Recognise This! – Lack of commitment to vision and mission affects engagement at every level, but doesn’t remove individual responsibility for mission achievement.

Do you believe in the strategy of your organisation? Indeed, do you know the strategy of the organisation as espoused by leadership? More importantly, should you even care if your executives don’t?

A recent blog post on Switch & Shift revealed these disturbing statistics:

• 54% of executives “didn’t fully believe in the strategy of their organisation” (Booz & Company)
• 52% of employees don’t believe their senior execs are committed to organisation’s overall vision and mission (Root, Inc., and Kelton Group)

If your executive leadership doesn’t fully believe in the strategy of the organisation, how can they possibly inspire others to care about achieving that strategic mission, too? Think about the stated strategic goals of your organisation. Now think about the senior leader of your group. Does that person make achieving that strategy possible through the daily efforts of your team? If not, it’s important to understand why not. Do they not believe in the strategy itself or do they just do a poor job of communicating the strategy and how each employee can contribute to achieving it?

This is an important distinction. A senior executive who doesn’t believe in the strategy of the organisation needs to be dealt with, but that’s not within the control of those who work for him or her. If the executive simply cannot communicate well how others’ work contributes to achieving the strategy, then there are ways to bridge the gap – primarily through others on the team (at every level) looking for ways to positively reinforce and recognise others when they contribute to achieving the strategic objectives.

Should employees be accountable for achieving the overall vision and mission if their senior leaders are not? As unfair as it may sound, yes. Each individual is employed with the implicit contract of working to achieve the company’s goals. Being fully engaged in contributing to this success does become harder without senior executive buy-in, but it’s certainly possible, especially if peers and colleagues take on the role of encouraging and appreciating others in their efforts to do so.

Does your senior leader believe in the strategic mission of your organisation? Do you?