What is the Purpose of Strategic Vision in a Strategic Plan?
Updated March 28th, 2022
At NMBL Strategies we utilize the Strategic Vision section of the Strategic Plan for four main purposes: Mission Statement, Vision Statement, an Elevator Pitch, and an Organizational Analysis. Before diving too far into the value of each of these it’s important to make sure that each piece of this is understood.
As we evolve our practice we are consistently looking at what is best for our clients and their teams. As a part of this, we’ve added to our Strategic Vision/Strategic Positioning section of our plans to include three key facets of any organization, the initiatives of the organization, the commitment of the organization, and the toolkit of the organization. Said another way, we include “What we do,” “Why we do it,” and “How we do it.” We’ve added these pieces because combining them with the Mission Statement, the Vision Statement and the Elevator Pitch create a strong basis of understanding of who the organization is and what they do. What does this new process look like?
Let’s start by taking a look at mission statements.
Mission Statement
The Mission Statement is defining the purpose of the organization, as well as how it supports/works with customers or those it serves. The mission statement is the plan for reaching your vision. The mission is the map that leads you to your destination.
As an example, NMBL Strategies Mission Statement is:
NMBL Strategies seeks to empower small businesses, nonprofits, and public-private enterprises through trusted consulting partnerships. Our consultants have real-world experience and significant tenure within their fields and are able to deliver the best and most strategic return on investment. We strive to grow our business with the same dedication and decisiveness we offer to our broad range of clients.
This statement guides NMBL Strategies toward our vision of being a “strategic, decisive partner trusted to deliver the best ROI when needed most“ by ensuring we have “real-world experience,” growing with dedication and decisiveness, and focusing on strategic return on investment. Now that we have covered how a mission statement works, let’s take a look at a vision statement.
Vision Statement
The Vision Statement is an aspiration of whom the organization strives to be. It is the destination that your map guides you toward. It is the culmination of a successful mission.
As an example, NMBL Strategies Vision Statement is:
NMBL Strategies is a strategic, decisive partner trusted to deliver the best ROI when needed most.
While we explained how a mission statement relates to the vision statement earlier, it is useful to explain the opposite. The vision statement works in concert with the mission statement by being its focal point. You cannot plot a course without having an endpoint in mind. It allows organizations to focus their work on being efficient, direct, and always in support of their end goal. The vision stands to focus the mission statement and craft it into a functional plan. Without a vision in mind, one would have a difficult time determining whether their mission statement or plan is working as it should.
Learn more about the interdependency of mission and vision statements in our blog on What are mission and vision statements?
Elevator Pitch
An Elevator Pitch is a short, persuasive pitch on who your organization is and why someone should support it/buy from it.
As an example, NMBL Strategies Elevator Pitch is:
At NMBL Strategies we focus on change management, strategic planning, and leadership development for nonprofits, small businesses, and public-private partnerships. NMBL Strategies brings real-world experience and a nimble approach to develop data-driven, actionable plans and leadership. These efforts lead our clients to new heights and have resulted in them continuing to find new ways to keep us engaged.
When combined these three areas provide a high level, or strategic, vision for the organization as well as allow the organization to share who it is and who it strives to be with the community.
Use the elevator pitch to quickly give someone the primary reason they should believe in your work. At NMBL, we believe in our ability to propel organizations to a new level through experience-based insights, vision-based strategy, and a nimble data-driven approach. These are the key factors that define our work, so that is what we pitch in our elevator pitch. This is an incredibly useful exercise for distilling what defines your organization’s work and why others should take notice and support you. You may have ideas in your head, but working them out on paper can allow your organization to better build its image and refine your strategy.
Why Should You Develop a Mission Statement as a Part of Your Strategic Plan/Strategic Vision?
Simply put, without knowing the mission of your organization the rest is meaningless. Your mission defines the purpose of your organization. It needs to come from both internal and external inputs. At NMBL when developing a mission statement we listen to employees, board members, customers, suppliers, donors, or whomever else has an impact (large or small) on the organization in an effort to make sure that the defined purpose resonates with all of these groups. Remember, the mission is your road map to reach your vision. You may be able to get a few miles without a map but in the long term, it is easy to lose your way.
Why Should You Develop a Vision Statement as a Part of Your Strategic Plan/Strategic Vision?
Similar to the mission statement, the vision statement needs a lot of input from internal and external sources. The purpose of the vision statement is to tell someone who your organization strives to be, it looks forward and idealizes where you are going. Remember, your vision is your destination and without an end goal, your organization will not be able to develop a strategic direction to guide your work. In order to start your journey, you have to know where you are going.
Why Should You Develop an Elevator Pitch as a Part of Your Strategic Plan/Strategic Vision?
This is a bit of our own little twist on the process. It came about from working with organizations that already had a mission and vision statement but were still struggling to convey why a donor should support their organization, why a client should work with them, or simply put what will allow the organization to thrive. The mission and vision statements do a good job of conveying who the organization is and who it strives to be but don’t necessarily convey urgency or opportunity. The elevator pitch likely pulls from both the mission and vision statements in an effort to convey who you are and where you are going, but then should convey why someone should purchase or donate to you. It is a perfect way to refine and distill what makes your organization unique and how you achieve your goals in a quick, professional statement. It is more specific and informative than your mission and vision alone but not so broad that it takes too long to present.
What’s the Purpose of the Commitment, Initiatives, and Toolkit Being Added?
These three pieces are a recent addition to our Strategic Vision/Strategic Positioning plans. The reason they’ve been added is that in one graphic we can give interested parties a wholistic look at the organization from very high level with the mission and vision, to how these are fulfilled by the organization. Providing a graphic that walks individuals through this complexity can be difficult, but we’ve fallen in love with the outcome. The layout gets adjusted depending on the client, but we work to capture a top to bottom analysis of the organization. Commitment looks at why the organization does what it does, initiatives looks at what the organization does, and the tool kit looks at how these items are accomplished. We’ve found this allows people to understand the organization better than a simple Mission and Vision statement.
SWOT vs SOAR or Porter’s Five Forces
Closing out this section, we take a look at the organizational analysis. Many firms do this through a SWOT analysis looking at the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, for nonprofits especially we like the SOAR analysis that looks at Strengths, Opportunities Aspirations and Results. Another alternative for our for profit clients that we utilize is Porter’s Five Forces which includes three forces from “horizontal” competition: these are threats from substitute products or services, the threat of established rivals, and the threat of new entrants. The two other forces come from “vertical” competition: these forces examine the bargaining power of suppliers and customers. One more analysis is the PESTLE format which provides a detailed environmental analysis, and we have written about extensively. Take a look at our Four Alternatives to SWOT Analysis story for a better understanding of what works for you.
Find our whole “Purpose of” series here:
You can also download our sample/template Strategic Plan Request for Proposal for free here, no sign up or anything necessary: Strategic Plan Request for Proposal Template
NMBL Strategies specializes in Nonprofit Planning. We utilize the above approach as a critical part of our background assessment of an organization. This assessment ensures our clients can grow to new heights from their current level. To complete a strategic plan appropriately, you have to define who you are, where you’re going, and why someone should support you. Contact us today to allow us to assist you on your path.
