Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Everyone knows that companies need vision statements.
A company vision statement paints a picture of the desired future for the organization. It guides current decision making by providing a guidepost to evaluate decisions. What is less recognized though, is the value of vision statements for individual departments. While departmental visions need to be consistent with the organizational vision, they can further refine how the company vision statement cascades out to departments.
So for example, if the organization’s vision statement is, “To be the world’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they may want to buy online at a great price,” the purchasing department’s vision statement might be, “To find the very best products in the global marketplace combining high quality with value.”
A good vision statement whether at the company or departmental level should be future oriented and aspirational. When people in the organization or department read the vision, it should resonate with them and provide the future state they’re moving toward.
