We encounter many organizations, brands and teams that have a purpose or a mission have. And then get bogged down with sighs like, "we explained it well, but people don't put it into practice," it doesn't get off the paper," "people quickly lapse into old routines," or "how are we going to bring everyone along?
Having a mission and being on a mission
In our experience, the punch line is not in having a mission, but in the life and work from a mission. In the English language: the difference between 'having a mission' and 'being on a mission'.
So this is about feeling the energy and inspiration and acting on it. Not just when there is time to spare or when you are "on the project team," but working every day, in your work, on the realization of the mission; and that by everyone in the organization. Anyone can come up with a mission, but it won't do you any good. It's only of any use if people, based on a mission or ambition move with purpose, act on it and keep it up.
So that is what our profession is about: ensuring that a mission - a desire - is created that is lived out and sets organizations and teams in motion. Again, that sounds just a bit nicer in English, as in the subtitle of our book OXYGEN (the English translation of SOURCE): How organizations get into motion.
The engine of behavior
The driver of behavior is not reason (persuasive arguments). Nor do people get moving from plans, KPIs and deadlines. You may need those, but they are not the best motivators of behavior change. What motivates people to get moving is through feelings, not reason. The old belief that this goes through "Analysis-Think-Change" is outdated and has been replaced by "See-Feel-Change. In the former, the idea that people get moving is from a rational belief. But people only start connecting and engaging when they live through and feel something.
Neuroscience and psychology, meanwhile, have clearly demonstrated that this is how our brain and psyché work. Good to know is that our ratio (prefrontal cortex) has a processing capacity of 60 bits per second. The rest of our brain (reptilian and mammalian brain), our emotional brain, has a processing capacity of 11,200,000 bits per second.
And let it also be that not only our brain contains neurons (brain cells), but our heart and abdominal organs also contain millions of neurons. So three brains that intensively perceive and cooperate with each other.
The way from understanding to understanding is feeling
Jempi Moens
Getting started with real manpower
These kinds of insights lie - for 23 years - at the heart of how we work on complex strategy or change challenges. The highlight is not in efficiently devising and writing down a new mission, ambition or roadmap. Some of the things that do work and get organizations moving:
- The in a collaborative, creative process allow to emerge of a vision for the future, a way forward, a mission or purpose: by zooming out, stepping out of one's own bubble, looking for inspiration and new building blocks with an open mindset
- Being with each other build Of something that is solid, energizing and inspiring and that people can identify with, connect to and contribute to
- Being able to relate to it connect because it lived through can be made and thus a personal meaning is given to it: what does this perspective mean for me personally and in my work ... how can I contribute to it?
Want to read more about this? Then order the book ZUURSTOF by Jempi Moens.
Hilversum, December 17, 2024
By Jempi Moens
