There are situations in life that cause us to question who we are and why we are here. For many of us, that happened during the last few months. As a leader, that’s a vulnerable position for you to be in. Many leaders have been so swept up in the chaos recently that their organization can experience mission drift.

What is mission drift? Put simply, it’s when your organization drifts from its mission/goal. Now, you may think it’ll never happen to you, but most times, people don’t even know it’s happening. They’re operating in a reactive mindset instead of a proactive mindset. In today’s blog post, I want to help you recognize what mission drift is and how to prevent it in your organization.

3 Ways to Avoid Mission Drift in Business

Define Your Mission, Vision, and Values

This might seem basic for some of you, but if you don’t have a mission or vision, how do you know where your company is headed? If you don’t have values, you won’t have anything guiding you when tough decisions come up. For more information on writing a mission statement, read this blog post. Your organization might already have mission, vision, and values, which is a great place to start. But let me ask you this: how often are you revisiting them? Hopefully, you’re reviewing them when it comes to decision making. Maybe you recently reviewed them as you were pivoting your business model. However, I suggest you revisit these yearly. This will help make sure your business is on track and therefore prevents mission drift. As a note, it’s okay if these things change! Just make sure everyone is on the same page in your organization.

Learn to Say No

Not every project will be right for your organization. Not every applicant will work with your team and your business. That’s okay! When you have a solid mission, you’ll start realizing that certain things don’t align. It can only benefit your business to say no in these situations. I know some leaders who are scared to say no! They’re worried that if they pass up on one opportunity, they’ll become obsolete. Sometimes, they just have decision fatigue so they begin saying yes to everything! If you want to avoid mission drift, you have to learn to say no.

Stop the Comparison Game

Comparison is one of the most toxic activities you as a leader can do. Why? Because you will start modeling your business after someone else’s plan. A hard truth everyone has to learn is that what God has for one person may not be what He has for you. Similar to the previous point, that’s okay! It’s actually great because God’s plan for you and your business are greater than you could even imagine (Ephesians 3:20). You have to keep your eyes on your game, and by aligning with your mission, vision, and values, you can prevent mission drift.

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Questions like this came up over and over again at our Q&A session of the Business Mastery Workshop. We had top CEO’s and beginning entrepreneurs reacting and gleaning from the teachings last weekend, and I’m excited to announce that you can get that same wisdom from the comfort of your own home! We are now taking pre-orders for our Business Mastery Workshop USB which includes teachings from speakers like myself, Karen Conrad, David Metcalfe, and Chris Barnard! You can save $100 on the recording by ordering your copy before September 16th! Click here to learn more and get your copy today.