MOST Analysis

Mission Statement

This is the Vistage workshop – our current core product – delivered over the course of 6 hours. Outcome: understanding of where we’re going. Tools: VMG Pre-workshop assessment. Desired Learning Objectives: We understand what Accountability truly is and how it’s practiced. We know the definition of both a Team, and a High-Performance Team. We understand the basic outline of the “F-4 Debrief” methodology. We understand the High-Performance Team Lifecycle. We understand Mission Command and Commander’s Intent.

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Objectives

01. Purpose Driven: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. Finding Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Bigger Picture: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Communicating Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Embed Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Engaged Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Shared Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. Individual Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. Role Clarity: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Goal Accountability: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
11. Purpose Overload: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
12. Purposeful Leadership
: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month

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Strategies

01. Purpose Driven: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02. Finding Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. Bigger Picture: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Communicating Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. Embed Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. Engaged Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Shared Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. Individual Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
09. Role Clarity: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
10. Goal Accountability: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
11. Purpose Overload: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
12. Purposeful Leadership: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.

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Tasks

01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Purpose Driven.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Finding Purpose.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Bigger Picture.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Communicating Purpose.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Embed Purpose.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Engaged Purpose.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Shared Purpose.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Individual Purpose.
09. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Role Clarity.
10. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Goal Accountability.
11. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Purpose Overload.
12. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Purposeful Leadership.

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Introduction

Increasing The Sense Of Purpose In Your Team’s Work

It’s quite challenging to give other people a purpose. To spread purpose, more is required than inspirational speeches, high writings, or mission statements. In reality, if exaggerated or honest, those strategies may backfire and result in skeptical responses. Although purpose is a lofty concept, in…

Nobody wants to work a 9 to 5 job like a robot. People want motivation, significance, and awareness of the effects of their labor on others. And when they do, they work harder, smarter, and more effectively. That is neither a secret nor a discovery. It makes sense.

Giving individuals a feeling of purpose may be a great tool for leaders. Why then do so many leaders struggle to motivate their workforces?

The short answer is that it’s really challenging to inspire others with purpose. To spread purpose, more is required than inspirational speeches, high writings, or mission statements. In reality, if exaggerated or honest, those strategies may backfire and result in skeptical responses.

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The Importance of Purpose

Whatever you do, there is a purpose for why you are employed. You’ve discovered the cause for your job when you are aware of it and completely comprehend how your actions improve the lives of others.

According to Dave and Wendy Ulrich’s 2010 book “The Why of Work,” there are numerous benefits to assisting others in finding meaning in their work.

People who comprehend the bigger picture of their work are generally happier, more engaged, and more creative. Additionally, from an organizational standpoint, staff turnover is reduced and productivity is increased when workers can see how their jobs connect with the objectives of the business. People put in more effort, show initiative, and choose their tasks carefully. As a result, the business can run more effectively. Everyone experiences the benefits, from the CEO to the clients.

Make It Personal

First and foremost, purpose must be personal and felt because it is supposed to evoke an emotional response. You cannot solely discuss intent.

Imagine that you are in charge of a college’s fundraising campaign to support the funding of scholarships for disadvantaged children. How do you plan to inspire your volunteers? According to a research by Adam Grant, no one’s performance would likely be improved if someone spoke in front of the group on the significance of their work. But it would be far more powerful if you asked a recent scholarship winner to talk about their own experience. In Grant’s study, volunteers actually raised about 400% more money than the norm after hearing from a scholarship recipient.

One of the top executives from F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, one of the biggest pharmaceutical firms in the world, brightened up when he heard about the fundraising study and said, “This just happened to us!”

She described the processes used by her team in the medical devices sector. People in the corporation who believed that chemistry was “more sexy” than engineering occasionally looked down on her group. The spirit of the team was quite poor, and many members of the division were not entirely committed. One day, the team’s leader set up a customer to share her life story with the group.

This client had diabetes, so she had to check her blood every day to make sure she was taking the proper amount of insulin. Unfortunately, this unfortunate woman miscalculated the amount of blood that was required and was pricking her finger more frequently than was necessary to obtain the blood. She was making a mess of her fingertips and it ached so much that she dreaded doing it every day. Before moving on to the next finger, she would work her way down one finger from the tip to the knuckle, causing it to become completely inflamed and occasionally infected. She claimed that the injury progressed to the point where she would sit on her hand to conceal it from others. She stopped going to fancy restaurants because she felt so ashamed.

The diabetic then explained to the group how creating a small finger-pricking gadget had made her life better. It is clicked after being placed on the tip of your finger. It barely draws any blood, causes any discomfort, and leaves hardly any scarring. She explained how this gadget had allowed her hands to recover and allowed her to go out to supper without feeling self-conscious. She said, “You people changed my life,” to the group.

The Roche team leader informed us that this patient testimonial had a significant impact on the medical device team. She reported that the meeting was really emotional. People had a greater sense of purpose for months.

It makes no difference what profession you are in. People will feel a sense of purpose if they can connect the dots between their contributions and the success of their team, comprehend the significance of a client receiving their product on time, or personally appreciate how important their work is to others.

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Make It Genuine

But consider this: You must genuinely believe what you say and do. This is the deciding factor. Employees will regard your strategies as manipulative rather than inspirational if your attempts to create purpose are inconsistent with your other leadership practices.

For instance, as soon as the Roche woman finished sharing her motivational tale, a man on the opposite side of the room raised his hand and remarked, “Yeah, they tried that garbage on us too.”

He said, “I have this boss who has never talked about anything but quarterly profits and hitting shipping targets,” He must have heard you speak about this study at London Business School because one day he brings a patient into our monthly meeting and forces her to tell us how the medications saved her life. You know, attempting to play on our feelings in order to get us to work harder? Using a patient to our advantage!? That is quite low.

This conversation can teach us so much.

Your message will fail if you’re a leader trying to persuade people of your aim but your prior actions haven’t been in line with it. Humans are machines for detecting honesty; we are drawn to it and disgusted by deceit and lying.

So be careful. Go for it if you find genuine inspiration in hearing what customers have to say and truly believe what you’re expressing. In contrast, if you’re not, you could come across as more manipulative than inspiring.

Make It Permanent

You can’t just do purpose once, even if you make it true and personal. You should establish it as a routine instead.

Microsoft’s general manager for Austria, Dr. Dorothee Ritz, urges her staff to visit clients’ locations and learn about their difficulties firsthand. One small team spent a week working with police officers on the street to determine when and how remote data could be useful. In order to examine and comprehend what it would actually entail to assist a hospital in going paperless, another team spent two days there.

Ritz claimed that these immersion experiences helped people learn new things. She claimed that they returned enlightened, and that it was obvious to her that the employees’ individual experiences improved their sense of purpose since they were able to see the significance of their work. Ritz saw how after seeing the needs of the clients firsthand, staff sprang into their projects with additional vigor and excitement.

After tinkering with this idea for a year, Ritz finally implemented something more secure. She chose a group of important clients (whom she refers to as partners) from a variety of sectors, including hospitals, retailers, and the car industry. Then, a team of 15 Microsoft employees, including senior leaders and associates, visit each organization and interview numerous individuals at various levels to find out what their difficulties are. Of course, they spoke with IT professionals, but they also spoke with business decision-makers from other functions.

Ritz gave me an example of how Microsoft personnel at various levels were able to practice conversations with Tesla that began with Tesla’s needs as opposed to Microsoft’s goods. They concentrated on the process flaws that Tesla needed to fix. A Microsoft employee who was highly familiar with the Xbox asked some really sensible questions concerning problems with the system at a large retailer. Instead of high-level executive jargon, this resulted in a meaningful, practical discussion that helped steer the entire debate toward workable alternatives that the team could return to and work on. These Microsoft teams left with a few new contacts in their network. What’s more, according to Ritz, is that these teams were able to comprehend the goals of the projects by direct observation of the scenario and hearing about the problems facing the companies.

Ritz made significant investments in client experiences that gave employees the chance to personally experience the effects of their work, allowing them to develop strong emotional ties to the client and their work while also allowing Microsoft to experiment and grow as an organization.

For leaders who wish to motivate individuals to provide their best effort at work, purpose can be a potent motivator. But most business executives concur that their staff does not “understand” the objective of their companies. This is so because the objective is intimate and sentimental. Transactional leaders who give speeches about grandiose societal ideals rather than assisting in putting staff members in direct contact with the clients they serve frequently manage it badly. When leaders begin with a personal, genuine, and ongoing approach, purpose can do wonders for employee contributions.

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How to Help Your Team Find Purpose in 5 Easy Steps

It could be simple to assist people in discovering the deeper purpose in their work if you work for a nonprofit or other type of service organization. However, what if you work for a bank, contact center, or software firm?

It is crucial to understand that every work serves someone else because it wouldn’t exist if it