Whats the Difference Between Mission, Vision, Initiatives

and Goals?
Posted on by Bruce Johnson in Business, Communication, Entreprenuership, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Planning,Strategy

I was talking with one of my clients earlier today and we ran into a common problemthat most
organizations have when they engage in strategic planningthat is, confusion (or agreement) about
what individual terms mean. For example, whats the difference between a mission and a vision? Or
whats the difference between an opportunity and an initiative? Or how is a goal different from a
tactic? Different people have different definitionswhich is why theres so much confusion about

o
o

o
o

o
o

what each terms means.

To help un-complicate the process of defining these terms, here are the definitions I use when
working with clients (along with an example or two of each).
1. Mission: This is what a company does. It should be short and easy to memorize. However, it
shouldnt be so generic that you cant tell what business its in. Note: similar businesses may have
very similar mission statements. Why? Because they essentially do the same things.
To promote and develop the growth of tennis (The United States Tennis Association)
To organize the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful(Google)
2. Vision: This is what a company wants to become. Vision is a seeing term. Therefore a vision
statement should be future-oriented. Its an image of what a company wants to create. It isnt what a
company is, its what it wants to become. While mission statements may be similar, vision
statements should be very different. They should be motivating and inspiring. And they should drive
decision-making.
Be the safest, most customer-focused and successful transportation company in the
world (Norfolk Southern)
To be the preeminent publisher and provider of self-improvement resources that inspires and
empowers individuals to lead the lives they most desire (Nightingale Publishers)
Note: For a video blog post on this subject of mission and vision click here >>
3. Values Values are the foundational beliefs about how you want your employees to act. They
are the beliefs that create the culture of an organization. They dont need to be exhaustive. Nor
should the simply be the same from company to company. While integrity, trust, honesty, etc. are
good core values, they dont need to appear on your list unless you believe they must. In many
cases, theyre givens. I recommend no more than five core values for a company. Once you get past
five, very few people can remember them.
Excellence To do the best we can, with the resources we have, in the amount of time we
have to do the tasks were assigned.
Curiosity To be insanely interested in knowing, yet never content with what we know. To be
a life-long learner.

o
o
o
o

o
o
o

o
o
o

o
o
o
o

4. Growth Initiatives From a strategic standpoint, what are the three to five most important
things you can do to grow your organization? Note: a growth initiative differs from what I refer to as a
strategic initiative because a growth initiative is usually related to one or two business units or
peopleand it can often be completed before the end of the year.
To add five new joint venture partners by September 30th
To open an office in Shanghai by July 31st
To complete a merger or acquisition by December 31st
To create a strategic partnership with Apple by May 30th
5. Strategic Initiatives Strategic initiatives, if you want to keep your entire top team involved,
should be initiatives that everyone can play a part in fulfilling. And they should be year-long
initiatives. The main key thought of a strategic initiative is that its something everyone can contribute
to, that will advance the organization. Also, strategic initiatives are usually designed to overcome
constraints (whereas growth initiatives are often strength focused).
To double the number of leaders who have completed our Level Three Leadership program
and are ready to take on new assignments.
To raise the level of execution excellence so that the number of errors rate falls to less than
one per thousand.
To train everyone in every department in effective customer service skills so that every
customer has a more positive experience regardless of whom theyre interacting with from our
company.
6. Goals Goals are dreams with deadlines. They are quantifiable. You should clearly know if you
hit them or not.
To generate $5.7M by 12/31
To raise our customer service rating to 4.75 by 9/30
To raise our profit margin from 30% to 35%by 12/31
7. Tactics Tactics are the individual activities an employee engages in to complete a
goal/initiative/strategy/etc.
To hire a merger specialist by 3/31
To design a leadership development process by 6/30
To recruit three college marketing interns by 3/31
To renegotiate all vendor contracts by 6/30 to reduce our cost of goods sold by 40% (and
saving us $1M)
Hopefully, those definitions and examples will help you get everyone on the same page as you work
on (or refine) your strategic plan!
To your accelerated success!
P.S. For a clean pdf of the above definitions and examples, click here >>
P.P.S. If youd like to go a little deeper on the difference between mission and vision, click on the
videos below (which are from more current blog posts)
Is It A Vision Or A Mission? A Goal Or An Objective?
by Alf Nucifora
I've seen and read marketing plans by the score and am often surprised by the confusion
and misunderstanding that surrounds planning terminology. Today's primer lays out a

precise and understandable explanation of the difference between the terms. Consider it
"Strategic Plan Terminology 101." It's taken from an excellent document that crossed my
desk, unfortunately without an author's name attached. Kudos to the anonymous
semanticist.
Vision: A picture of the "preferred future;" a statement that describes how the future will
look if the organization achieves its ultimate aims, e.g. "The widgets of choice for a valuefocused world."
Mission: A statement of the overall purpose of an organization. It describes what you do,
for whom you do it and the benefit, e.g. "To provide consumers with high-quality, pricecompetitive widgets to meet their personal, business and recreational needs."
Goals: Broad, long-term aims that define accomplishment of the mission, e.g. "Grow
profitability. Maximize net income by increasing revenues and controlling costs."
Objectives: Specific, quantifiable, realistic targets that measure the accomplishment of a
goal over a specified period of time, e.g. "Increase revenues by x% in 2004. Limit increases
in overhead costs to y%. Achieve a z% reduction in management staff through increased
automation."
Strategies: Broad activities required to achieve an objective, control a critical success
factor, or overcome a barrier, e.g. "Establish a partnership with a foreign manufacturer to
revamp the Northeast plant. Implement a program to widely promote our success as a
quality producer."
Tactics: Specific steps to be taken, by whom by when, and at what cost, to implement a
strategy, e.g. "Initiate discussions with PR firm on quality promotion. Week of 8/16/04." This
is where the detailed implementation tactics reside and is the portion of the plan that
provides an executional roadmap combined with goalposts for performance measurement.
Why it Matters
Simply stated, you can't plan accurately if you don't understand the territory, its pathways
and boundaries. That's ultimately why so many plans are not worth much more than the
paper they're written on.
Precise planning terminology forces focus in the planning process, minimizing confusion as
to planning direction. All parties are on the same page, so to speak. It also necessitates
thinking beyond today's tactical need, a common weakness in many marketing planning
protocols. To that point, it seems that the most commonly committed mistake is the
confusion between "strategy" and "tactics." As the above definition reveals, they are not
inter-changeable. The mistake often arises out of an imbalance between understanding the
future and the tactical process of getting there. There is also the issue of insufficient
accountability in the form of metrics and follow-up. The planning process demands
measurement of performance. Without that measurement, accountability is denied,
responsibility is skirted and "learning from the experience" is lost.
All too often in the marketing process, failure arises from a lack of planning and an
unwillingness to do the preparatory homework. It's too easy to justify the decision based on
gut instinct and "been there, done that" experience. For a small company, resource

constrained in its marketing support, that behavior is understandable, sometimes inevitable.

But it's a bad habit. For most, the advice is unequivocal. Every major marketing initiative
demands a plan; every plan needs a process.

Definitions - Vision, Mission,

Goals, Objectives,
Activities/Tasks and Strategies
Can you tell the difference between vision, mission, goals, objectives, activities/tasks and strategies?
Vision is your aspiration for your life and the world.
Mission is how YOU can help fulfill this aspiration.
Goals are end results that you want to achieve. More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal
Objectives are sub goals with measurable outcomes that are expected to get you to your goals.
Activities/Tasks are actions you take to support your goals and objectives.

Organization Strategy
Vision and mission statements play an important role in strategy development by
providing vehicles to generate and screen strategic options. They also provide
organizational identity and understanding of business directions.

Vision

Mission

Goals

Created by consensus. Forms mental image of future to

Dream or a picture
which people can align. Describes something possible,
to be achieved
not necessarily predictable. Provides direction and
ultimately.
focus. Pulls people, who hold it, towards it.

Statement of
business.

States the business reason for the organization's

existence. Does not state an outcome. Contains no time
limit or measurement. Provides basis for decisions on
resource allocation and appropriate objectives. Defines
current and future business in terms of product, score,
customer, reason, and market price.

Results to be
achieved.

Describes ideal states to be achieved at some

unidentified future time. Defined consistent with and
related directly to vision and mission. Guide everyday
decisions and actions. Do not necessarily deal with
measurable results.

Focuses on critical organization issues and milestones.

How - Actions and Describe activities to be accomplished to achieve goals.
Results - to plan to Identify dates when specific results are to be
Objectives
achieve the
accomplished. Measurable in terms of whether or not
desired results.
they are achieved. They may be changed when
necessary for progress towards goals.

Citizen bank
Corporate Profile
Massive changes and developments have taken place during the past two decades in the financial sector.
Amidst all these changes, for economic growth and development of New Nepal, Liberalization, Privatization
and Globalization in this sector has given birth to the largest commercial bank, Citizens Bank International
Ltd. The Bank is located at Sharada Sadan, Kamaladi, Kathmandu, the heart of financial sector of the
country.It is promoted by eminent personalities/business and industrial houses and reputed individual
having high social standing. It is managed by a team of experienced bankers and professionals.

Vision
To be the leading bank known for its service excellence in the region.

Mission
To be a trustworthy partner for the progress of individuals and institutions by designing, producing and
delivering the best financial solutions.The Bank will constantly strive to inculcate in its services five corporate
values as follows:

Customer Focus
We are committed to meet the financial needs of our customers and exceed their expectations through
innovative solutions.

Service Excellence
We promise to deliver customer centered products and services par excellence.

Human Resource
We employ bright, honest, helpful and pleasant people. We nurture and empower them to achieve their full
potential.

Corporate Governance
We believe in being accountable, conducting business ethically and maintaining transparency.

Social Responsibility
We are committed to take social initiatives for the development of the nation.

Khwopa college
INTRODUCTION KhEC & KhCE are the Nepals first community-based engineering
colleges, undertaken by Bhaktapur Municipality. KhEC & KhCE will, in every regard,
be the right destination for those who aspire to become professional engineers and
architects at affordable fee.With distant vision of maintaining Bhaktapurs hard-won
glory, these colleges aim to produce highly skilled engineers/architects that will
have blends of both indigenous and modern- day technologies. OBJECTIVES
Provide Engineering education to the people from economically common strata of
the society. Conserve and improve the indigenous knowledge, traditional
technologies & materials. Research works on engineering, including traditional
architecture, archeological structures and indigenous know-how. Produce
competitive and efficient Engineer/Architects. Encourage the graduates to join
national institutions and serve the nation