Olivier Chateau is the cofounder and CEO of Health Union.
Being mission-driven is increasingly essential to a company’s success or survival. Merely possessing an excellent product or service, even one that sounds precisely like what a potential customer desires, is no longer enough in today’s era.
It’s far more important, and sustainable, for companies to base decisions on a desire and commitment to do the right thing for the people they serve. In addition to having a positive impact on employee retention, an Accenture survey finds nearly two-thirds of consumers prefer to buy goods and services from companies that stand for a shared purpose.
While it may be fairly simple to publish a mission statement on a company website, it’s much harder to remain true to that mission. The first (and last) question when making any business decision should be: “Does this adhere to the mission?”
The reality is a number of obstacles can pop up along the way, especially during periods of economic uncertainty. When this happens, it can challenge and tempt companies to shift priorities. The desire to grow provides a bevy of variables—from financial health to client needs to customer expectations—that can, sometimes unwittingly, knock a company off its mission-focused path.
With that in mind, here are three challenges that you as a mission-driven business leader may run into, as well as solutions that can help immunize you from straying off a purposeful path.
1. Addressing Growth And Team Member Expansion
Success leads to growth, expansion and the ability to do more within the guardrails of the mission. With that growth usually comes an increase in new hires with new teams to handle tasks that might have previously been performed by one person or a few people.
An increase in team members means an increase in the number of people making everyday decisions. As a result, it’s important to find ways to ensure every decision—from a financial decision that affects the direction of the company to how individuals communicate with clients—is done with the vision in mind.
Having experienced my company jumping from a few dozen team members seven years ago to more than 250 today, I know how important it is that every individual understands the significance of a mission. As new teams evolve out of their original business needs, ensure they are developed with clear objectives that directly adhered to your mission.
Solutions to this challenge are simple but require consistency. Hiring based on a mindset in line with the mission in addition to necessary technical skills for specific jobs as well as integrating strong mission-focused messaging during onboarding and training are solid first steps.
Leveraging full-staff meetings to communicate how various business decisions relate back to the mission can go a long way in modeling the desired approach.
2. Empowering A Bottom-Up Embrace Of Mission
When a company launches and begins hiring, the mission, culture and values need to come from the top. They need to be modeled and fostered throughout the company.
As a co-founder and the CEO of my company, I know that I am ultimately responsible for maintaining our culture and modeling a dedication to our mission. However, as a company grows, it’s essential that the mission be second-nature and ingrained in every decision, regardless of title or role.
The most impactful solution includes empowering your team leaders to reinforce the mission throughout their decisions and communications and encouraging teams to consider how various goals tie directly to the mission.
3. Balancing Expectations For Long-Term Success And Sustainability
When everything is going as planned, from continued growth to increased investments, it can seem easy to talk a big game about staying mission-focused. Of course, when things begin to get difficult and uncertainty impacts a business, many mission-focused companies can start to stray from the path.
This is where companies may begin to prioritize short-term needs and quick wins over long-term success and sustainability. As a result, they may turn to “shiny new objects” that look or sound exciting but lack substance. Short-term gains can seem meaningful in the moment, but these business decisions can have an immeasurable impact on how clients, the industry and team members perceive the company.
Even if the focus remains on long-term success and sustainability, occasional obstacles can understandably lead to concern or even panic internally and externally. Due to this reality, mission-driven companies need to be mentally prepared for the long haul that comes with commitment and dedication to doing things the right way for all stakeholders while also planning strategically in terms of resources and execution.
Most importantly, companies need to be able to adapt to changes after experiencing obstacles. If your company’s mission is truly meaningful, it will allow you to recalibrate and refocus your energies and decisions in a way that can continue to drive value for clients, team members and other stakeholders.
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