From the course: Building High-Performance Teams

Setting a vision and mission

From the course: Building High-Performance Teams

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Setting a vision and mission

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- As you go to set the direction for your high-performing team, you'll need to articulate both a vision and a mission for the organization. A vision provides a clear picture of where you're going as an organization. It articulates what you want to be and I encourage people to look three to five years out. Anything less than three ends up being too tactical and if you're looking beyond five years, it's pretty hard for people to see that far into the future and see it as a possibility. As you articulate this vision statement, it should be something that's ambitious, but realistically possible. And that's a fine balance between the two. You want the ambitious part so the team has something to reach for. But if it's not realistic, the team may look at it and say well there's no way we can achieve that, and they won't get behind it. That vision also needs to be something that's worth doing and can win people's commitment. It needs to resonate on an emotional level. They need to look at that vision and say I'm really excited if we can achieve that and I want to be part of reaching that goal. The vision also needs to be differentiated from your competitors. You're trying to carve a space out in the marketplace that says here's why we're better and here's why we're going to win. And last, that vision needs to be concise. A few critical words and no buzz words. Those long visions that take up an entire page and you walk away from it saying I don't really know where we're going, are ones that are only going to serve to confuse and frustrate the team. So precision of your words is critical here. Once you've laid out that vision, you also need to lay out a corresponding mission. That mission is a statement that is a cultural reflection of the values and beliefs and philosophy of the organization. It tells people, this is why we exist. You're also going to, in that mission, articulate how your organization creates value for your customers or for the broader organization. The mission needs to be clear, brief and understandable by all employees at all levels of your organization. It should also be clear enough that outsiders can come in, hear your mission, and understand I know how this team contributes to the broader whole. You have to clearly specify what business the organization is in. And even if you run an internal team that serves only internal customers, you should still be able to articulate this is how my team creates value. And that mission needs to be worded so it can serve as a rallying point for the people in your organization. And then they know how they're going to contribute to the broader whole.

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