Writing a vision statement requires an entrepreneur to describe his dreams for his company.
A well-written vision statement is often instrumental in gaining the attention of investors. Teaching someone to create a vision statement is different than teaching him to write a mission statement. Unlike a mission state, which defines goals for the business, a vision statement will define the business dream. Crafting a vision statement requires the use of imagination to think through moving the business to the desired level, and then describing what that picture will look like.
Instructions
1. Explain to someone in charge of writing a business vision statement that passion must be part of the language. Ask him or her to use a notebook to scribble scenarios of where the business could be in three years or five years. Offer examples of how a popular business or national restaurant chain might do this. State that a retail firm might have the vision to offer the most affordable quality furniture in America, or state that a restaurant might have a vision for selling the most home-delivered pizza, as another example.
2. Show your protege online examples of vision statements created by local or national businesses to demonstrate what's being used in reality. Point out that every vision usually denotes change in a positive direction. Explain to someone that a vision to "become the most admired manufacturer of bicycles" or "become the number-one, global distributor of great cookware" will paint a clear picture of a business destination.
3. Help a writer define what a given business wants to accomplish in terms of helping the public or other businesses. Write a series of questions to accomplish this. Appropriate questions would include: What do we do better than our competition? What problems for society do we plan to solve? Why did we start this business in the first place? Find the dream in the overall vision, and state it succinctly.
4. Ask the person writing the statement to scribble sentences in a notebook for the sole purpose of brainstorming. The sentences should describe ideal circumstances for the business, such as selling products to all hospitals within a given state, or obtaining large government contracts. Direct the writer to select four or five ideas from the brainstorming session. Help him or her develop the sentences into a short paragraph that tells what large-scale accomplishments the business desires to achieve over the next few years.
5. Show the writer of the vision statement edit the wording. Remove extraneous words, and keep the text succinct. Do state that a business "hopes to serve 400 hospitals by the year 2015." Don't say, for example, that a business "hopes to serve 400 hospitals that each meet specific business criteria by the year 2015." Explain to the writer that the words should be written in everyday language, not business jargon.
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