VMOST Analysis
Monday, November 25, 2013
Is your team headed in the right direction?
Is
everyone working together, towards the same objectives?
Do your
objectives reflect your ultimate vision?
And will your day-to-day
activities help you achieve that vision?
These questions are extremely relevant for all organizations. Yet,
more often than not, they can get pushed into the background.
It's easy to focus so much on day-to-day activities that you lose
track of your original business plan. Strategies become redundant
or unnecessary, vision and mission statements lose relevance,
tactics may not lead to the results you want-and you may not even
realize that you've inadvertently changed direction.
VMOST is an analysis framework that helps you avoid this trap by
checking whether the five VMOST elements – Vision, Mission,
Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics – are in alignment.
The tool serves two purposes. First, it helps you re-connect to
your business vision, and highlights any problem areas that you need
to address. Second, it helps you create and evaluate plans for the
future, so that you can make sure that they're aligned with your
vision of that future.
Understanding the Tool
Let's look at the five VMOST components:
Vision – This is your organization's purpose, in terms of its
values or how it goes about doing business. It should inspire
staff, and help customers understand why they would want to use
the company's products or services.
Mission – This is also your organization's purpose, but
expressed in terms of key measures that must be reached to achieve
your vision.
Objectives – These are specific goals that you must meet to
achieve the mission.
Strategy – This is the overall plan you'll follow to meet your
objectives.
Tactics – These are specific sets of actions needed to execute
your strategy.
For any organization to be successful, all five components should
be well-aligned – whether you view them from top to bottom or from
bottom to top.
Looking from the top down, you need alignment because a clear
vision drives the mission – which, in turn, lets you set your
objectives or goals to achieve that mission. You design strategies
to meet your objectives, and you implement your strategies with
specific tactics or activities.
Looking from the bottom up, your tactical actions should fulfill
your strategies, which help you meet your objectives, which help
you accomplish your mission, which, in turn, helps you realize your
company's overall vision.
How to Use the Tool
To conduct a VMOST analysis, you need to determine whether all five VMOST elements are in alignment, both from a top-down and from a bottom-up perspective.
Go through each step below to check how well the VMOST elements fit together in your situation.
Step 1:
Choose the scope of your analysis.
Do you want to assess how well your whole organization's day-to-day activities contribute to its vision? Or do you just want to focus on your own contribution, or that of your team?
Step 2:
Collect the five sets of information for the scope you chose in Step 1:
Vision statement.
Mission statement.
Key objectives.
Strategy document.
Tactics used to deliver that strategy.
Step 3:
Answer the following questions:
Do the key measures in your mission statement fit the values described in your vision statement?
If you achieve the objectives, will the measures in the mission statement reach the levels described in the mission statement?
Does your organization's strategy support the achievement of the objectives?
Will your tactics deliver the strategy?
If the answer to every question in Step 3 is yes, you can be
reassured that you, your team, or your entire organization –
depending on your scope from Step 1 – contributes to your overall
vision through your day-to-day activities.
However, if you answered no to any of the questions in Step 3, you
need to adjust or redefine one or more of the VMOST elements. For
example, if the tactics will not deliver the strategy – and if no
tactics you can identify will deliver the strategy – you'll need to
reconsider everything else.
The following Mind Tools articles can help you realign your VMOST elements:
Vision Statements and Mission Statements .
Management by Objectives (MBO) .
Performance Management and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) .
Porter's Generic Strategies .
Task Allocation .
Tip:
A tightly controlled approach like this only suits certain situations and certain industries (see our article on Birkinshaw's Four Dimensions of Management for more on this). Use your best judgment when applying this tool to your own situation.
Key Points
VMOST Analysis helps you clearly see if your organization's vision, mission, objectives, strategies, and tactics are well-aligned.
It helps clarify whether your vision drives your mission, which then drives a clear set of objectives. In turn, objectives should drive strategies to meet those objectives, and tactics to implement your strategies.
You can conduct a VMOST analysis both for an existing business and for proposed changes.
Tags:
Skills, Strategy Tools
Is
everyone working together, towards the same objectives?
Do your
objectives reflect your ultimate vision?
And will your day-to-day
activities help you achieve that vision?
These questions are extremely relevant for all organizations. Yet,
more often than not, they can get pushed into the background.
It's easy to focus so much on day-to-day activities that you lose
track of your original business plan. Strategies become redundant
or unnecessary, vision and mission statements lose relevance,
tactics may not lead to the results you want-and you may not even
realize that you've inadvertently changed direction.
VMOST is an analysis framework that helps you avoid this trap by
checking whether the five VMOST elements – Vision, Mission,
Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics – are in alignment.
The tool serves two purposes. First, it helps you re-connect to
your business vision, and highlights any problem areas that you need
to address. Second, it helps you create and evaluate plans for the
future, so that you can make sure that they're aligned with your
vision of that future.
Understanding the Tool
Let's look at the five VMOST components:
Vision – This is your organization's purpose, in terms of its
values or how it goes about doing business. It should inspire
staff, and help customers understand why they would want to use
the company's products or services.
Mission – This is also your organization's purpose, but
expressed in terms of key measures that must be reached to achieve
your vision.
Objectives – These are specific goals that you must meet to
achieve the mission.
Strategy – This is the overall plan you'll follow to meet your
objectives.
Tactics – These are specific sets of actions needed to execute
your strategy.
For any organization to be successful, all five components should
be well-aligned – whether you view them from top to bottom or from
bottom to top.
Looking from the top down, you need alignment because a clear
vision drives the mission – which, in turn, lets you set your
objectives or goals to achieve that mission. You design strategies
to meet your objectives, and you implement your strategies with
specific tactics or activities.
Looking from the bottom up, your tactical actions should fulfill
your strategies, which help you meet your objectives, which help
you accomplish your mission, which, in turn, helps you realize your
company's overall vision.
How to Use the Tool
To conduct a VMOST analysis, you need to determine whether all five VMOST elements are in alignment, both from a top-down and from a bottom-up perspective.
Go through each step below to check how well the VMOST elements fit together in your situation.
Step 1:
Choose the scope of your analysis.
Do you want to assess how well your whole organization's day-to-day activities contribute to its vision? Or do you just want to focus on your own contribution, or that of your team?
Step 2:
Collect the five sets of information for the scope you chose in Step 1:
Vision statement.
Mission statement.
Key objectives.
Strategy document.
Tactics used to deliver that strategy.
Step 3:
Answer the following questions:
Do the key measures in your mission statement fit the values described in your vision statement?
If you achieve the objectives, will the measures in the mission statement reach the levels described in the mission statement?
Does your organization's strategy support the achievement of the objectives?
Will your tactics deliver the strategy?
If the answer to every question in Step 3 is yes, you can be
reassured that you, your team, or your entire organization –
depending on your scope from Step 1 – contributes to your overall
vision through your day-to-day activities.
However, if you answered no to any of the questions in Step 3, you
need to adjust or redefine one or more of the VMOST elements. For
example, if the tactics will not deliver the strategy – and if no
tactics you can identify will deliver the strategy – you'll need to
reconsider everything else.
The following Mind Tools articles can help you realign your VMOST elements:
Vision Statements and Mission Statements .
Management by Objectives (MBO) .
Performance Management and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) .
Porter's Generic Strategies .
Task Allocation .
Tip:
A tightly controlled approach like this only suits certain situations and certain industries (see our article on Birkinshaw's Four Dimensions of Management for more on this). Use your best judgment when applying this tool to your own situation.
Key Points
VMOST Analysis helps you clearly see if your organization's vision, mission, objectives, strategies, and tactics are well-aligned.
It helps clarify whether your vision drives your mission, which then drives a clear set of objectives. In turn, objectives should drive strategies to meet those objectives, and tactics to implement your strategies.
You can conduct a VMOST analysis both for an existing business and for proposed changes.
