How Do You Connect Remote Workers to Your Mission?

Remote and hybrid work setups are now an everyday reality in many workplaces. And, while organizations have overcome many of the initial challenges involved in going remote, such as communication barriers and negotiating different time zones, a worrying disconnect has been emerging.

This disconnect lies at the very heart of an organization – its mission and purpose. An organization's mission and purpose should encapsulate why the business exists, and why its employees want to work for it.

According to a survey by Gallup, remote workers' connection to the mission and purpose of their organization plummeted to a record low in 2023. The research revealed that just 28 percent of remote employees strongly agreed that they felt connected to their organization. [1]

In this article, we're going to explore why this disconnect is happening, the problems it might be causing, and what organizations can do to better connect their employees to their mission.

Why Are Mission and Purpose so Important?

Think about the most innovative or successful companies you know. Chances are, you know exactly what they do. They likely have a mission that is genuinely inspiring, compelling and worthwhile, and that people can easily buy into.

Here are just some examples of compelling, clear and engaging mission statements from some of the world's top-performing organizations.

Can you guess the organizations they are for?

NASA

LEGO

IKEA

TED

How did you do?!

Having a clearly defined mission and purpose has several benefits:

• It connects organizations to its employees and its customers.
• It gives employees a shared sense of purpose, and provides meaning, motivation and inspiration.
• It fosters belonging among employees by setting the tone for a positive and strong culture.
• Employees have a sense of accomplishment through seeing success stories that contribute to the wider mission.
• It demonstrates to investors that the company has thought about the "big picture" and its place in the market, as well as the goals that it wants to achieve.

The Negative Impact of Employees Disconnected From Organizational Mission

A 2023 Workforce survey found that only 28 percent of remote workers strongly agree that the mission or purpose of their company made them feel that their job is important, down from 37 percent in 2020. Similar, but less pronounced declines have also been seen among hybrid and on-site workers. [2]

According to the study, this can have a detrimental effect on people's experience of the day-to-day culture, too, because, "When a workplace culture is broken, people feel it. They also talk about it too."

Disengaged employees can have a detrimental impact on your bottom line. In fact, Gallup estimates that low engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion (around 9 percent of global gross domestic product in lost productivity every year). [3]

These disengaged employees are people in the organization who are "quiet quitting" (putting in the minimum effort because of a psychological disconnect with their employer) or "loud quitting" (people that are openly negative about the organization and may even try to harm it).

Why Is There a Disconnect Between Remote Workers and Organizational Mission?

There are many contributing factors to the disconnect between employees and their organization's mission.

One of the main ones is that many organizations simply don't have a good, clear mission. If a mission is confusing, changes frequently, or is uninspiring then employees won't connect their work to the overarching organizational goal.

Click the headings below to discover some reasons for this disconnect:

Focusing on short-term financial goals can cause an organization to lose sight of its main mission. It can also end up eroding trust, respect and relationships, particularly if the culture suddenly shifts its focus toward hitting arbitrary financial targets.

The relationship people have with their managers is the top factor in employee satisfaction. Yet 75 percent of people said that the most stressful aspect of their job was their immediate boss. [4] Managers matter in driving employee engagement, and they are an important link between organizational mission, values, vision and employees, especially in remote settings.

According to research from HR specialists, McLean & Company, 40 percent of employees don't believe the executive leadership team speaks about the mission and vision of their company in an inspiring way. [5]

According to research, 70 percent of employees say that their sense of purpose is defined by their work and yet only 15 percent of managers and employees agree that they are actually living their purpose at work. [6]

While companies may offer a suite of benefits or even competitive salaries, if employees do not feel psychologically valued, celebrated or connected, it can, over time, lead to feelings of dissatisfaction. Currently, almost half of employees report feeling underappreciated by their employers. [7]

All these factors are compounded when a large proportion of the workforce is remote or hybrid. Silos can form as people rarely interact with others outside their immediate work needs, and important information can become diluted in the constant barrage of instant messages and emails, especially when poorly written.

How to Connect Remote Employees to Organizational Mission and Purpose

So, now we know why there may be a disconnect between remote workers and company mission, what can managers and organizations do to rectify it?

Let's hear from "The Long-Distance Leader" author Kevin Eikenberry on the importance of being intentional about communicating mission and purpose to remote employees.

Ready for more on how to connect your remote workers to your mission and purpose? Here are five key steps to take.

1. Know Your Mission Inside and Out – and Make it Inspiring!

If you asked anybody in your organization today to explain your company’s mission, what would they say? Would they all say the same thing? Would they get it right?

Your mission and purpose should be clear, concise and compelling. Here are some tips to help you achieve this:

• Focus on your "winning idea." This is your unique selling proposition (USP) –the thing that makes your organization stand out from its competitors. It's also the reason that employees should want to work for you, and why customers should want to buy from you.
• Think about the scale of your goals. Set the ultimate stretch goal that you want your organization to achieve. It’s your ideal future and what should spur your people into action. Build this goal into your mission statement, but steer clear of jargon – make it as inspiring as possible.
• Make it enduring. According to management and organizational behavior experts, Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras, the best, most successful companies are those that, "understand the difference between what should never change and what should be open for change, between what is genuinely sacred and what is not." [8]
  
  In other words, an organization’s mission needs to be strong and clear – not susceptible to every whim of the market. That doesn't mean that an organization can't be responsive to market trends, simply that there must always be a core set of guiding values and purpose that underpins how a company negotiates these changes.
• Tell a story. Storytelling is a great way of inspiring and engaging people. Think about how you could create a piece of content that tells the story of your mission – a video, infographic or web page – that people can easily understand, enjoy and share.

2. Reinforce and Remind People of Your Mission

Now you know what you need to communicate about your vision, think about the where, when and who as well:

• Where to communicate your vision. Remote teams use a wide range of channels to communicate, so make use of them. Think about how you could reinforce your mission and purpose via email, Teams, Hangouts or Slack – anywhere where people connect. Have a dedicated, visible space on your intranet that focuses on your mission, purpose, goals and values – a place that everyone can easily access.
• When to communicate your vision. You don't want to overload people, but you also need to reinforce your mission regularly. Monthly or quarterly all-company meetings are a great place to share company progress toward your mission. Consider adding in a slide that details your mission at the beginning or end of these meetings, to further reinforce it. Your vision should form part of your onboarding process, too.
• Who should communicate your vision. Ideally, messaging should come from the top. CEOs need to take a lead role in communicating your vision confidently and authentically. But managers also have a responsibility to reinforce the mission in everyday work, in team meetings, and one-on-ones.

3. Align Work to Mission and Purpose

Organizations whose employees clearly understand their organizational mission and strategy tend to grow faster and are often more profitable. [9] But to achieve this, employees need to understand how the work they do day-to-day contributes to the "big picture."

The OGSM Framework is a great model for tying individual goals to the wider company mission by cascading goals down from the wider organizational objective. This is key for turning grand ideas into actionable outputs.

Translate your mission into team goals, and then use these to determine individual goals. Team goals, or even inter-team goals, are also a great way to encourage connection and belonging by providing a shared purpose.

4. Build Meaningful Relationships

Proximity bias – the tendency to feel emotionally close and connected to people we are physically close to – can be an issue for organizations that have gone remote. By severing the physical connections afforded by working in an office, there is the potential to damage and limit the emotional connections between co-workers and the sense of belonging.

Because remote workers tend to spend less time talking to one another (particularly to those outside of their direct team), they must work harder to make their interactions as meaningful as possible.

People shouldn't have to guess whether or not they’re doing a good job. So, when a project is successfully completed, or a goal has been hit, tell them. But remember that it can be hard to do all of this remotely, particularly when people's calendars become overloaded with meetings.

Nonetheless, managers should have regular conversations with their employees. But they also need to make these conversations meaningful by assessing current goals, exploring any roadblocks, and getting the team together as often as possible – even for informal catch-ups.

5. Celebrate People and Make it Personal

Let people know how their success contributes to the organization's mission. Also, make it personal. Recognize people in the way they want to be recognized.

Find fun ways to do this like using GIFs, emojis, or in-built chat functions like praise badges or personal notes in Teams. If your team member is happy for you to do so, share the good news among the wider organization.

But, if you're unsure, ask how people would like to celebrate their success – some might prefer a simple "thanks," while others might be happy to have a "shout out" at the next team or company meeting. If it's a really big success, you may even want to create a story around it to share on your website or with your clients.

Let's Act

Run a session with your team to explore your organization's mission statement. Step one of this process, in advance of this session, could be to ask if they know what it is, and where they can find it!

At the session, consider your organization's mission from these perspectives:

• What does it say?
• What is it intended to do?
• Is it clearly expressed?
• Does it accurately reflect your organization's purpose, values and culture?
• What makes it special?
• How does it make you feel? Why is that?
• How clear and compelling is the mission for external stakeholders?
• What makes it different from your competitors' mission statements?