18
Mission Impossible

You can think of missions as ‘projects with imperative'.

In agile methodology, one might call missions sprints. In other contexts, one might call them (finite) games. Whatever you call them, a few key factors make missions most effective: they need to be compelling, focused and finite.

MISSIONS SERVE A MUST

All missions exist within a meaningful context — a greater imperative that provides a compelling sense of urgency. Missions aren't simply ‘nice to haves' and nor are they ‘should haves' — they are ‘must haves'.

A sense of purpose is a very powerful element of intrinsic motivation. Within a well-defined mission, almost no questioning occurs around how important it is. This may seem to go against the main philosophy of this book, but when it's time to declare a mission, there is no question — this is what we must do.

At its extreme, we see this spirit manifest during times of crisis. Some of my clients are brilliant in such times — they rally together with a shared sense of purpose and focus, taking on insurmountable challenges because, well, they have no other option.^[1] It's just what you gotta do.

At times like these, people put in extraordinary levels of discretionary effort, because they know their work matters.

While reaching the same levels of commitment generated in a crisis during non-crisis times may be hard, any effort to impart the imperative of important projects will serve to enhance intrinsic motivation. The more people can see that their effort is contributing to something bigger than themselves — something meaningful — the more motivated they will be to contribute.

MISSIONS ARE FOCUSED

When someone is on a mission, they are set to achieve only one thing — their mission objectives. There's no messing around.

Again, this may seem in direct contrast to the main thesis of this book — and it is. Here, we are talking about a narrowing of focus, and a striving towards a very specific objective in the short to mid term. This is totally the opposite of leading a quest.

But sometimes we need periods of hyperfocus — that is, productivity blitzes to smash through important work. The framing of a mission, and the focus it brings, is particularly useful if the work is formulaic. If you have a precedent to follow, all the better. The mission-critical path can be mapped out and executed with excellence.

The infinite game of enduring relevance will consist of many such missions — finite games strung together with purpose.^[2]

MISSIONS ARE FINITE

All missions have a clear start point, time frame and deliverable. Essentially, they are time-bracketed.

A good mission will start with a detailed briefing — something that instils the imperative and importance of the mission (context) while outlining any relevant parameters/constraints. The objectives will be clear and crisp. No doubt^[3] will exist as to what needs to be achieved.

Missions need to have end points. They are a defined sprint — not an infinite marathon. End points also allow us to use Parkinson's Law to our advantage — the notion that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. By setting tight, focused missions (or sprints), we can potentially catalyse meaningful progress and growth.

If we don't have an end point, we risk forgetting what our context is — what the meaning of our work is, and the bigger purpose we serve. Without end points, we fixate upon the what, and forget the why.

A FEW CAVEATS

So: urgent, focused and finite missions. What could possibligh go wrong?^[4]

I've made this point previously in The Game Changer, and better researchers than myself have compiled several reasons specific goals can be dangerous. To paraphrase the Harvard Business School paper ‘Goals Gone Wild: The systematic side effects of over-prescribing goal setting', we need to be very careful with goals. Rather than consider them as harmless ‘over-the-counter' treatments for motivation, we need to instead imagine goals as ‘prescription-strength medication that requires careful dosing, consideration of harmful side effects, and close supervision.'

If you're going to use specific goals, at least be considered about it. At a self-assigned individual level over a short period of time, you probably have little to worry about. You can self-regulate. Likewise, if you're working in agile sprints with a small team, you'll have in-built rituals and moments to review the relevance of your mission.

But if you assign a new team a goal, you need to be very careful about how you frame it.^[5] This is particularly important with a new team demonstrating a new mode of working.

Ideally, we ought to treat goals with the same reverence as we would a mission — only using them if they're really important.

So, know when to declare a mission, and then keep it short, sharp and focused.

The best examples of these usually take the form of ‘hackathons' — short but incredibly intense periods of focused work designed to solve a problem and/or develop an innovation. The imperative, focus and time frames^[6] for such missions are clear. All barriers to collaboration are removed, and diversity is optimised.^[7] Where people would normally be in different office locations, for a hackathon they're all in the same location.^[8]

This intense focus can bring about great innovations. For example, Facebook's ‘Like' button — what is now one of its most recognisable features and brand assets — was conceived as part of a hackathon.

Australian enterprise software developer Atlassian runs similar events called ‘ShipIt' days.^[9] Every quarter, teams have twenty-four hours to gather and work on whatever inspires them most — from destroying ‘arch nemesis bugs' to projects that improve the workspace. In this instance, the time parameters and the imperative are there — and the focus of the mission emerges.

Now, you may think, Oh, that's fine for them — they are mostly software companies. We are a bit more traditional. To which I say, really? Screw that! That doesn't sound pioneering. And besides, if you look at what's happening today, companies are either choosing to act more like a software company — or they're being disrupted by one. So, get experimenting! Do your research, explore options and conduct some small, smart, cheap and safe experiments. You may be surprised by what you can cook up.

Missions can work very well when framed appropriately and used sparingly. The rest of the time? Continue to explore, share, learn and experiment. Embrace rituals that connect and continuously calibrate our efforts towards meaningful progress.