitations and possibilities presented by the environment, then you're in a position to define you vision and mission. This is the first step in your strategic planning and if you take the time and do this well it will make everything that follows SO much easier, and much more useful, too.