Let’s get the definitions out of the way, so when you’re talking to your team or your investors, or the public at large you are clearly communicating. In particular the difference between an Objective (the What) and a Strategy (the How). It can be unhelpful when people get this wrong!
Your Vision
This is the way you see the World in the future and is the highest level statement you make. “We envisage a World in which not a single animal is slaughtered for human consumption”. It’s a vision of the future that is possibly a long way away, but it’s your vision, you are committed to it and you own it.
Your Mission
The Mission is the way you act to secure the Vision. “Our Mission is to create a range of vegetarian & vegan foods that are so incredibly delicious no-one will ever want to eat animal flesh ever again”. It’s a bold statement and it’s possible to do it – there is no timescale involved and the process of achieving it may never end. It’s a statement that this is what your business is about. The important thing is that it’s aspirational; you’re going to use it over and over again to inspire people to join your cause – as investors, customers, employees and suppliers.
Your Objectives
These are the tangible things that say What you’re going to do to meet your Mission. “In the next two years we’re going to create a book of incredible recipes from around the World and set up food preparation facilities that make these recipes and send them out to customers”. Your objectives are time-bounded, because they are a call to action, and they are the things you are going to use to measure your progress and reward your team.
Your Strategy
This is How you’re going to meet your Objectives. “We’re going to find the top 10 vegan chefs in the World and sign them up to create amazing recipes”. “We’re going to create a mouth-watering on-line presence that our customers will drool over”. “We’re going to build vegan kitchens that make extraordinary food”. “We’re going to build a supply chain network that is so efficient the food is still cooking as it’s delivered”. Each of the senior people in your team will own one of the Strategic goals and be responsible for it’s implementation. Each of those Strategies when added with the other Strategies will meet the business Objectives.
The Tactics
These are the short term actions that are needed to secure the Strategy. “We need to build a website”. “We need to find a 10,000 sqm space”. “We need transport”. These are the things that people in each team do each day.
I think you can see that if you don’t have a Vision, it’s going to be hard to vocalise your Mission, set your Objectives, plan your Strategies and execute your Tactics. It’s quite surprising how many people start with an objective, like “make money” and then work up to the vision (or not bother) and down to the tactics.
Working through from Vision to Tactics is also a way of thinking about organisational design - the people you need and the org structure you're going to create around them.
That's a recipe for success.
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