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to unleash the power of mission

On June 2, Agerus published the book “Business Leadership: On dialogue, missions and development“. The book is written by Pär Pettersson and Ulf Ericsson – both professors and researchers in work life psychology at Kristianstad University. In this interview, Pär and Ulf talk about what the term means and the research behind it.

What is business ownership?

Ulf: The concept can probably be seen as a reaction to all the research that exists on leadership. We want to provide a complementary perspective that balances the needs of the organization with the needs of the individual.

Peter: Yes, there is something missing between the perspective of the leadership on the one hand and the perspective of the employee on the other. They are two different roles that say nothing about the mission of the organization itself. Let’s talk about both leadership and employeeship, but at the same time let’s squeeze in business leadership in between to get a focus on the everyday mission that is about getting the job done. It will be crazy if we constantly turn a blind eye to the needs of the business and instead only devote ourselves to developing the various roles.

Roles and leadership

So are our different roles getting in the way of getting the job done in the best way?

Peter: What we see is based on a traditional way of organizing and looking at roles. I am the manager and you are the employee. But if we focus on the mission instead, we get a different energy and an opportunity for everyday dialog. The importance of the meeting for dialogue is very important. No meeting, no dialog.

If we can recalibrate the idea based on “what is the real mission?” then it would create other opportunities. But it’s a journey where we try to focus on something other than leadership as a complement to the traditional way of acting in an organization.

Language use and perspectives

In your research and book, you have avoided using the word leadership – why?

Ulf: It is based on a semantic idea. When we hear a word, a mental image is created and leadership focuses on a specific role or individual in a different way than business leadership. The point is to change perspectives in the organization. If we can shift the language suit slightly, we can also shift quite a lot in the business.

Pär: What you say is very important, Ulf. When we change the language, something happens in our thoughts. In the research project we ran, we said “we’re not talking about leadership here, we’re talking about getting the job done, we’re talking about the mission.”

The role of the leader

Does the leader still have a role when we talk about business ownership?

Pär: Of course, this is not about taking anything away. Business leadership is complementary and is about shifting focus to what needs to be done. But there is a frustration – not least among first-line managers where everything falls on the shoulders of the leader with enormous burdens on the lone manager “at the end of the line”. We see them acting more as translators, ensuring the link between the big and small mission.

You write in the book about the difference between mission and task. What is that about?

Ulf: Yes, task is what we do in everyday life and how we do it. It can be fragmented and does not necessarily mean that I see what others do or others see what I do. Mission is more linked to the ‘why question’. Why do we go to work? In the book, we have the well-known analogy of the men where one is cutting stone and the other is building a cathedral. Both are performing the same task, but have different views on why they are doing it. The mission is simply to answer the question why are we here? Why are we doing this?

The meaningful mission

Is the mission about the meaningfulness of work?

Peter: Yes, you could say that. It’s about being able to put your efforts into a wider perspective and social context. The mission thus meets the basic human needs to belong, contribute and be recognized.

We have seen what is to be implemented conveyed like a waterfall through the organization in order to guide and inspire. But with each level it passes through in the organizational chart, it loses power and relevance because each new level also means new interpretations that are often very instrumental compared to the mission that has an operational and meaningful content.

Dialogue and image exchange

What is the importance of the dialog in relation to the mission?

Ulf: Dialogue is extremely important because it allows us to exchange our different views of the reality we find ourselves in. It doesn’t mean that we have to compromise or have a uniform view. Instead, I must be open to accepting another person’s perspective and perhaps even changing myself. And in the dialog we approach each other with our different images of reality and create a new one together.

We are normally very good at communicating and packaging things and passing them on. Dialogue, on the other hand, is about being able to listen, tune in and understand the others. Dialogue is also about the ability to take a step back without having a preference for interpretation and wanting to “win” the conversation at all costs.

Peter: We often talk about swapping pictures. Your image and my image. The key thing in the image exchange is that a new, shared image is created, which can then form the basis for improvements in everyday life. It is a constant dialog and a constant training. You have to learn to be quiet, listen, think and together construct something new from what is shared.

Hierarchy as a barrier

Where and how have you conducted your research?

Pär: In the book we call the places The Company and The City. The method we have used is called action research, which means that we are out in the business, influencing and contributing to various conversations and using the knowledge we have to make something happen. With the examples we take up in the book, the aim has been to clarify the mission and highlight some form of joint work for the business with the ambition to also tone down the focus on leadership in favor of something else. This is when the concept of business leadership was born.

Can you already see the results of your research?

Peter: We have finished one project, another one is ongoing. We see that if you change the language used, a lot happens. People start thinking in different terms. The old labels have been an obstacle to cooperation and allocation of resources. The hierarchy represented obstacles. If we speak in a different way, opportunities open up instead.

Ulf: Every organization is unique, so there is no single answer to this question, but one thing is clear in both organizations. It is that the definition of the mission varies so much within an organization. We need to talk about that. We see it so differently and yet we should try to achieve something together.

Taking into account everyday needs

What has made the biggest impression during your work?

Ulf: There are so many definitions of leadership. If you are out in practice, you notice how cemented the concept of leadership is, which makes it very difficult to talk about the business without slipping into leadership as the solution to everything.

Pär: There are constantly new concepts and buzzwords. Right now there is a lot about trust-based leadership. We attach great importance to leadership, while at the same time putting a lot of constant pressure on the leaders in the organization with this. To be a representative of the organization while being in everyday practice. What struck me most is how it can be changed by calibrating the idea slightly and changing the language. We may need to replace old words with new ones that take into account everyday needs and release the power that exists in creating a common understanding and ownership of why we go to work.