Destination Statements are better than traditional mission and vision statements. How’s that for a lead sentence? I understand if your first reaction is to push back.  We have all been indoctrinated to believe that mission and vision are essential things that give our work lives some sort of meaning. In my experience, they are more likely to be confusing taglines and Rorschach tests – statements to be taken out at opportune times to shut down debate or excuse a retrenchment into the tried-and-true just when new ideas or opportunities demand exploration.

I concede they are good when on-boarding new folks onto the team (simple, easy to understand), as brand-positioning copy for press releases (ibid.) and as part of a warm-up exercise for senior leaders embarking on a strategic planning effort (if handled correctly and for the right reasons). That’s about it. On the other hand, a good Destination Statement encapsulates vision and mission with greater introspection, higher accountability and better alignment. Importantly, it communicates to the entire organization that their work is based on both a rational and inspirational foundation and that it’s all going to be worth their effort.

So, what makes for a good Destination Statement? It describes a clear and confirmable market and organization position at which you will have arrived, by a future date, as identified by specific measures. Typically, Destination Statements are 4-5 sentences long and touch on the expected key drivers of success, such as certain advantages you enjoy, opportunities you expect and capabilities you will leverage or develop along the way. Depending on your industry, market position, organizational design, management routines, and culture, each sentence could focus on a different functional area, piece of the value chain, geography or key customer segment.

Most critically, each element needs to be anchored in one (or maybe two) metrics. Agreeing on those will be some of the most challenging work in crafting your Destination Statement. It will require buy-in from the entire leadership team. Presumably, each of them will have a stake in what gets measured and recognize the implications both to them and their respective area. Expect negotiation, expect to confront current limitations on data quality and availability, and expect that the process itself will uncover previously unsurfaced or unvoiced issues and challenges. Accordingly, these ultimately will be healthy and productive efforts.

So, where do we start? If there are mission and vision statements, they should be folded into a first sentence that also articulates the overarching target for the organization. For instance, here’s a couple of alternatives to what we might craft for Tesla Motors’ (TSLA) first sentence (disclosure – this is an illustration based on public information and some imagination):

Mission: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

Vision: To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.

Turns into: By 2024, Tesla Motors is accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy by competitively offering a portfolio of electric vehicles capable of meeting the needs of at least 90% of consumer and commercial drivers.

Because of the measure included in this first sentence, Tesla Motors would focus the organization on meeting the needs of nearly all drivers. From there, subsequent sentences in the destination statement would define what we mean by “needs” and “competitively” as well as declare financial and non-financial metrics to be met. 

This destination statement would be a clear mandate to broaden the variety of vehicles offered and could also be a declaration that any levels of production must be met as well. Future strategic and tactical decisions would be evaluated with this focus in mind. A downstream strategic impact would be that charging stations need to be broadly available. A near term tactic would be to quickly seek critical mass in publicly available, suburban geographies because of the diverse population of drivers they contain. Each of these represent important additions to the Destination Statement.

Alternatively, we could have written this as our first sentence: By 2024, Tesla Motors is accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy by offering electric vehicles that are the most sought after in their class. 

Rather than build Tesla Motors into an expansive vehicle manufacturer, this wording leads to driving demand (ahem) in markets where supremacy is achievable. In other words, produce targeted vehicles more coveted than any competitors – electric or not. Think REV Group (REVG) not General Motors (GM). Tesla might choose to classify vehicles by average distance driven and average cargo capacity as these variables greatly impact battery size. This could lead to a strategic focus on short-haul vehicles, such as what you’ll find in more urban environment like compact cars and final-mile delivery vehicles (in addition to their sports car, which is typically used for short distances as well). A sentence regarding this focus and target market penetration would make an excellent addition to the Destination Statement. A supporting tactic might be to partner with municipalities to build charging stations into parking meters who could charge extra while offering to sell private stations to distribution companies, which could be referenced as well.

In either example, subsequent sentences in the Destination Statement should be included to define details and provide more precise signals for organizational priorities (e.g., operating margin versus EBITDA, production volume versus inventory turn, employee satisfaction scores versus employee turn-over, etc.).

Both versions of the first sentence include the essence of the same mission and vision statements. The fact that they can describe such different directions for Tesla Motors means that they have limited reach. Without articulating a good Destination Statement, there is then a license to drift or shift at will while seemingly staying true to the mission and vision. I can’t say that this is what has happened at Tesla, but trying to drive to two destinations at the same time? That’s just something that no vehicle can do.

Has your organization defined a Destination Statement that outlines a clear, verifiable market and organizational position you aim to achieve? Let The Abaco Group guide you in crafting a strategic Destination Statement that outlines how your firm is achieving business goals—contact us today to learn how we can help.