People, Purpose, Mission, & Objectives – How to Connect the Dots & Why It Matters

When I work with organizations on communication and employee engagement, I am surprised at how often employees lack basic understanding of the big picture. Employee engagement and performance go up when leaders provide the context of where and how the individual fits into the big picture vision. Helping employees understand how their work impacts the organization is crucial to increasing the buy-in and commitment that leads to ownership and accountability. The outcome is increased opportunity, revenue, and profitability. There are many ways to show an employee the value they bring to the company, support them in their work, and ensure they have the tools necessary to work at their highest level.

Create a Communication Roadmap

Create a roadmap to use as a big picture communication framework to help employees understand the organizational mission, vision, purpose, values, and goals. This roadmap provides context to help employees connect the dots. Every leader should use this roadmap to communicate to new hires as part of their onboarding what the organization wants to achieve, how it plans to get there, how it will behave, the expected outcomes, and why it's important, along with where and how the individual employee, and the team, fits into the picture. Having these discussions helps employees get clarity and a feeling of being a valued contributor on Day One.

Mission defines what your organization does and how it does it. Vision defines where the company is headed and what it wants to become (future state.) Purpose is the company's "why" - the reason it does what it does. Values are the beliefs and behaviors that identify who the organization is and how it behaves. Leaders should continue to incorporate discussions at regular intervals with their teams to help employees remain focused on the strategic direction and see how they fit into the overall picture, along with the importance of their contribution to human and organizational growth.

Don’t have time to design your own big picture communication roadmap? Download my free eBook “5 Steps to Connect Employees with Purpose & Impact.” You will find all the guidance you need, including a fillable template to help you have crucial big picture conversations with your team.

Incorporate Discussion of Goals to Connect the Dots

Discussing goals at the organizational, team, and individual level helps employees can see the significance of their contributions to the big picture vision. Employees are likely to disengage when they don't see where and how their work fits in. Helping them see the portion that their specific goals represent in the overall achievement of the organizational vision and the impact of their contributions to achieving that vision promotes accountability, along with providing points for celebrating milestones and good work.

Prioritize Employee Development and Success

Supporting employees in achieving their goals is critical to success for them and the organization. No one exists in a vacuum, and employees who feel that their development and success aren't important will quickly disengage and leave. Nothing is more frustrating than to feel that you are a disposable tool rather than a valued contributor.

As mentioned earlier, it's essential to help new hires understand company goals, their role, and where they can go for support when needed. Training is not one-and-done, however. Ongoing training and development for employees AND leaders is critical to build confidence, skills, and knowledge to help people, and the organization, succeed. Linking any training and development efforts back to mission, purpose, values, and goals is absolutely necessary. Developing the leader as coach, who can then provide effective ongoing coaching to their employees is vitally important to successful outcomes for all.

All the above focuses on the role of organizations and leaders to help employees connect the dots between mission, vision, purpose, and values, but what about the employee's role in connecting those dots in a meaningful way? Employees will be more likely to speak up with questions and ideas when leaders are intentional about creating a safe environment for genuine conversation, rather than simply talking AT them. It is important to notice behaviors, emotions, voice tone, and body language in these discussions to gain insight into whether an employee is comfortable with asking questions and speaking up when presented with something they don’t quite understand. As a leader, it is equally important that you are aware of your own behaviors, emotions, tone, and body language. How we show up makes all the difference in the outcome of the conversation.