Vision - The dream; a team's true north. Primary objective is to inspire and create a shared sense of purpose throughout the company.
Create economic opportunity for every professional
Mission - Overarching objective of the organization; should be measurable, achievable, and ideally inspirational. Should not be used synonymously with a vision statement. A great mission statement is brief, easy to remember, minimizes the use of the word "and" (to prevent a laundry list), shouldn't require follow-up clarifying questions when first presented, and ideally proves to be uniquely identifiable to the company, i.e. wouldn't be confused for another company's mission.
Connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful
Strategy - How a company navigates its competitive landscape (and the dynamics most heavily influencing that landscape, e.g. technology) to achieve its objectives. Not to be confused with tactics, which are the specific steps put into place to manifest the strategy. Can also state strategy as a series of strategic objectives to help make it more actionable. Requires clear understanding and definition of an organization's strengths and competitive advantages.
1. To be the professional profile of record
2. To be the essential source of professional insights
3. To work everywhere our members work
Objectives - Measurable goals aligned with mission and strategy -- the fewer and simpler the better. Key first principle: if you can't measure it, you can't fix it.
Objectives - Measurable goals aligned with mission and strategy -- the fewer and simpler the better. Key first principle: if you can't measure it, you can't fix it.
We use multiple objectives at different levels throughout the company
Priorities - Stack ranked list of tactics designed to help the company realize its objectives. Should start with the question, "If we could only do one thing, what would it be?" and the team should not move onto the next item on the list until that question has been resolved. This sounds easy but typically proves to be very challenging. Priorities should always center around the company's core, i.e. your overall value proposition, and a highly disciplined organization will always make sure its core enjoys the right level of focus, resourcing, and execution before moving onto the next priority. To help with this, I like to visualize a target -- the bullseye is your core and the concentric circles are adjacent value propositions that you don't try to tackle until you've nailed the bullseye.
Priorities - Stack ranked list of tactics designed to help the company realize its objectives. Should start with the question, "If we could only do one thing, what would it be?" and the team should not move onto the next item on the list until that question has been resolved. This sounds easy but typically proves to be very challenging. Priorities should always center around the company's core, i.e. your overall value proposition, and a highly disciplined organization will always make sure its core enjoys the right level of focus, resourcing, and execution before moving onto the next priority. To help with this, I like to visualize a target -- the bullseye is your core and the concentric circles are adjacent value propositions that you don't try to tackle until you've nailed the bullseye.
Core value proposition: Connect talent with opportunity at massive scale
For members: Identity, Insights, Everywhere
For customers: Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Sales Solutions
Culture - The company's personality, i.e. who you are as a company, and perhaps more importantly, who you aspire to be.
Transformation, integrity, collaboration, humor, results
Values - The principles that guide the organization's day-to-day decisions; a defining component of your culture.
Members first; relationships matter; be open, honest and constructive; demand excellence; take intelligent risks; act like an owner
How about you? How do you define these dimensions? What frameworks have you used to successfully manage a period of significant growth at your company?