Your Practice's Mission & Vision: What's the Difference?
Carolyn C. Shadle, PhD, Interpersonal Communication Services, La Jolla, California
John L. Meyer, PhD, Interpersonal Communication Services, La Jolla, California
On a clear day, rise and look around you, and you’ll see who just prove you are.—Alan Jay Lerner, lyrics from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
Your Mission
When you look in the mirror in the morning, what do you see? Hopefully, you see a confident person awakening to a day with a definite agenda and a clear sense of what should be accomplished by day’s end.
Likewise, a veterinary team needs a clear sense of what it intends to accomplish—ie, its core purpose and mission. Once defined, everyone should know and understand your mission. La Jolla Veterinary Hospital in California has this mission posted for team members and clients: Our mission is to provide excellent medical care for dogs and cats in an atmosphere where patients and clients are cared for genuinely and compassionately.1
The mission does not include serving farm or zoo animals, snakes, or birds. This practice is clear about what it intends to accomplish and whom it will serve.
A mission statement should clearly state the market it will serve and provide direction for the practice, the team, and clients.
Your Vision
Now, suppose you look in the mirror to imagine how you will develop—what kind of a person you will be, what you will pursue. That is your vision.
Of course, it is difficult to hold your practice up to a mirror, even figuratively, so a clear image of your vision is not as easy as defining your mission. Your vision also requires buy-in from your entire team and your clients. It is worth the effort, however.
The vision statement focuses on the future by outlining a long-range outline of where you are going, whereas the mission statement concentrates on the present and defines its clients, its critical processes, and its desired performance level.
The Pet Doctor in O’Fallon, Missouri, posts its vision on its website. It is clear and concise: Our vision is for our practice to succeed through client satisfaction, personal and professional enrichment, and reinvestment into the practice and community.2
The vision statement is a source of inspiration and motivation. It senses and anticipates what is possible. It should also be optimistic, but attainable—unlike the pie-in-the-sky hopes of a child who imagines he or she will be president of the United States. An effective vision is couched in reality and experience and achievable through planning and effort.
Mission Vs Vision
Both of these concepts work hand in hand (see Mission & Vision: What Is the Difference?). The mission statement defines your purpose while the vision statement outlines where you want to be. The mission statement answers the questions, What do we do? What makes us different?
Both of these concepts work hand in hand.
The vision statement answers the question, Where are we aiming to be? The mission statement talks about the present and lists goals.
The mission statement outlines what you do and for whom. The vision statement outlines where you want to go and how you want to fulfill your mission in the days or years ahead.
Using Mission & Vision Statements
A successful veterinary practice is organized around well-articulated mission and vision statements, with a team that has developed communication channels and strategies that ensure the mission and vision is understood, remembered, and supported.
Display your mission and vision statements for team members and clients to read and stay focused. As your team and clients experience the way the practice works, they will understand why both the mission and vision are implemented. It is like a “clear day”—everyone will see who you are.