Loving your job is one thing and driving towards its mission is another thing, however, regardless of how much you’re passionate about your job, without knowing the company’s mission, is like moving without direction and this will only keep the company static without moving forward.
The mission statement explains the company’s existence, it describes the organisation’s purpose and its overall objective. The mission statement also contributes to the vision and distributes to communicate the motive and direction to employees, customers, and other stakeholders.
Aimable Nkuranga, a Financial Fitness Coach explains that employees are an essential element of an organisation. It’s through them that a company can make its mission and vision a reality. In fact, one of the key success elements in tough times like this of the Covid-19 pandemic, is whether each employee is able to see how their work connects to something bigger.
It’s imperative to reassess your company by conducting performance reviews.
He says that if an employee is only seeing their day to day tasks and is not able to see clearly how they’re contributing to some bigger purpose, then they’re less likely to be resilient. Having a mission or purpose you can connect your work to, makes your work meaningful and it motivates you to put in more effort that impact productivity and quality of work.
To achieve this, organisations need to have a mission or purpose that anyone can remember. It must be simple and meaningful so that anybody in the organisation can aspire to it and can connect what they do to that purpose. It can be one sentence or two that all employees are able to link with their jobs, he adds.
Nkuranga explains that after that, the task of a manager is to have a conversation with each employee and see if they understand how their job connects to that bigger purpose. For many companies, their purpose is to make a lot of money, but the mission should be something altruistic and meaningful so that the employees feel that they are adding value to the society. Money alone is not enough to push someone to put in extra effort, especially in tough times.
"While mission statement is simple, it is usually supported by the vision, which is a future state to which the entire organisation is aspiring, a set of beliefs and values and detailed goals, the achievement of which would lead to that vision, as well as the fulfillment of the mission,” the Financial Fitness Coach states.
Nkuranga is of the view that employers and managers need to understand that employees require to take ownership of the goals that lead to the mission fulfillment. Without that ownership, there’s little motivation to achieve them. The principle to remember here is that "People work harder for that which they create”. Employees need to be involved in creating their own goals. If they are not involved, any failure will be attributed to the one who brought the idea, and employees will be less concerned.
He points out that managers can involve employees through brainstorming sessions, and if anyone brings up a brilliant idea, managers need to appreciate it. In those brainstorming sessions, managers can base on what employees are saying and put in some of their own ideas and let everyone have a say on it. The result will be that whatever you take as goals from those brainstorming sessions, everyone will own them, and they will be motivated to implement them.
Career experts say that external factors can greatly impact your business, which is why it’s imperative to reassess your company by conducting performance reviews. Reviews can help you determine whether employees are still working towards your company’s mission and vision but also understand their roles in achieving your short and long-term goals. By conducting these reviews, you’re not only evaluating your employees and your business strategies, but you’re also demonstrating a sense of unity and accountability.