An Elite Mission Part 1
People are not elite performers because they work on honing their skills; they work on honing their skills because as elite performers they seek opportunities that demand more skill, more challenge, more risk and bigger rewards - opportunities that match their ambition. Their 'let me show you what I can do' attitude is what sets them apart. Now if you thought I was referring only to people at more senior and more 'responsible' organisational levels you will be forgiven; it illustrates precisely the problem I am addressing. Convention dictates that only leaders are expected to display the very highest performing characteristics. Why?
A simplistic answer is that many businesses have such low performance expectations from the ranks of their 'ordinary' staff that nothing 'extraordinary' is ever likely to come from them, even though they have the extraordinary responsibility of having the greatest influence on customer-spend. Senior executives often overlook this truth and that 'ordinary', non-competitive and non-distinguishing performance is what keeps efficiencies low, customer-spend low and profits low.
An Elite Mission
An elite mission is a response to an elite goal. An ordinary goal does not inspire or require an elite mission; and because only ordinary results are expected, only ordinary results are produced.
An elite goal is usually rejected at first by the mind - it's just too close to impossible and way outside current experience to be easily embraced. However, when the deepest part of the human spirit get stirred by the merged fear, excitement, pleasure and purpose it causes, an elite goal gets drawn it into the realm of possibility. There is hardly a human heart that will not respond to an invitation be part of a team pursuing an elite opportunity for a noble cause, and where each member's unique value will be decisive in determining its success and where each person shares in its achievement and reward. Humankind is created this way and will almost always respond to leaders who have the courage to break the mould and take the risk of setting elite goals.
An elite mission is the ultimate test of a person's highest skill, closest relationships, total commitment and dogged perseverance; defined by the Laws of Engagement and a purpose that unifies the team and keeps them motivated and focused even under the greatest difficulties.
Purpose is everything
What kind of purpose can elicit this kind of response? Only the noblest purposes that will serve our customers', our business and our peoples' highest interests can attract this kind of response. Profitability is a vital part of the mix but when it becomes the sole purpose in a business it becomes an ignoble purpose that undermines the very energy and creativity that produces it.
Purpose engages...achievement fulfils...reward sustains. The higher our entrepreneurial, spiritual and moral purpose the more elite our goals and business missions become and the more we are able to attract elite performance in people. This results in correspondingly high levels of profitability - more than enough to be used as a supporting resource for sustainable growth and to reward investors and all those who stretched themselves to produce it. Could it be that the biggest decision a leader might ever face is the choice of ordinary or extraordinary.
