Revisiting Your Mission and Vision

Chances are, you have set your practice’s mission and vision statement or at least have a good idea of what those are and represent. But if you haven’t or want to take another look at them, now is a great time to do so as we head into 2022.

Your practice’s mission statement defines you and your team’s purpose. Alongside that, your practice’s vision states your core values and overall goal for the future. Together, both set the standard of your culture for your team and patients, as well as help set your practice apart from others. They are your “why.”

Your mission statement and vision should help give focus to everything your practice does, including how you interact with clients, how you brand and market your practice and even how you care for your team members. While the primary audience for your mission statement is your own organization, it should inform how you treat your patients too.

The Right Mission Statement

If you are creating your mission statement for the first time or haven’t revisited it in a while, consider these questions:

• What is the primary objective of my dermatology practice?
• What is the primary activity of my dermatology practice?
• Who are our primary patients?

The answers to those three questions should encompass your mission statement. Not only can it drive growth, productivity, and success when thoughtfully developed, but also help ensure your entire practice—including both employees and patients—have the same expectations of the work and services provided, helping hold everyone to a similarly high standard. This high standard, in turn, becomes part of your brand.

The Right Vision Statement

Your vision statement specifically conveys what your practice represents. Unlike the mission statement, however, the vision statement is more forward-facing, focusing on how the core values of the organization position your dermatology practice for the future. Your vision statement should identify not just why you are in business, but how those core values translate to your future aspirations. If you haven’t written a vision statement for your dermatology practice or haven’t revisited it in several years, consider the following questions:

• Why do I want this type of dermatology practice?
• How do our core values stand the test of time?
• How can we best serve our patients?

Those three questions help you position your practice and your brand for the future. Identifying the type of dermatology practice you want—whether general dermatology, a mix of general and cosmetic dermatology, dermatology surgery, boutique dermatology, or something else entirely—can also help you better identify your ideal future clients. Next, identifying how you want your core values—such as integrity, safety, respect, patient care, or service—to stand the test of time helps ensure your practice won’t become outdated and left behind as competitors evolve and improve. Finally, identifying how you can best serve your patients can help you pinpoint how you might want to branch out, diversify, or expand your practice, whether that means operating in multiple locations, working with multiple providers, or even just changing your schedule.

Using Your Mission and Vision Statements to Succeed

With a successfully identified mission statement and vision statement, patients have a clear idea of exactly what to expect from your practice—and so do your employees, which helps ensure all patients get the same great service. Clearly defined mission and vision statements also help you as a service provider identify what your priorities are, which can help you better position your practice in an oft-crowded marketplace—enabling you to outmaneuver your competitors.

Key values of successful mission statements and vision statements include:

• Team members know exactly what service expectations are—as well as the future direction of the practice—which in turn helps them better perform their job and buy in to shared goals for the practice.

• Shared mission and vision statements can be used to review staff performance, allowing you to better hold employees accountable.

• Patients better understand your goals as a service provider, which both builds confidence in new patients and allows returning patients to better hold you and your staff accountable when they see service or care slip.

And as always, if you are looking for a partner to help you make your mission and vision a reality, we are here to help. Schedule a consultation with one of our practice management experts today!