Are Mission and Vision Statements Really Important for Healthcare Offices?

What does your practice stand for? What is it all about? is your team rallied around a common cause? How are you different?

These are the important questions that get answered when you have a mission and vision statement. The problem is, most healthcare practices don't have them and therefore are leaving out a huge portion of their branding.

In this blog, I'm going to give you some key elements that should be part of your mission and vision statements and also tell you why they are such an important element for your brand as a healthcare provider. 

Have you ever stayed at a Ritz Carlton? Marriott? Holiday Inn? Motel 6? You undoubtedly thought about the difference in quality of each of these places, didn't you? What is it about a Ritz that makes it so different from a Motel 6? 

Their brand is a promise. A promise of quality care, amazing customer service, and elegance. It doesn't matter which Ritz you stay in, they all exude these qualities. Why?

Because they have made it their mission to do so and every employee they hire goes through an extensive training that is based on the core values of the company. Stop any employee the next time you go to a Ritz and ask them about the core values and the mission of that company. I'll bet you they know.

Can your employees do that?

Vision Statement

A vision statement has less to do with you and more to do with the people you serve. Read that again. I see many people have what I call an internal vision statement that looks something like this - "I wanna be the #1 podiatrist in the greater Atlanta area." 

Eye roll. No one cares. It's fine if that's a personal goal for you as a provider and you want to affirm and manifest that into existence, but it isn't going to speak to those you want to serve. A vision statement is bigger than you. Your vision statement should stand for the change you want to see in the world directly because of your business. It should feel almost out of reach.   

Bill Gates' vision was not to build a million dollar tech business and live lavishly forever. His vision was that every desktop, home and office, would don a computer. This came at a time when the majority of computers were large, bulky, and typically reserved for large companies or factories. 

A vision statement is your mountain top or your WHY. Picture yourself atop Mount Everest - what's that view like? Would it leave you in awe? This is the feeling you want to inspire with your vision statement. It may even be the reason you became a healthcare provider. Please don't tell me you became a healthcare provider because you wanted to help people. Don't be general. Be authentic and real about WHY you decided to open your own practice to serve those whom you desire to serve. 

What is it that your practice wants to do that could be world changing? Here are some examples in healthcare - and remember to think big:

• Pain management physician: "Our vision is to eliminate the use of over prescribed opioid medicines."
• My regenerative medicine practice: "Our vision is that people will stop having unnecessary spine and joint surgeries."
• OBYGN: “Our vision is that every woman will realize that the benefits of our physician services go well beyond pregnancy and menstruation management.”
• Physical Therapy: “Our vision is that medicine and surgery will stop being the norm, and physical therapy will emerge as the leading first step for helping people in pain."

So what is it that you, as a business owner and healthcare provider, wish to change?

Mission

If your vision is the mountain top, your mission would be the climb. Its your HOW when it comes to running your business. It's the way you offer your services that makes you different. This ultimately is what separates you from others in a similar practice. What makes you different?

Do you offer 1 on 1 PT? Are you a cash pay practice? Do you have supreme customer service? Do you have a device or system that no one else has that produces results no one else gets? What is the feeling you desire to inspire?

A mission statement is what your team ultimately rallies around, delivers on, and practices daily that will lead you towards your vision. It's what the Ritz does for every customer that pulls up to the valet, walks though the door, gets room service, and plays golf.  

So, what are the how's to your practice? In order to identify them, you also have to be in touch with how people feel about doing business with you and how people generally feel about going to a doctors office. What are the pain points that so many healthcare consumers experience when they go to an office that offers similar services to yours? How are you changing that?

How do people feel when they have a certain problem or pain and how is it that you are remedying that?

Our Mission Statement: "Our mission is to give you a better way of healing through stem cell therapy. Return you to work, play and life with confidence and joy. Getting you off addictive pain medications and eliminating recurring doctor visits. You will re-discover the joy of life and feel younger again."

Notice how we talk about what we offer - stem cell therapy - while talking about the way people will feel while doing business with us. We understand people get frustrated by what their pain has limited them from doing. Also, how aggravating it is to have to go to another doctor's appointment. We aren't just helping people get better naturally we're inspiring thoughts around how they will feel afterwards. 

These are things we teach our team to be aware of and empathetic towards. And they show up for our patients powerfully in the face of these things.

So what are your how's? What is it that you can empathize with and then speak authority to? How will you change lives and how will you get your team to join in on this powerful mission?

What to do with your Vision and Mission

1. Post it on your website and in your office where all your patients can see it
2. Teach your team to remember it and practice it each day
3. Connect with it and deliver it to each and every person that walks in your door

Conclusion - what will your vision do for YOU

So often we get lost in the day to day craziness that is being a business owner. We get so overwhelmed we start to doubt ourselves and if what we're doing is actually worth it! We lose confidence, we feel lost, and we feel our motivation to continue is fleeting. 

When this happens, take the time to reconnect with your Vision. Your vision is the reason you are going through all the struggles. Your vision is your why and it is up to you to deliver this powerful gift to the world. 

Reconnecting to your vision will give you energy and inspire you to keep going because the world needs and wants what it is you have to offer.