Mission is King

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If that's the case, you know, there's exponential gains that can be made, but it all starts with having an understanding of very clear mission. So

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Does everyone on your team know the mission of your company? I chatted with Tony Ferraro Floyd's, director of Coaching, about this important topic, and we share a few practical steps you can take today to determine if your mission is strong enough to move people to work towards accomplishing it. We hope this episode inspires you to make Mission King in your organization. All right, Tony, I'm so excited you're back. We get to have a great conversation about principle number two in the culture solution, which is Mission is king.

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Why you're going about doing what you're doing. But I think, um, a lot of us do that. they go to work and try to f the connection between something bigger than just whatever you're doing that day. So that's one of the reasons why we say mission is King. There's some others, but that's, uh, that's the big one

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That is true for a person and foreign organization. So how beautiful. I didn't even know you were gonna say that. You were living your mission driven day today. And that fits beautifully. because that it, it's true with, with an individual and of course an organization and of, and who runs organizations.

The individuals. So we all need to be connected not only to the your own personal mission and why it is that you're doing what you're doing, but being really connected to the mission of the organization so that you want to have a mission driven day. Right. Could you imagine if you're so disconnected that you wake up and you kind of like have to disconnect from mission to, to go do your work for most of the of your day?

And there's a lot that, obviously is a, a big. so let's talk about Mission is King. Obviously, you know, when Matthew Kelly wrote the Culture Solution, he shares the six immutable principles of a dynamic culture, and each of the principles really builds on one another. And Mission is King is obviously very important.

It's number two. And, we need to, to have that clear mission. I, I find that most organizations and what we see with a lot of our clients, they don't have a strong mission. ,they don't have a team that is really not only connected to the mission, but probably don't, can't even say the mission of the organization.

They kind of maybe know a little bit, and obviously that can be a big challenge. so Tony, is your mission statement really that important

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Now the two are, very much intertwined, but, I just think we have to be careful to say, what are we really talking about? And what we're talking about here is that, that everyone in the organization has a clear idea of. Why the company exists. And then the next level of why I exist in the company and why the work I do is important to, to help the company achieve the mission.

So that's just a framework of what we're talking about with, understanding the mission. and so the reason, and the reason I say that is we do sometimes get wrapped up on mission statement and it's very important. But, as you know what the other side I see is where people. A really well crafted, wordsmith mission statement, and it just doesn't speak to the people in a way that answers that question.

You know, I get up today, I have a clear idea of why I'm doing what I'm doing and how it fits into the mission, and so that, that I think is a key differentiation. It's important. Now, good mission statement will be clear about. And will help people. And it's particularly important as companies grow or as people come into the organization, and it's a good way of communicating that, within your, your culture.

But the mission, you know, having a great mission statement on the wall is not necessarily a guarantee that everybody understands the mission, nor, and probably more importantly, does it guarantee that your decision making and the life of your organization revolves around it.

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And so why are there so many organizations that. Feel like we have to overcomplicate, we have to create this mission statement that to the outside world sounds like we're really important and we know big words

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You feel that connection from the outside, from your clients like, like your clients understand the mission. Your clients are on your board. Your clients want to refer business to you cuz they're like, yes, I stand behind the mission of this organization. That's a really clear, clearly defined, powerful mission.

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Poster boards and the post-its and you spend a day on it with a facilitator and that's all good. I don't mean to be sarcastic here, but that's all good. But the point is, the end of the day, people leave feeling like they've accomplished. Something when they really haven't.

It's the starting point. Everything has to revolve around that. But we know what happens. You go into the the mission statement workshop and, you know, as Jeff Bezos says, the process becomes the product. Okay, great. We've got this mission statement. We accomplish something. No, if that's the case, you did it wrong.

You should leave one of those workshops going, yeah, just as you said, that's obvious. That's what we do. Let's get after it now and let's look at everything we do and see if it aligns with that mission and that people leave that going. That makes perfect sense. And I see where I fit in on this and I also see where if the, the company accomplishes that mission, I'm gonna accomplish my mission, my own personal mission, which is why people.

Join organizations in the first place, so that, that's one of the things we just make this mission statement, the king instead of mission be being the king. And we see those all the time.

now that's not to say that you can't really spend some time and should spend some time creating a great mission statement.

It just has to be action oriented and it has to describe what the company does and why they do it, so that everybody has that, that clear understanding. So that's, the first part. once you have that statement, then why the mission is so important is that it should, guide all of your decision making.

it should guide, all of the strategic decisions you make. It should guide the personnel decisions you should make. down to the allocation of resources, you know, that people have an understanding that this really isn't my office. It's, it's a resource that helps the organization accomplish their mission.

I used to work in schools. I can tell you that moving a teacher. From like, sometimes you have to move things around because it's best, the best way to get everything you need to get done at the school is to have people at different places. moving a teacher from her, his or her classroom.

To another classroom, like it's easier to get out of a timeshare . It's just that hard and, and people should, uh, have ownership, but when it becomes ownership like this is more important than the mission, then that's a sign that, that there's a problem. But when we see organizations where people are like, Where do you want me to be?

What do you want me to do? If this is what the mission needs, I'm on it. and then they find their purpose within that. So, the statements of the mission's important, what it is, but then what are you doing with that? is really what I think Matthew was getting to and the idea that mission is king.

and sometimes those can be really difficult decisions that leaders have to make, but they do it because it advances the mission of the organization. and so, but that, that becomes a kind of a guiding point,

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we're able to come together as a team and make that decision based on mission, not based on what, what I think or what Tony thinks or anyone in the organization. It really is on what, the mission is. and we see this all the time in organizations because, mission is king. And so often teams, try to make their leader.

They make their c e o the king or queen of the organization, right? they kind of abdicate responsibility because oh, it's, we just do it this way. Cuz that's what Tony decided. So that's the way it has to be done. Well that's not a great way to make a decision, instead of, hey, we're doing it based on the mission.

And look, the bigger organizations get, the more that there are gonna be decisions that are made that maybe you, feel like, Hey, I, I would've gone another direction. but still we get to, to disagree, commit, move forward, and do what needs to be done in order to fulfill the mission. And it takes a lot of ego out of it, right? It takes, it strips away a lot of ego from people in the organizations to be able to do that. To be able to say, Hey, if we think this is what's best for mission, then we're gonna move forward and do it.

and that's when you have really incredible teams that have a lot of trust.

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And do they trust you? And just getting to the heart of the matter now, good. So a good leader, will build that trust and will communicate why a decision is important based on the. So that's the leader's role and then the other people in the organization's role is y you know what a, you, you said it disagree and commit.

You know, that's not, whatever you say, that's fine. And I'm gonna say, okay, but then as soon as it goes bad, I'm gonna say, I told you so. this is really committing. That you understand that this is what's best for the mission, and then, and this is where the word comes from, I have to be submissive, and that's not a bad word.

It means I have to make my personal mission below the mission of the organization. That's really where the derivation of that comes from. So if people can do that, say it's may notwhat I wanted to do, it's not the work I wanna do in this one, but you know what, I'm gonna be indifferent to what the work is because the mission is what is most important.

Cuz what we find is when people can be indifferent to the work, they then become ingenious. , when people are put in things they didn't think they wanted to do, they weren't sure they could do it, but they just got behind the mission, they all of a sudden developed skills and solve problems that they never would have if they were in their comfort zone of just doing what they want, and following their own mission statement.

obviously if we're talking about something ethical or legal or so that some decision's been made that you disagree, that's one thing. But when we're talking about other

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but just letting go once the decision's made, it's just a waste of energy. energy is the currency of great companies. Not time, not money. It's energy. Can you get everybody's energy focused on the right thing? Can you get everybody rowing the right way in the boat?

If that's the case, you know, there's exponential gains that can be made, but it all starts with, with having an understanding of very clear mission. So to answer your question, yes, a mission statement. Is that important?

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To look at my mission again or kind of rethink the mission of the organization or really figure out, does my team really know the mission of the organization? How can we, as leaders really decide, Hey, is my mission right now worthy of being king, worthy of doing all of these things that we've been talking about?

Building that trust and building the growth of everyone on the, on the team and getting everyone, working towards that mission. is it worthy of being King

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hit pause, go to their mission statement and ask those same questions. your day would be well spent and if you spent the day doing that, you'd really be adding to the value of your organization. my thought is this, that there's some, fundamentals in a mission statement.

and I'm not talking about the syntax and those things, but, but I think, and, and what's interesting is there's kind of a dichotomy in the two things that, in what I'm saying here. So on one hand I think your mission statement has to be aspirational. right? So, when I read this, it stirs something in me that a, that, that gets me a little excited, that gets me, get, get really reaches into me and says, this is important of what we're doing.

This is really important. And, I can make a difference if I, if I help this mission get accomplished. So it has to be aspirational, right? So, we sell paper, it might work at Dunder Mifflin, but it's not. People don't come to work. You know, really excited about doing that. So aspirational is important.

Now here's where the dichotomy comes in. I think the second part of it is that it needs to be doable and realistic and appropriate. so the same thing, the paper company. We're gonna put a dent in the universe. You're not . we've seen this with, that was the big thing with the, with tech companies.

We're gonna, revolutionize this, we're going to change. Uh, I just happened to reread something the other day in, in the WeWork book, right? I mean, it's, you know, we're gonna raise the consciousness of the world. Through office space. All right. Okay. That, I mean, there was a disconnect and everybody there knew it and everybody was saying, what does that have to do with what we're doing?

So finding that sweet spot that's not just says what we do every day, but gives meaning to what you do every day without being delusional. Because I think on both sides of that, people are like, why would I come to work, to do that? And the other one is, what are we really, this is, I don't see any connection between the two.

So finding that sweet spot is really important. so it seems like a dichotomy, but when you see a really good mission statement or, or people have really good mission outlined, you just know it, you know it, and you go, okay, that, that makes sense.

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Do they fit both of those criteria? And, uh, so Ted, you know, the company Ted, the TED Talks, we love them. We love watching them. We learn from them. So their mission is spread ideas, spread ideas. I mean, simple aspirational. They are literally doing that every day. LinkedIn. Connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful.

Connect the world's professionals like boom, right? Like that is, these are things that we feel like we are connected to, Microsoft, to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Like these are all they make. Oh, let's see what's Starbucks people and their Starbucks.

Starbucks to inspire and nurture the human spirit. One person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.

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And, uh, they ask, they could say a prayer to start with. So that's great. the last part of the prayer that this person introduced, said, and Lord help us, and he started to list the three tenants of their. Of their mission, and that would've been great that this person who was saying the prayer felt to include it.

I thought that's kind of neat. But what struck me was, as he started to say it, everybody in the audience repeated those three as he was saying it. So they knew what was coming. They knew what they were, and it was clear that they understood what that was. And I was really taken aback. I'm like, that's, now they've got it.

It's simple and everybody understands it and realizes how doing that will get them to, to where they wanna go. So it can be done. you just work at it and be simple and simplify. if I was giving anybody advice, one thing, I don't think a mission statement should happen. This is where I, I'm not going down.

My own bias branch, but you don't have telling people who you are in the mission statement is we go back to energy. we're a group of people in southwest Missouri, in the mountains. Who, so what? Okay. But I, because I think that can get you in a, like if you said, for example, let's say you had a small company and it was all female.

And you made your mission statement, we are a group of females, bonding together to bring, better social media experiences that okay, fine, but what happens if, all of a sudden, you wanna expand and you want to hire people and one of them isn't female. And he is the best person for the job

so I just think talking a lot about who you are, and this is just kind of a waste of time. Just get to the point, as you mentioned, this is what we do, and implied in that is why we do it. Everything you said in there, like connecting people and say they could be better. No one asked the question, why would you do that?

Right. I mean, it's implied. Making people better is a good thing, and so I think that can be implied in the mission statement. Also, I don't think you have to tell people why what you're doing is important or maybe what you're doing isn't that important. , if you have to explain why it's important, it should just jump out.

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They talk about how you have to write, you might have to write a hundred thousand words to get a 50,000 word book or whatever it is. So you write it all out, and then when you read it back, you can ask yourself, so what, so what? So what does this matter? Does this matter? And then you get down to the crux of.

Spread ideas. you know, I, I wonder what that conversation looked like when they were coming up with the mission. Like maybe it was, you know, to bring together all the thought leaders in the world to do X y who, who knows? But then the essence of it, the core of the mission spread ideas.

And so when we can do that as organizations, everyone feels more connected. And what's awesome, and we're not talking about this principle today, but with principle number four, higher with rigorous discipline, you can then hire people. that believe in the mission, believe in the vision of the organization, and they're excited to be part of what you're building.

So that is huge, not only with the, with internal, but also when people are seeing external what you're doing. We wanna attract great talent and having a really incredible mission where people feel like, Hey, I wanna be part of that. Uh, is. alright, so Tony, what advice would you give to someone listening, right now that's thinking, man, I don't know if my mission is worthy of being king.

And I don't know the last time we even talked about mission in one of our meetings. So what is one thing that someone can do, today to, help with this particular principle of mission is,

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and

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Does this really answer those questions? what do we do and why do we do it? does that make a connection to me in some way? that's number one answer the question. So what and secondly, then do a, a, an inventory. And this doesn't have to be, I said sit with it for a while, but do an inventory and ask yourself is Mission King in our organization?

What I mean by that is, let me go back and look at decisions we've made. people we've hired, and asked myself, did, has mission been king in this? and you can say, in my greatest success as a, in this, whether I had a team or I had an organization, if I look at my successes, did they happen because we were focused on mission?

If I look at some failures, . Did they happen because I was focused on Mission Spoiler? The answer's gonna be no, because typically it's gonna be I did this because of this person. I did this because I didn't wanna make waves. I did this because it was easier. I did this because it was more economical.

I'm just reading a book right now. bill Walsh's book, on leadership, and he made an interesting point when he got there. He said, I had a, um, standards of operation. And he said, that became our mission statement, to do these things well, because I knew that the score would take care of itself.

If we made every decision from the coaches to the players, to the trainers, to the maintenance workers, there was gonna be a standard of excellence throughout the organiz. and the title of the book is The Squirrel Take Care of Itself. And, he even had a, someone go behind his back in his first year to the owner and said he doesn't know what he's doing.

He doesn't even have win the Super Bowl as our mission. And, And Bill Walsh's response was, well, it wasn't, it was to do these things well, and I knew the score would take care of itself. He fired that person, which I took as a clearly that idiot. so the point is just go back and do that inventory and ask yourself, and what you'll find is that when, typically when we make some poor decisions, it's because, we let in other factors besides the mission.

And once you start doing that, or you let people, as you said, you let people make you the. and you have to be really deal. No, I'm not making this decision because it's what I want. It's the decision because this is what's best for the organization. So if you did those two things, take an afternoon to do it.

I think you'd come to some clarity.

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Are they looking at each other? Are they or are they clear, like the organization that, that Tony just spoke at, are they so clear? They're so on point. They're so on, on mission. And that is a, that is a great test and a great tool. And um, We gotta get that right first.

it's principle number two for a reason.

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and if you're wondering, what people would think about your mission and, and if you're also wondering, Hey, what is my company culture?

How would people rate the culture in my organization? We. A really great free gift for you because we created a, free culture assessment it takes what, like 10 minutes to take, you just answer some questions and you get a report back and it's very specific to you. So not only do you get an overall culture score, but you also get a score in each of the six principles so you can actually. Principle number two, mission is king. Where did we fall in that scale? and so you can get that free culture assessment@floydconsulting.com slash culture.

And if you're enjoying our podcast, we would so appreciate it if you would give us a five star rating and write a review. It really does help so other people can find the show. and as always, until next time, lead with culture

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