(#2) Symbiotic Governments | Conceptualizing missions for a better tomorrow

I had highlighted at the start of this series of articles that we cannot strategize for the future using systems of the past. Transformation towards a 'symbiotic government' has the potential to drive exponential change and progress. This article aims to help define the essence and starting point of missions-thinking by articulating what makes a true and effective mission.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Missions: The multidimensional player

Missions have been prescribed as instruments for non-linear thinking; capable of epitomizing the vitality needed to transform governments, corporates, even individuals:

Individual-level mission:?Nelson Mandela had a personal mission (based on the African tradition of ubuntu) for making South Africa a non-racial and democratic constitutional country. He dedicated his life striving for it, inspired others to believe in it, and galvanized citizens, organizations and countries to act upon it. His commitment and belief in the mission persevered him to becoming the country's first black head of state, and the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. He helped bring an end to apartheid by tackling institutionalized racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Today, young and old alike, exemplify him as a global advocate for human rights.

*Take away: A true mission permeates through society, its people and its institutions; enabling everyone to visualize what success looks, smells, and feels like. It was hundreds of acts (individual actions to country-level policy changes), from millions of individuals, campaigning from everywhere (on the streets, in the halls of power, even in prisons) for more than 20 years.?

Organization-level mission: MARS Inc. experienced a surge of innovation when mandated to achieve their zero waste-to-landfill mission, across all 126 global locations, by 2015. They faced hurdles when local municipality deemed the task impossible, due to the limited waste management infrastructure. The MARS team wouldn’t take no for an answer, and instead innovated. First, they found an alternative, locally sold, composting system to accelerate decomposition into compost for the surrounding gardens; and then circled their waste away from landfills by internally converting chocolate waste into fertilizer, as well as fuel which was sold to local cement companies to help reduce fuel cost and coal fuel emissions.

*Take away: Missions are rarely a one or two year endeavor, which is what identifies them separately from plans, goals, and strategies; and the solutions are not always available, instead innovation is vital.

Country-level mission:?In 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” This serves as a prime example illustrating how a single mission consumed multiple experts, leaders, agendas and mandates across the government and the country. Nearly all of NASA's efforts in space turned toward the goal of a lunar landing. This triggered human exploration of space to begin, with suborbital flights and programs serving as learning experiences in preparation for the trip. On 20 July 1969, the United States' Apollo 11 was the first crewed mission to land on the Moon, making the US the only country to date to have successfully conducted crewed missions to the Moon.

*Take away: Missions are best designed as a portfolio of solutions - There are no silver bullets for any mission. Instead, they require various players (inclusive of private sector and academia), and thousands of components and building blocks to become a reality.

Not all missions are created equal

The World Economic Forum has built a reputation for being the epicenter of shaping future thinking. Its mission of being "committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas" is all-encompassing. I’ve experienced the potential and convening power of the Forum through the Global Future Councils – the amazing flow of thoughts and high caliber of participants. Nevertheless, the culmination of all this greatness is measured in the ideas being added to the ever-growing list of views and concepts. A paper is sent out into the abyss of information, for the knowledge hungry of the world to absorb. However, it’s difficult to extract actionability and accountability with no specified actors or quantifiable long-term agendas and actions. So how do you keep the inspiration going, and the participants willing beyond networking incentives? ?

*Take away: Linear initiatives, such as councils, platforms, and conferences, are tools limited to redressing the content, instead of attempting to alter and elevate the context.

The UAE has also been pioneering with the development of radical solutions for governments’ most critical challenges. One being the launching of the first ever virtual ministry, Ministry of Possibilities, intended to tackle "impossible challenges” and improve people's quality of life. The model relies on creating time-bound projects across four specific departments, experimenting to disrupt conventional systems. It is not run by a minister, but by the UAE Cabinet, with the vision of re-conceptualizing the government’s model of work. The Ministry can hopefully showcase that governments can run more effectively using innovative modern systems. Yet, missions and innovations, in pockets or silos of government are not as impactful (especially when the core of government remains unchanged or historical).

*Take away: Successful missions require an all-encompassing agenda (beyond a singular solution), not bound by a specific ministry, nor a specific department, and not limited to the expertise of a few consultants and SMEs. It takes everyone carrying different roles, inspired by the need for a change.?

"Most brilliance arises from ordinary people working together in extraordinary ways"

– Roger von Oech

Defining missions to achieve magnitude

A symbiotic government has the potential to transform the hierarchical, siloed structure of independent ministries. Missions-thinking empowers this neural-like system of government by: embedding passion, innovation and outcomes at the center of how we envision and plan for the future; allowing for clear alignment; and enabling an entrepreneurial culture within government.

No matter how large the ask, if not precisely defined, within an inspirational and aspirational scope, it cannot encompass the power which enfolds a mission’s ability to help achieve magnitude. Building on existing criteria for developing missions, I mapped out the below set of guiding principles for identifying missions capable of driving missions-thinking:

1. Single statement of an inspirational and bold purpose based on a detected need
2. Collective ownership
3. Clear direction that is targeted, data-driven, measurable and time bound
4. Portfolio of co-created, knowledge-based solutions
5. Realistic through actionable experimentation and funding for long-term execution
6. Community of followers and supporters?

To better visualize how these principles can be applied, let’s take a look at the UAE Hope Probe Mars Mission:

The role of Mission-Thinkers is invigorating, as they are mandated to detect what the future needs. Yet, to enable a symbiotic government, their role needs to be supplemented with the relevant Mission Clusters; enabled by the necessary CoCreators; and of course the necessary leadership, each of which is further elaborated on in subsequent articles.

Hopefully by designing a system based on clusters of shared-purpose we can progress to a future with better fit-for-purpose governments. Such an agenda takes patience, yet unfortunately the world today has lost this virtue. So, maybe it’s time for governments to step up and take on the role of long-term mission advocates, especially with the systemic challenges our world is already facing as a result of short-termism.