“Wisdom for Wealth. For Life.” Episode 41: How to Prevent Mission Drift

Whether you’re the CEO of a company or the CEO of your home, you have an opportunity to lead with mission and purpose.

Author Becca Spradlin recently spoke with Blue Trust about her newest book, Lead on Mission. In the book, Becca explains how even the strongest faith-driven businesses and enterprises can suffer unintentional neglect and drift away from their original higher purposes and values.

As Becca says, “Without relentless intentionality and forward-looking planning, a leader’s or a company’s testimony will erode. Years or even decades of effort to advance the Kingdom of God in the workplace are undone in a few years or even months. In the process, team members may even turn away from faith as a company’s culture deteriorates. But it does not have to be this way.”

What is ‘Mission Drift?’

Mission Drift, originally defined by Peter Greer, president and CEO of HOPE International, examines the tendency of organizations to lose sight of their original goals. There can be various reasons for mission drift, including poor communication, changes in ownership and leadership, financial hardship, and lack of foresight or planning.

It takes intentionality to resist and overcome the undertow of our modern culture. Mission-true organizations know why they exist and protect their core at all costs. They remain faithful to what they believe God has entrusted them to do. Kingdom-minded leaders also recognize that God thinks generationally and has a purpose in mind that extends beyond the present day.

Principles for Staying on Mission

Thankfully, there are strategies that leaders of all types can put in place that preserve their mission. Becca recommends three core principles:

Define

Everything must start with having a clear mission or defining a higher purpose. Becca says that there’s more to defining your mission than putting a Bible verse on a wall or writing a mission statement. Many aspire to have high integrity or achieve excellence, for example, but those things can mean different things to different people. Leaders within an organization or family must be committed to defining and living out the values that they’ve stated are central to their purpose. There are practical ways to clarify your mission, priorities, values, and culture, including creating core identity statements and defining nonnegotiable issues. It’s also valuable to ask, “What might mission drift look like for us?”

Protect

If you’re a business owner who is thinking about transitioning the company to others, how can you ensure that your higher purpose is passed on? What planning does your company need to conduct to overcome mission drift? From a governance perspective, leaders can conduct a thorough review of their bylaws and governing documents, budgets and finance, recruiting practices, job aids and manuals, and other resources central to the organization.

As business owners consider how to preserve their values and the legacy of their business, it can be helpful to gather with like-minded leaders who can be in prayer and constructively challenge them.

Champion

If the Protect piece can be considered the defensive strategy against mission drift, the Champion part is the offensive strategy. Organizations and families must be forward thinking and constantly cultivating future generations of leadership for 10, 20, and even 50 years out. Beneficial activities include leadership development, succession planning, values alignment, and goal setting. Company culture activities like training and onboarding can help hardwire values into the organization.

Leaders should make recognizing mission achievements and celebrating good work done by those in the organization a priority. Part of communicating and celebrating a company or family’s culture is storytelling. Take the time to record stories for future generations to hear, even if it’s as simple as recording videos or writing legacy achievements down.

If you would like personalized guidance on how to equip your family or business in a way that preserves your legacy, your Blue Trust advisor is here to help. If you do not have a Blue Trust advisor and would like more information, please reach out to blog@bluetrust.com or call 800.841.0362.

CAS00001133-01-25