Developing a mission and vision statement for your practice Skip to main content

Developing a mission and vision statement for your practice

Dentistry is competitive, which is why most management consultants recommend crafting a mission and vision statement to guide your practice along the way.

It’s not that hard to do and these are very useful tools for keeping you and your team working towards the same goals.

What’s the difference between a mission and a vision statement?

Your mission statement should be short, sweet and to the point. Two to three sentences that define the purpose of your practice.

Your vision statement is your plan of action to make your mission come true. Try to keep your mission and vision statements combined to under a page. Together, this short document can define your practice in the eyes of your staff and patients.

A great decision-making tool

Your mission and vision statements can serve as a compass to guide business decisions. When facing a decision, you can simply ask, “is this direction consistent with our mission and vision?”

If yes, great. If no, it’s a good idea to reevaluate and chart a different course.

Take time to optimize

Twice a month take just five minutes to contemplate which facets of your practice are aligned with your mission and vision and which are not. Review your workflow. Revisit your systems. Refocus your plans and energy back in the right direction.

A step-by-step process

Here’s simple way to get started developing your own mission and vision statements:

  1. Ask yourself the purpose of your practice as it relates to your personal life, your family, patients and staff.
  2. List the things you want, both in life and in your business.
  3. Prioritize your list and remove any items that are of low importance
  4. Armed with your list of wishes, write a statement defining where you’d like to be in 5 years.
  5. Question how your practice needs to be to get to this 5-year vision
  6. Next, list which strengths you possess that will help you to achieve your goals and which obstacles stand in your way. Detail strategies you can take to take advantage of your strengths and overcome these obstacles.

These steps will provide you with the raw material you need to craft your mission and vision statements.

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