Business entities, funding and exit strategies

BUSINESS FORMATION & FUNDING OPTIONS

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM OXFORD SUMMER COURSES

1

Vision, Mission, Values In this overview we are going to spend some time to dive into the Vision, Mission, Values statement of a firm, and discuss why it is important for an organization. 1 Definition The vision, mission, and values statements form the foundation for all activities in an organization. The vision statement describes what the organization will become in the future. It is a broad and inspirational statement intended to engender support from stakeholders. A declaration that informs the customers and staff of a business about the firm's top priorities and what its core beliefs are. Companies often use a value statement to help them identify with and connect to targeted consumers, as well as to remind employees about its priorities and goals (WebFinance In, 2020) 2. 7 Steps to Writing a Vision, Mission and Values Statement1 How do you actually build a vision, mission and values statement as an organization and what are the key drivers that the entrepreneur must observe? Here is a guideline:

1. Gather Board Level Leadership If you don’t have a formal board, pull together an advisory team. If you are a small business, pull in anyone who has helped you get you to where you are in an advisory capacity. Writing a vision, mission, and values statement should be an exercise that is done at the board level – with some senior-level employees.

1 https://thethrivingsmallbusiness.com/how-to-write-a-vision-mission-values-statement/

BUSINESS FORMATION & FUNDING OPTIONS

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM OXFORD SUMMER COURSES

2

This can be done in a retreat setting such as a conference room of a hotel or the back room of a restaurant. The goal is to create an environment that is insulated from distractions and interruptions.

2. Identify an Objective Facilitator If the organization has strong leadership, there may be someone at the board level who can facilitate the visioning session. Whether the facilitator is a member of the staff or is contracted through a third party, the facilitators’ role is to help drive the process without influencing the content. An experienced facilitator will know how to do this.

3. Dream As a Group A visioning session is a time for dreaming. Work with flip charts to get the creative juices going and provide colorful visuals that help spark thoughts and ideas. Divide into groups of 3-4 people, provide each group with a flip chart, and have them discuss and answer the following questions: Note: There should be simultaneous groups going on at the same time if there is more than one group.

• Who are we? • What do we want this organization to look like in 5, 10 years? • Where do we want to be 1, 5, 10 years down the road? • Create a headline for a newspaper about the organization ten • years from now. What would it say?

This exercise should take 20-30 minutes.

BUSINESS FORMATION & FUNDING OPTIONS

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM OXFORD SUMMER COURSES

3

4. Share Ideas

After 30 minutes, ask all groups to share the thoughts and ideas they came up with. Use the larger group to pick the best thoughts and ideas from each of the smaller groups. Write the collective thoughts and words on a new flipchart. Ask all participants to add, subtract, and formalize the sentence structure of the statement.

5. Examine the Statement After the group drafts a couple of sentences, read them out loud to the entire group again. Next, test the sentences to see if the entire group agrees that the statement is reflective of the organization and describes an ideal future state. Make sure the statement is descriptive enough and is measurable to determine progress toward the vision.

6. Clarify the Mission After the vision statement is written, go through a similar exercise to define the organization’s mission. Remember a mission statement describes “why” the organization exists. Vision and mission statements should be used for decision making so, it should reflect the importance of what the business is trying to

BUSINESS FORMATION & FUNDING OPTIONS

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM OXFORD SUMMER COURSES

4

accomplish. Break into small groups again and spend another 20-30 minutes brainstorming words that describe why the organization exists. Once all the groups have their ideas down, ask them to present to all of the other groups. Using a flipchart, combine all of the ideas and as a group, try to create a short phrase that is descriptive of why the organization exists. The phrase will get moulded by the group and after it is in a final state, read it out loud one last time, so the entire group agrees that it is reflective of why the organization exists.

7. Define Organizational Values Once a vision and mission statement is drafted, break into groups once again and allow another 20 minutes or so to come up with a list of values. These will become the shared values that the organization operates by. As the groups come up with their lists, ask them again to present their ideas to the larger group and then combine and agree to one list. The final list should ideally be 5-10 words and should be easy for people to simply memorize. You did it! Now have it printed and displayed in your business so your customers and employees can see what you are trying to accomplish and what your priorities are! Many organizations don’t have a defined vision, mission, and

BUSINESS FORMATION & FUNDING OPTIONS

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM OXFORD SUMMER COURSES

5

values statement because they don’t know how to do it, and the process scares them. However, if you can get the right people in the room, and have a trained facilitator, it can be done in a few short hours. Has your organization come up with a Vision, Mission, and Values statement?

3. The importance of a Vision and Mission statement2 Strategic planning is a key function of an organization’s management that helps to set priorities, allocate resources, and ensure that everyone is working towards common goals and objectives. However, for strategic planning to be effective, there are two important tools that are needed – a vision and a mission statement. These serve as a guide for creating objectives and goals in the organization, thus providing a roadmap that is to be followed by everyone. Unfortunately, despite the importance of vision and mission statements, many organizations do not have them. In other cases,

2 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-vision-mission-statements-norja-vanderelst

BUSINESS FORMATION & FUNDING OPTIONS

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM OXFORD SUMMER COURSES

6

the two statements are lumped together as one or used interchangeably despite their distinctive differences. This creates a confusion in the organization that makes it harder to achieve the set objectives and goals. Both the vision and mission statements play an important role in the organization. Below is a look at these roles:

1. The vision and mission statements define the purpose of the organization and instil a sense of belonging and identity to the employees. This motivates them to work harder in order to achieve success.

2. The mission statement acts as a “North Star”, where it

provides the direction that is to be followed by the organization while the vision statement provides the goal (or the destination) to be reached by following this direction.

3. The vision and mission statements help to properly align the

resources of an organization towards achieving a successful future.

4. The mission statement provides the organization with a clear

and effective guide for making decisions, while the vision statement ensures that all the decision made are properly aligned with what the organization hopes to achieve.

5. The vision and mission statements provide a focal point that

helps to align everyone with the organization, thus ensuring that everyone is working towards a single purpose. This helps to increase efficiency and productivity in the organization.

The vision and mission statements are important tools of strategic planning, and thus they help to shape the strategy that will be used by an organization to achieve the desired future.

BUSINESS FORMATION & FUNDING OPTIONS

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM OXFORD SUMMER COURSES

7

Conclusion The mission and vision statements are very important, and they can best be described as a compass and destination of the organization respectively. Therefore, every organization should develop clear vision and mission statements, as not doing so would be like going on a journey without knowing the direction you are to follow or the destination. 4. Role Played by Mission and Vision3 Organization mission and vision are critical elements of a company's organizational strategy and serves as the foundation for the establishment of company objectives. Mission and vision statements play critical roles, such as −

• They provide unanimity of purpose to organizations and spell out the context in which the organization operates.

• They communicate the purpose of the organization to stakeholders.

• They specify the direction in which the organization must move to realize the goals in the vision and mission statements.

• They provide the employees with a sense of belonging and identity.

3 https://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_principles/management_principles_mission_vision_values.htm

BUSINESS FORMATION & FUNDING OPTIONS

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM OXFORD SUMMER COURSES

8

5.Values Every organization has a set of values. Sometimes they are written down and sometimes not. Written values help an organization define its culture and belief. Organizations that believe and pledge to a common set of values are united while dealing with issues internal or external. An organization’s values can be defined as the moral guide for its business practices. 5.1 Core Values Every company, big or small, has its core values which forms the basis over which the members of a company make decisions, plan strategies, and interact with each other and their stakeholders. Core values reflect the core behaviors or guiding principles that guide the actions of employees as they execute plans to achieve the mission and vision. • Core values reflect what is important to the organization and

its members.

• Core values are intrinsic - they come from leaders inside of the company.

BUSINESS FORMATION & FUNDING OPTIONS

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM OXFORD SUMMER COURSES

9

• Core values are not necessarily dependent on the type of company or industry and may vary widely, even among organizations that do similar types of work.

For many companies, adherence to their core values is a goal, not a reality. It is often said that companies that abandon their core values may not perform as well as those that adhere to them.