{"id":860,"date":"2021-12-09T08:45:12","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T21:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-nsw-act\/?post_type=article&p=860"},"modified":"2021-12-09T08:45:12","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T21:45:12","slug":"thought-leadership","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-nsw-act\/article\/thought-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Thought Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Genevieve Michaels<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|<\/span>\u00a0Published on\u00a0September 02, 2021<\/span>\u00a0|<\/span>\u00a07 min read<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If the last couple years have proven anything, it\u2019s that the world around us is changing faster than ever before. There\u2019s so many parts of our daily lives, from iPhones to climate change to the phrase \u201cdigital natives,\u201d that our great-grandparents would be confused (and maybe even frightened) by.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The future is now. But many businesses are still being run like it\u2019s the 1950s, when really, we\u2019re way out of the industrial age. This is the digital economy, baby, and businesses need to be as fast and flexible as a cyborg yoga teacher if they want to keep up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One way to make sure your team stays ahead of the game is to be mission-driven. This is an autonomous, data-driven, and multidisciplinary style of working that explodes everything you thought you knew about business management. Mission-driven teams are\u00a0agile<\/a>, results-focused, and give team members the power to rely on their own expertise. Not only is this a super-efficient way of working, it\u2019s good for us as employees, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

People working in mission-driven environments tend to be more engaged and dedicated\u2014in fact, they\u2019re\u00a054% more likely\u00a0<\/a>to spend five years of their life working for such a company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But what exactly\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>mission-driven teams, and how can we assemble and lead them? Buckle up\u2014let\u2019s explore a method of team collaboration that\u2019s a little more\u00a0Blade Runner<\/em>, and a little less\u00a0Buddy Holly.<\/em><\/p>\n

No More Silos<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Traditional business structure separates teams into\u00a0different departments<\/a>, where they follow predetermined processes to generate defined outputs, like \u201csell $100,000 worth of product this quarter,\u201d or \u201cresolve 35,000 customer complaints.\u201d In this structure, decision-making flows downward, and all actions must come from or be approved by upper management.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But today\u2019s business world is in a state of constant change and ever-increasing complexity, and to compete, companies need to be nimble and agile. These older models don\u2019t work anymore \u2014 it\u2019s simply not fast enough to have every single decision approved by upper management, or to communicate across many disconnected teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyone who\u2019s ever worked on a\u00a0cross-departmental<\/a>\u00a0company initiative might understand the need for a new approach \u2014 trying to collaborate across different business functions can be slow, inefficient, and frustrating. It\u2019s simply not an agile enough approach to keep up in today\u2019s new business world.<\/p>\n

A New Approach<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On\u00a0mission-driven teams<\/a>, people are organized around, well, their mission\u2014a desired outcome that they\u2019re all working towards, rather than around specific business functions, like\u00a0marketing<\/a>\u00a0or sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This might not sound that different from a normal team structure \u2014 after all, work is collaborative, and we\u2019re nearly always chasing some kind of goal. But missions involve professionals working in many different disciplines, and they\u2019re more big-picture and strategic. Missions are both broader and more targeted than the business goals you might be used to working towards.<\/p>\n

Confused? That\u2019s okay. Let\u2019s put it into practice with a concrete example.<\/p>\n

Mission-Driven Teams In Practice<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s say you worked at a company who sold invoicing software for small businesses, and you decided to move towards a mission-driven team structure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before, you likely would have had a\u00a0marketing team<\/em>, with content writers and strategists, social media managers, or graphic designers, overseen by a Director of Marketing and Communications.<\/p>\n

But in a mission-driven model, your teams would have many different kinds of professionals, working towards a single mission. For example, you might choose a mission like\u00a0\u201cmake getting paid easier for our customers.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Then, you\u2019d assemble a team around it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There likely would be marketers on this team, creating campaigns and content to educate people on how your product can make their jobs easier. But there could also be developers focused on improving the product itself, scientists analyzing user data to understand what customers need to make their jobs easier, and customer experience specialists working to respond to those needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s A Journey (And A Destination)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The mission-driven team philosophy is that it\u2019s the mission that matters, not how you get there. Whatever the team uncovers as the best course of action, using their expertise and all the available data, is the right path\u2014even if it\u2019s not what those in\u00a0leadership<\/a>\u00a0were expecting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To continue the above example, maybe the team looking to make it easier for their customers to get paid sets up a text messaging service so they can easily and instantly respond to their customers\u2019 product issues. That might come as a surprise if management was expecting them to focus on product development or blog writing, but in this working style, they\u2019d trust their team\u2019s expertise (as long as they had the data to back it up).\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Working Revolution<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A mission-based way of working is all about rejecting<\/a>\u00a0hierarchy and rigidity. Instead, companies who will thrive in the future must value resilience, encourage innovation and disruptive thinking, and willingly embrace risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To illustrate this idea, author Joi Ito described the founding of Youtube in\u00a0his book<\/a>\u00a0\u201cWhiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Surprisingly,\u00a0YouTube started out\u00a0<\/a>as a video-dating platform,\u201cTune In Hook Up.\u201d Unsurprisingly, that idea flopped. But in the process, its founders realized that there was massive demand for an easy way to share videos online. They quickly pivoted to the\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0we know today, and the rest is history\u2014they sold the company to Google for nearly $2 billion just a year later!\u00a0<\/p>\n

These are big, ambitious goals, but let\u2019s be real for a second. As exciting as this way of working sounds, it\u2019s a radical shift, and a huge adjustment. In practice, what does it actually mean to build and lead mission-driven teams?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who Makes A Mission-Driven Team?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mission-driven teams are\u00a0multidisciplinary<\/a>. These teams bring together many different kinds of professionals, who use their varying expertise to work towards a common goal. That\u2019s probably their defining feature, and what sets them apart from the function-specific teams you might be used to.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mission-driven teams are also collaborative, and powered by open access to information. Gone are the days when workers had access only to what management felt they needed to know to do their job. Everyone on a mission-driven team has full access to all available information about their mission. In his book\u00a0\u2018Team of Teams,\u2019\u00a0<\/a>Stanley McChrystal described this as\u00a0\u2018shared consciousness<\/a>,\u2019 and it\u2019s what lets these teams act so quickly, decisively, and responsively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mission-driven teams are also flexible\u2014the only true constant is the mission itself. As the strategy for reaching their mission evolves, the exact makeup of professionals on the team\u00a0might change, too.<\/a>\u00a0They might even switch out their leader if that\u2019s what\u2019s right for the project!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Professionals themselves\u00a0will need to be flexible<\/a>, too. They\u2019ll work towards many different missions during their time at a company, and they need to be equally ready to tackle all of them, large or small.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How To Lead A Mission-Driven Team\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Leadership plays a very different role in a mission-based management style. The ethos behind mission-based teams recognizes that managers don\u2019t necessarily have all the answers. Instead, they\u2019re there to lead everybody in working collaboratively towards a goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a mission-based team environment, managers are more like\u00a0\u201cmission owners.\u201d<\/a>
\nTransparency is key\u2014mission-driven managers understand that they don\u2019t always have the skills or experience to know the best course of action. Instead, their role is to facilitate collaboration and trust their team.<\/p>\n

Mission-driven teams both\u00a0ask and answer their own questions<\/a>, and the leader\u2019s role is to keep things flowing smoothly and everyone working in sync, not act as the arbiter of every single decision. Everyone is empowered to act in the mission\u2019s best interest, based on the data and their expertise. Instead of going to their manager for approval, they\u2019ll just act,\u00a0then report on<\/a>\u00a0the steps that were taken.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New Kinds Of Leadership<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But mission managers aren\u2019t the only kind of leaders. Leadership can also happen across multiple mission-driven teams,\u00a0by profession<\/a>! For example, all the software developers at a company, no matter what mission they\u2019re working on, would be in touch as their own community. This helps everyone grow professionally, since the community is exposed to many different kinds of challenges, and they can support each other and offer fresh perspectives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Obviously, this is a huge change from what we usually think of as \u201cmanagement.\u201d That\u2019s exactly what makes this way of working so powerful\u2014but it does involve managers giving up a lot of the traditional authority they might be used to wielding, so they need to be ready to adapt!\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Future We Want<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This way of working isn\u2019t just about efficiency, agility, and profits (though it is about those things, too). People are also happier when they\u00a0feel connected t<\/a>o the purpose of their work \u2014 and really, perhaps that makes sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If people feel trusted, and empowered, they\u2019ll feel a stronger sense of ownership of their work. Cooperation,\u00a0collaboration<\/a>, and open access to information are equalizing\u2014it\u2019s about working together as a team, not being just another underling.<\/p>\n

Maybe the business world of tomorrow will be less rigid and hierarchical, and more creative, innovative, and collaborative. For all the uncertainty of 2020 (and 2021), we think that sounds like a pretty positive vision of the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Genevieve Michaels\u00a0|\u00a0Published on\u00a0September 02, 2021\u00a0|\u00a07 min read If the last couple years have proven anything, it\u2019s that the world around us is changing faster than ever before. There\u2019s so many parts of our daily lives, from iPhones to climate change to the phrase \u201cdigital natives,\u201d that our great-grandparents would be confused (and maybe even frightened) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-860","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-nsw-act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-nsw-act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-nsw-act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-nsw-act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-nsw-act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/educateplus-nsw-act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}