How to Create a Business Vision (and Write an Excellent Vision Statement) in 2022

Take a moment to imagine how your business will be like five or ten years from now. How do people perceive your business? What impacts have you made in your community, country, or perhaps the world?  Have you become one of the industry leaders?

If you’re having a hard time visualising the future of your business, you’d likely have a more challenging road ahead. Without a business vision, you and your team will lack a clear focus. You may easily get lost amidst everything else in your personal life. Worse, you might head in the wrong direction and lead your business to ruin instead.

Several budding business owners find writing a vision statement to be overwhelming and confusing. We’re here to explain why you should spend time and effort on your business vision and how you can establish a vision statement that encapsulates your goals and aspirations as an entrepreneur.

The Importance of Vision in Business

As you would notice, many of the top business leaders have been described as visionaries. They can define long-term goals that must be achieved and compel others to believe in the same vision and work together to realise it. On the other hand, the downfall of some business owners has been attributed to their lack of imagination or losing sight of their original intentions. 

A business vision has various purposes, but why can it spell the difference between success and failure?

A business vision sparks meaningful action.

Sportswear titan Nike wants to “bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.” Over the years, we can see how this multinational company has stayed true to this vision. They invite talented designers from different countries and cultures to diversify their products. The company has also established partnerships with athletic associations, non-profit organizations, and other institutions to raise new generations of high-performing athletes. Nike also sponsors individual athletes and teams from different fields and backgrounds to boost their career growth and widen the company’s exposure.

A business vision serves as a guide when making plans or decisions.

People in big cities joke about how they can find Starbucks on almost every street. That’s because this famous coffee brand aims to “establish Starbucks as the most recognized and respected brand in the world.” So, while some may grumble about how aggressive the company has been in setting up stores and expanding to e-commerce platforms, they won’t be stopping any time soon.

A business vision anchors the organisation in times of confusion or distress.

In 2020, the global pandemic halted most business operations for several weeks. Zoom Video Communications, Inc.—better known as Zoom—stepped up to provide quick and effective solutions during this crisis. While they have faced scrutiny over privacy and security issues, Zoom has achieved greater heights than most because its vision involves “empowering people to accomplish more.”

How to Set a Vision for the Business

Here is a simple guide on defining a powerful vision for your small business:

Think of your business goals.

Don’t deliberate on your plans and strategies that you have to follow. Instead, focus on the results. What do you want your business to become in five to ten years? What goals should be achieved to reach that state?

Take into account the core values of your business

This can be as simple as agility, innovation, or speed. It can also be as grand as affordable healthcare for everyone or educational content for all children. These values influence how you will conduct your business now and in the future, so they should be considered when setting the company vision.

Establish a timeframe

Though you need to look into the future to establish a vision, you must specify a strategic timeline for when you wish to achieve it. Most businesses develop their concepts by thinking of the next five to ten years.

As you can see, setting a business vision is not an activity that you should complete on an impulse. It requires deep thinking and careful consideration to ensure that the path you want to worth pursuing.

5 Steps to Write a Vision Statement

A business vision won’t serve its purpose if you can’t articulate it well to your employees, customers, trade partners, and other players in the industry. Therefore, you must learn to write a vision statement that captures the future you want to realize for your business.

Here are the five steps to composing a proper and meaningful vision statement.

Step #1: Create an outline

The most practical way to go about this is by answering the questions below.

• What words best describe the future that you want for your business?
• What is the mission of your business?
• When do you think you can achieve the vision and mission of your business?
• What goals do you want to accomplish as a business owner?
• Why do these goals matter now and in the long run?
• How does your business intend to treat its customer?

Your responses to these questions should serve as the outline for the vision statement.

Step #2: Conduct a vision statement workshop

Invite the key members of your business, such as co-owners, managers, and other essential staff. Brainstorm ideas and take note of their suggestions. Involving these individuals helps ensure that everyone will carry out the vision and mission of the company. 

Step #3: Strike a balance between boldness and reality

Your vision must be aspirational to encourage yourself and your employees to work towards that kind of future. However, refrain from going way beyond your means and capabilities, especially given the timeline of your business vision. If your current resources are enough for nationwide distribution within the next five years, envision yourself as the top company providing those products or services. Once you have attained this goal, elevate your business to the global stage by setting a new business vision.

Step #4: Choose your words carefully

Your vision statement for the company should be short and simple enough for you, your employees, and your customers to remember. However, don’t sacrifice the comprehensive of its message for conciseness.

We suggest limiting the vision statement to one to two sentences only. Use terms that familiar to everyone involved, too. This will enhance its significance and acceptance among those who hear or read the vision statement. 

Step #5: Incorporate the unique value proposition of your business

As part of your business plan, there must be something that only your company may provide to its customers. That should be the main differentiating factor between you and your competitors. Otherwise, what will stop the prospective customers from choosing your rivals over you?

Combine these elements into one to two sentences to form an inspiring and expressive vision statement for your small business. If you would have any trouble doing any of these steps, consider seeking the assistance of business coaches or consultants who specialize in strategic planning or goal management.

What’s Next?

Your business vision shouldn’t just be words written on paper. The vision statement plays a vital role in your company. While you could print it out on a poster and hang it in the lobby for everyone to see, it’s pretty useless if you would not integrate it into your strategies and company culture.

You will likely spend a great deal of time and effort crafting a statement that best encapsulates your vision for the business. To maximize its worth, use the vision statement as the starting point during your strategic business planning sessions. It should remind you of what direction you should be taking and what kind of decisions you and your team should be making.

Furthermore, the vision statement should be considered an enhancing tool for your business’s internal communications. If every employee understands and remembers the business vision, they can align their respective goals to the high-level objectives of the company.

Finally, remember that your business vision is not set in stone. That means the vision statement must be reviewed and adjusted to match the new direction or goals of the company. Several organizations revisit their vision once a year, while others try their best to stick to the plans until the projected timeline has been completed. Regardless of your preference, the steps to revising the vision statement remain the same.

Again, don’t panic if creating a business vision doesn’t come naturally to you. Even the best entrepreneurs need to take their time, seek the opinion of their key employees, or consult experts to come up with a vision statement for their respective businesses.

If you’ve had experience establishing a business vision, feel free to share your tips and advice with budding business owners in the comments below. After all, we don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel every time we need to write or revise a vision statement.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us with questions so that we can also further guide you in defining the future you want to achieve for your small business.