The Why, The What, and The How!

We’ve looked at several things that anyone interested in moving their mission statement from the wall of their front lobby to the actions of their team can take action on. Now let’s remove any remaining confusion there may be between the mission and the vision.

Before digging into this, let me clarify something: I couldn't care any less as to whether we use the right term as long as we’re DOING the right things! I’ve seen organizations waste far more time differentiating which statement is which than their executive team ever invested into living an example for their team members to follow. I suppose they thought that as long as both looked good in a frame, they wouldn’t actually have to change anything they did. I believe we’ve covered that in enough detail so far that we’d be beating the proverbial dead horse to hash it out again…

If we want to truly lead our teams in building a culture that EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS in every aspect of what we do, we need to do more than come up with catchy statements; we need to be able to create a picture for our entire team to see in their minds AND live an example we’d be proud for each of them to follow. These aren’t NICE to have, they’re MUST haves! Without doing that, are we really leading?

In The Law of the Picture, John Maxwell shares this:

“Great leaders always seem to embody two seemingly disparate qualities. They are both highly visionary and highly practical. Their vision enables them to see beyond the immediate. They can envision what’s coming and what must be done. Leaders possess an understanding of how:

• Mission provides purpose - answering the question, WHY?
• Vision provides a picture - answering the question, WHAT?
• Strategy provides a plan - answering the question, HOW?”

I tend to like the piece about being “highly practical” the most… That said, how much impact can we have on the direction our team takes by providing clarity in answering their WHY, WHAT, and HOW questions? When we’re able to answer those questions through our words and our deeds, I doubt there will be much scrutiny around what we’re calling the statement or the kind of frame it’s hanging in!