Workplace Calisthenics: Missions drive employees, businesses to succeed

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Cal LeMon, of Executive Enrichment Inc., solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting.|ret||ret||tab|

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So what did you give them this year? |ret||ret||tab|

You know, your employees. |ret||ret||tab|

Was it a turkey? Movie tickets to "Return of the King"? How about some coupons to Andy's, Barnes and Noble or Zio's? Then again, there is the eternal pocket calendar, company umbrella or, if they "made their numbers," some Harry and David drip-down-your-chin pears!|ret||ret||tab|

Well, it's not too late! I have another gift idea that is guaranteed to make your staff want to come to work and make your profit margin put on weight.|ret||ret||tab|

In 2004 why not give a mission.|ret||ret||tab|

No, I'm not talking about the Alamo or San Juan Capistrano.|ret||ret||tab|

A mission that in-your-face passion that often silently rants around on the first floor of your soul dominating all your in-your-head conversations. |ret||ret||tab|

If you have ever built a company, a family, a congregation, a house or a vegetable garden, you have danced with a mission. You woke early and worked late listening to the wafting tunes of your dreams. The cadence of promise kept your mind and heart spinning to music only you could hear.|ret||ret||tab|

Mission keeps women and men within a heartbeat of eternity as they cruise the bomb-studded roads of Iraq. Mission makes shopping the day after Christmas a contact sport. Mission puts a smile on the face of a registered nurse who actually anticipates going back to a nursing home to serve the dying and those getting in line. Mission keeps really smart people in the classrooms of our public schools even though they constantly hear the siren call of cash in private industry.|ret||ret||tab|

Come on, it really is so much easier to give the Butterball and baseball cap than a mission. A mission will cost you.|ret||ret||tab|

First, a mission will cost you the hard work of answering this question, "What do we offer people around here beside a paycheck?"|ret||ret||tab|

A paycheck is cheap. All you have to do is put some cash in an account, hit the "print button" on your computer, sign on the dotted line and lick the label. |ret||ret||tab|

Giving a credible, intelligent response to the question of "what is the meaning in this job?" is the hard stuff of leadership. |ret||ret||tab|

If it is "just a job," then why do we complain about a work force that watches the clock, doesn't fix things they know are broken and will constantly remind you, "That isn't listed on my job description?"|ret||ret||tab|

When your staff has no mission beyond turning an ignition key at precisely 5:05 p.m., you never get more than the leftovers in his/her life. If someone does not know why he/she is coming to work, other than to be handed a paycheck every other week, your workplace is the location where the least is happening in his/her life.|ret||ret||tab|

Second, establishing a mission will cost you the potential of failure. |ret||ret||tab|

If you never put into words what you want to accomplish through your organization, you will never have to be accountable. Just coming to work is "doing time." It is terminal. |ret||ret||tab|

Setting goals that are driven by dreams is risky business. In the back of our minds we are wondering, "What will happen if we don't make it?"|ret||ret||tab|

So what! The process of mission-making (or responsible dreaming, as I call it) is worth the failure. Think about it isn't it better to have failed trying something than to die trying nothing?|ret||ret||tab|

Finally, this mission thing will cost you control. |ret||ret||tab|

When you start talking about a mission larger than your last name or a bonus check, your staff may begin to work out of their hearts. Be prepared: they will bombard you with new ideas; they will challenge the status quo; they will want to increase the budget; they will dare you to risk; they will start doing parts of your job!|ret||ret||tab|

Turkey lasts as long as the nap on the living room floor and movie tickets are great until the credits roll, but a mission will grow your organization because you have become a leader and not just a manager. |ret||ret||tab|

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