Step 3: Align Your Team Around Why Before You Build the Growth Plan
Originally written by Dan Doescher. Updated by Tom Doescher.
Note: If you missed the introduction or earlier steps in this series of blog posts, please click here to read it.
Assuming growth is a priority and you understand why you want to grow, the next critical step is making sure your most important resource, your team, is on board with you.
That phrase, “on board,” can get used casually. We might say the team is on board because no one objected in the meeting. Or because everyone nodded when the growth plan was discussed. Or because the leadership team said, “Sounds good.”
But true alignment is much deeper than silent agreement.
Inherent in “on board” is reaching a clear understanding and alignment around why.
Why are we pursuing growth?
Why does this matter?
Why now?
Why this direction?
Why should our team care?
Why should our customers or clients care?
If the leadership team cannot answer those questions clearly, the rest of the organization is unlikely to feel real conviction around the plan.
Growth requires effort. It requires focus, resources, and often requires change. If people do not understand the why behind it, they may comply for a while, but they will not carry the mission with energy and ownership.
Define the Mission, Purpose, or Vision
Call it whatever you like: mission, purpose, vision - but define it.
If you already have a mission, purpose, or vision, review it for reconfirmation and redouble your commitment. Too often, companies go through the exercise once, put the statement on a wall or website, and then never really use it again.
That is a missed opportunity.
Your mission, purpose, or vision should not be corporate wallpaper. It should help define how the company thinks, acts, hires, serves, leads, and grows. Ideally, it should be specific, brief, and easy to remember. Preferably, it should be a dozen words or less.
That may sound difficult, and it is. It is much easier to write a long paragraph full of impressive words than it is to capture the heart of the organization in one simple, memorable sentence.
But the discipline is worth it.
If your team cannot remember it, they probably will not use it.
If they cannot use it, it will not guide behavior.
If it does not guide behavior, it will not shape the company.
Make It a Team Effort
Ideally, the creation or reconfirmation of your mission, purpose, or vision should be a team effort.
That does not mean every person in the organization has to write every word. In fact, that may be a painful process. But the people who are expected to lead and live the mission should have some meaningful involvement in clarifying it.
When a mission is handed down from the top with no real discussion, it may be technically accurate but emotionally weak. When a team has helped wrestle with the words, the priorities, and the meaning behind it, there is a much better chance of shared alignment and passion.
Ultimately, the mission should drive a “way of life” in your business.
That is the real test. It is not only what you say. It is how you operate.
It affects the customers you pursue, the opportunities you say yes to, the opportunities you say no to, the people you hire, the behaviors you reward, and the way you respond when things go wrong.
In other words, your mission should have teeth.
Be Disciplined in the Process
Be disciplined in this process.
Some team members will have laser-like focus. Others can take you into the weeds. That is not necessarily bad. Different people think differently, and a good discussion can reveal important insights. But someone needs to keep the process moving toward clarity.
The goal is not to create a long document that tries to say everything. The goal is to capture what matters most. For many companies, a good place to begin is with core values.
Whether you have ever formally considered core values or not, you have them. You believe certain things. You operate according to certain principles. You reward certain behaviors. You tolerate or reject certain attitudes.
The question is not whether your company has values. The question is whether they are clear, written, and consistently lived. So, reduce them to writing.
Keep the list reasonably brief. Three to six ideals is usually plenty. Make sure they reflect what really matters to your organization and how you want potential customers, clients, team members, and partners to experience you.
The words should be honest.
Do not write down values you wish you had but do not actually practice. Aspirational values may have a place, but they should be clearly identified as aspirational. Your true core values are the ones already shaping decisions and behavior.
If you say you value accountability but repeatedly tolerate poor performance, accountability is not yet a core value.
If you say you value customer service but make it difficult for customers to get help, service is not yet a core value.
If you say you value teamwork but reward individual heroes while ignoring collaboration, teamwork is not yet a core value.
Core values only matter when they show up in real life.
Why the “Why” Matters
Why is the “why” so important?
Because alignment of effort begins with alignment of thought.
Before you develop tactical efforts, you will have to make decisions about resource allocation. You will have to decide where to invest time, money, leadership attention, and people. You will have to choose which customers to pursue, which markets to enter, which services to expand, and which opportunities to decline.
A clearly defined consensus of thought becomes your compass for decision-making.
Without that compass, growth planning can become chaotic. Every idea may sound like a good idea. Every opportunity may seem worth chasing. Every customer may appear attractive. Every new initiative may feel urgent.
That is how companies lose focus.
A clear mission, supported by real core values, helps leadership make tough choices when developing action plans.
It gives the team a way to ask:
Does this fit who we are?
Does this serve the customers we are best equipped to help?
Does this support our long-term direction?
Does this reflect our values?
Does this move us toward the company we are trying to build?
Those questions become especially important when growth opportunities are tempting.
Not all revenue is good revenue.
Not all customers are good customers.
Not all growth is healthy growth.
A company that does not know who it is will eventually let the marketplace define it.
A Real-Life Example
James Dibler, an owner and CEO of BlueRock Technologies, took this effort to a whole new level.
As team members joined the firm, they were required to read Jim Collins’ books Great by Choice and Good to Great, as well as Tony Hsieh’s book Delivering Happiness. Then the new members were asked to summarize what stood out to them.
I love that.
James was not simply assigning books. He was trying to reinforce the company’s values and purpose. He was also creating the opportunity to benefit from any new ideas the reading might trigger.
That kind of practice sends a message. It says,
“What we believe matters here.”
“How we think matters here.”
“We are not just filling a seat. We are inviting you into a way of operating.”
For owner-operated businesses, this is especially powerful. Many owners assume the team understands the company’s values because the owner has carried them for years. But what is obvious to the founder may not be obvious to a newer team member.
Values have to be taught, repeated, modeled, and then they have to be built into hiring, onboarding, leadership development, performance conversations, and customer interactions.
Otherwise, they remain in the owner’s head instead of becoming part of the company’s culture.
Can Your Team Say It?
Can you state your core mission, purpose, or vision?
If not, it is likely your team cannot either.
If you can clearly verbalize your mission, purpose, or vision, do you know whether your top leaders can? And if your top leaders can say the words, can they explain what those words mean in practice? That is the deeper test.
It is one thing for a team member to memorize a statement. It is another thing for them to understand how that statement should affect their decisions, priorities, and behavior.
For example:
How does your mission affect which prospects you pursue?
How does it affect how you price?
How does it affect how you serve existing customers?
How does it affect how you handle conflict?
How does it affect how you hire and promote?
How does it affect what kind of growth you are willing to say no to?
If the mission cannot answer practical questions, it may need more work.
Growth Without Alignment Creates Friction
When a company pursues growth without alignment, friction often follows. Here’s what that can look like:
Sales may pursue customers that your operations team cannot support.
Leadership may invest in markets the team does not understand.
Employees may feel the company is changing without explanation.
Customers may experience inconsistency.
The owner may become frustrated that no one seems to “get it,” while the team may feel they were never really told what “it” was.
That is why this step matters.
Before moving into tactics, campaigns, sales activity, or hiring a hunter, make sure the team understands who you are and why you are here.
This is not soft work, this is leadership work.
In fact, this may be some of the most important work a business owner can do. A company with a clearly defined mission and values is easier to lead, easier to grow, and ultimately easier to transfer. The business becomes less dependent on the owner’s instincts because the company has a shared framework for decision-making.
That matters for growth. It also matters for long-term value.
A Final Thought
Regardless of where you are in the process, it may be time to step back and capture your mission, purpose, vision, and values in writing, or reconfirm your collective commitment to them.
Do not make this overly complicated.
Start with honest questions:
Who are we?
Why do we exist?
Who do we serve best?
What do we believe?
How do we want customers and clients to experience us?
What behaviors are non-negotiable here?
What kind of growth fits who we are?
With a clearly aligned view of where you and your team are headed, you will be ready to proceed to the next planning stage.
Without that alignment, growth may still happen. But it may not be the kind of growth you actually want.
