Boards and executive teams everywhere spend an unbelievable amount of time and energy on developing their company’s mission statement.
This is important work as it helps to focus the organization; however, in my experience, high-level mission statements do little to motivate frontline staff.
In fact, the Gallup organization found that only 20% of U.S. workers feel proud of or engaged by their company’s mission statement.
Most companies promote their mission by posting signs and distributing items like mouse pads and coffee cups. If that doesn’t work, they encourage managers to explain their mission differently so that it finally sinks in. They believe that once those darn employees finally get it, life will be all sunshine & roses and profits will climb.
Sorry to tell you that this is not going to happen.
Why Leaders think big & are future-focused, while workers focus on very intimate, personal, and local issues.
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Focus locally
When I ask workers what matters to them, they say what matters most is their ability to support their families, have good-paying jobs and hope to have a better life for their kids — and do what they can for their community.
When you have invested so much energy into that lofty mission statement, the idea of a local mission may not make sense because a corporate mission is supposed to give employees something big and important to believe in and work for. Still, employees connect to what they do every day, their team, and the community in which they work.
I could list similar examples from around the world. But when I was a leader of a large NGO, we had two mission statements, the official one – World Peace – and the local one – Every person who needs help will get it – and that was the one that inspired passion.
You must understand that the mission that matters most to your workers is the local one. You’ll find that it’s almost always about keeping the doors open and maintaining a healthy community.
My recommendation is to ask your workers what’s important to them:
- What does it take to operate in their location?
- What does the plant mean to the local community?
- What would be lost if it went away?
- Ask your workers to imagine the company closing; what would they do to keep the doors open and deliver on their mission?
Discuss the questions and answers on the shop or office floor, and invite every worker to share their thoughts. Listen carefully to what they say, and craft their local missions.
Read more about how to talk to your people
Then start doing those things — now, before they don’t give a rat’s patootie about anything.