The power of singularity is narrowing the essence to one thing. In organizational terms we refer to this one thing as mission. Yet most leaders never capture and lead from a defining, driving sense of one thing. The big question is why? The answer is that they substitute strategy for mission.

Your one thing is your mission; your strategy is how you accomplish the mission. Mission is what we do, strategy is how we do it.

Most of the time I see a statement of mission, or talk to a leader about their sense of mission, they are speaking strategy, not mission. What about you? To find out, I encourage you to do the following:

Take a 3-Minute Test

Look at or write down your mission for your systems ministry.

• Count the number of “and” words in it.
• Count the number of commas.
• Count the number of words.

If you have any “and” statements, any commas or more than 15 words, most likely you are articulating strategy not mission.

Let’s Illustrate…

The mission of Google is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. I think this is a clear, concise and compelling mission. Yet it does crack open the door to NOT having the power of singularity. The clue to this is the two “and” statements. Why did they introduce these?

They are introduced because they are important aspects of vision equity, but all the words of this mission do not answer the same questions. What is the core of this mission? What is Google’s one thing? I would suggest that their core is “making information accessible.” Their one thing is not organization; their one thing is not making information useful.

Now look at how knowing the one thing clarifies everything else. If their mission is actually, ”Making the world’s information universally accessible”, then “organization” is one step in how they do it (strategy). The idea that the information is “useful” is why they do it (values). Look at the new mission I am recommending for Google. Who am I to suggest such a thing, however, you be the judge.

I’ll give you another one, ours. Resonate’s mission is to “Help people find their way back to God.” And it’s simple as that. I could’ve put “for the city”, or “love people”, or “experience life change or community” While those are very important to us and a regularly expressed passion of ours, it speaks to our values, not the singular mission. For those of you who might be wondering why it’s “back to God”, it’s because our fall stems from the fall of Adam. It speaks of God’s original plan and how Jesus came to restore us to it. But that’s another blog…

Be focused and clear on your mission and see unbelievable results from singularity. You will begin to see the immediate benefits first as you meet and encourage your team members. With all that’s in front of them, you’ve just given them a tool to see right through the fog, straight to the mission. You’ll find yourself and your team more aligned and poised to win.