One Good Reason at a Time: Purpose, Focus and Mission Drift

One Good Reason at a Time

We didn’t lack vision. We lacked focus.

Some years ago, I was part of the leadership of an organisation where the vision and mission kept expanding, to the exhaustion of everyone in the room, myself included.

None of it was bad. Some of it was legacy. Some of it was someone’s passion. We were a motivated and committed team. Everyone added something. But nothing was taken away.

Eventually, we had to cut back. It wasn’t easy. We formed a team to guard the vision and purpose, and every decision had to answer one question: does this serve our mission?

Years earlier, I had seen the same pattern in a different setting. I was working for a large charity in the UK and was part of the team leading a strategic review. One area of our work had been growing quickly. On paper it looked like strategy. In reality, it was a series of responses. Tragically, there had been one natural disaster after another, and each was a good reason to act.

None of those responses was wrong. Compassion needs to find expression, and we were providing a channel for it, enabling people with means to serve and support those in need.

Little by little, though, we had drifted from our distinctive work: long-term community development, rooted in local churches.

No one decided to drift. It simply happened, one good reason at a time.

What struck me most from the review was that our purpose was widely held. People could tell you what we were for. But it wasn’t written anywhere. And with nothing named, nothing had to give way.

We capped that growth. This time, it was a decision rather than a response, protecting the long-term work that made us distinct.

I’ve thought since about how similar these two experiences were. In one place, no one was guarding the purpose. In the other, it wasn’t written down. Either way, it was assumed rather than held.

At this time of year, many leadership teams are shaping plans for the year ahead. The lists tend to grow.

Perhaps the problem is rarely too many good ideas. It’s that no one is holding the answer to what we’re for.

Paul

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If something here is live for you or your team, I’d be glad to talk it through.

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