Strong teams, ministries, and organizations are filled with a clear sense of mission. You won’t have a strong culture without a strong sense of mission. A healthy culture is cultivated, in part, by a clear sense of “here is what we are going to do together.” Jim Collins wrote that when an “organization has a strong vision, a sense of why they are here, a visitor could drop in from another planet and understand the vision without having to read it on paper.”
It is insufficient to declare mission once. Clarifying and communicating mission is not a once-and-for-all event but a continual discipline. Leaders must constantly repeat the significant things, must constantly remind people what is important. Here are five reasons leaders must constantly clarify and communicate the mission.
1. Unity
Without clarity of mission, multiple directions will emerge. When leadership is not given, the void is often filled with a plethora of competing directions. When people are not united around a shared sense of mission, disunity is likely to fester. When a grand mission does not capture the hearts of the team, people are much more likely to argue about less important things.
2. Assimilation
If leaders are not continually communicating mission, people are being invited to join the organization or ministry without understanding what they are joining. When there is clarity of mission, people know what they are signing up for.
3. Confidence
A team is filled with confidence when they know the mission and the goal. Marcus Buckingham stated, “Clarity is the antidote to anxiety. If you do nothing else as a leader, be clear.” When a leader is insecure, unclear, and filled with anxiety, the team will be adversely impacted.
4. Morale
Being on a team without a mission is devastatingly deflating and boring. Being with a group of people with a shared sense of mission is invigorating.
5. Resource Allocation
Mission, when it is really embraced, always drives strategy. And strategy is really about resource allocation. There is always a limited amount of resources, and what resources are leveraged for reveals what is truly important. A team with a strong sense of mission leverages resources toward their mission. Without continually clarifying mission, resources can be slowly moved toward too many objectives.
