Building Personal Missions in Business
Performance reviews are changing and will eventually be obsolete. The long, tedious process most organizations endure for the purposes of documenting performance, providing formal feedback, establishing compensation and rating people will continue to evolve with more contemporary methods & processes. The traditional performance review creates more administration, distraction, side shows/stories, and “justification” conversations rather than open, collaborative development planning discussions that flow more naturally between “people” (vs managers & their direct reports).
An important outcome of a review process is around building and defining personal missions in business because the ultimate driver of performance is passion. So, what is your team’s passion at the individual level? Is it around helping/supporting others (service) or process (ease of business) or partnerships (business development) or branding (recognition) or some other attribute that aligns well with the overall organizational vision & mission?
Their personal mission needs to align with their passion or talent. There are 4 components to building a personal mission:
1) Define who you are, what is important to you, and your overall passion as it relates to your business world. We all have personal passions such as sports, travel, recreation, philanthropy, etc. But there is a passion for what you do at work – what is it? What drives you? What makes you proud? Whose happiness makes you happy in return?
2) Define your personal mission. If you were the owner of the organization and continued in your current role, what would be a difference-maker? What would you change? What is important to you and your ecosystem?
3) Align the mission with your objectives and team/organization goals. This is the toughest part because alignment may not come easy. Having said this, your personal mission can comprise a component of your overall objectives – so alignment can be achieved through balance.
4) Create a short, impactful mission statement that will guide you the rest of the year & beyond.
Building a personal mission creates a new lens for how to view your role and can re-energize how you deliver value to the organization. It can also get you started on the path to creating brand YOU – a worthwhile investment!
For more articles visit www.joegraci.com