Redefine the Business Before You Try to Fix It
Owners who feel torn between what the business does and what they believe it is for usually try to solve it with better operations. That is the wrong end of the problem. Name what the company exists to do, make it something your team can pass or fail on a given day, and then get yourself out of the way so other people can do the part you thought only you could do.
“I redefined it as a for-profit Christian ministry.”
— Billy Swanson
Billy is an owner I've known for close to twenty years. He spent his first stretch running the family business wondering if he was doing something that was keeping him from his real calling, ministry.
We hear some version of this often. An owner with a clear sense of what matters outside the business is stuck running a company that does something useful. Inside that owner is a quiet certainty that the two pull in opposite directions. Instead of resolving the conflict the business owner resorts to philanthropy, using business profits to invest in a purpose they believe is greater and more in line with their personal priorities. There is nothing wrong with philanthropy. In fact, it is an obligation of those who have been blessed with much. But philanthropy falls short of the transformative role business can play when owners integrate their personal mission with the corporate one.
The Fix Is a Definition, Not a System
When Billy finally wrestled with this uncertainty he did not build a new org chart. He didn't double down on the annual corporate giving. He didn't bonus out all of his employees and ask them to give out of their own generosity. Instead, he redefined what the organization was, as a for-profit Christian ministry.
For-profit, meaning that at the end of the year you have more than you started with. Christian, meaning how and who the work is for. Ministry, in the same sense as a ministry of defense or a ministry of education: an organization that exists to serve others. Employees, customers, community.
Once those words came together, the supposed conflict disappeared. You cannot keep serving if you do not make a profit. The margin is not in tension with the purpose; it is what pays for it. That took him years to see, and he is candid that he had to go learn the business side to make it true. Part of that journey involved sitting in a room of Christian business owners who made him put his financials on the table and answer for the numbers he could not explain.
Getting there cost Billy about eighteen months of friction. Doubting his own ability as an executive, he tried handing the business side to somebody else so he could drive the ministry. But inside a month the two of them were clashing. It all came to a head on a family vacation in North Carolina. He was there the whole week and present for none of it. He could not stop thinking that even with the re-definition, business and ministry were still separate silos in the company. By the time he got home the silos were gone and Billy had a new purpose statement, a vision statement, a mission statement, and the question he says God put to him: why do you think you're the only one that can do the ministry?
Good News and Bad News
Returning from that vacation, Billy told the COO he would be the one in charge, and that as the owner the business belonged to him to run. The COO was relieved. He was an administrator who liked being given direction and then executing well. He had also been feeling the tension and both realized the whole company had been watching two Christian men at odds with each other without understanding why.
Next up was the mission statement. The old mission had said the company would honor God while building long-lasting relationships through quality installations and trustworthy service. Billy’s problem with it was direct. How do you honor God without honoring His Son? The most important relationship in Billy’s life, his relationship with Jesus Christ, was nowhere in the mission.
The new mission statement eliminated that ambiguity.
But just rolling out a new mission statement fell short of the impact Billy wanted to make. This wasn’t just words on a wall. This was a foundational shift in how the company was going to operate on a daily basis.
So Billy called all sixty-five employees together to tell them he had good news and bad news. The bad news first: “You no longer have a job at the company you knew.” And he let those words sink in.
Then he delivered the good news. Following the meeting they would all be offered a job at the company whose mission was to comfort all in such a way that they are compelled to tell others about their experience and it honors the Great Comforter Jesus Christ. But this was a choice. To everyone in the room he made the same offer. If they didn’t want to sign up for the new mission they could stay as long as they wanted, and the company would help them find another place to work. Two people told him afterward that he couldn't do what he'd just done. He told them he couldn't undo it either, and asked what he could do for them. One stayed and trusted Christ a few years later. The other left and became a firefighter.
I have never heard of another mission statement roll out as dramatic as Billy’s. But that’s not the point. What is important is that Billy reached a decision that he couldn’t take back. I love his words, “I can’t undo it either.” Conviction is the critical ingredient and it is what makes the difference between words on a wall and a mission statement that means something.
Write a Mission People Can Fail
The part of that mission statement that does the real work is the clause about being compelled to tell somebody. It converts a belief into a daily test. If the customer was not compelled to tell someone about the experience, in a way that honors what the company says it is about, the mission was not completed that day.
That is the bar that most mission statements never clear. You should let a technician standing in a driveway at the end of a job answer one question: did we accomplish the mission today, or not? If your people cannot pass or fail it, your mission is just window dressing.
Mission That Drives Visible Changes
The redefinition created a second problem. If the purpose of the company is to comfort people, the owner can’t be the only one carrying the load or he becomes the ceiling. Billy had a heart for ministry and a vision for what that would look like, but he needed the right kind of help to pull it off.
Billy realized that part of getting out of the way involved hiring for the strengths that were his weaknesses. When it was time for a new COO he looked for somebody who understood ministry, understood business, understood developing leaders, and cared about culture, because he had decided he was not a good manager. Interestingly that hire had no industry experience, but he had all the strengths. Then Billy built a Comfort Care department inside the company rather than sharing an outside chaplain with other businesses. His reasoning was practical. The company had grown to eighty or ninety employees. Every one of them had a family, and needs don't wait for the day the shared chaplain happens to be there.
What’s more, Comfort Care sits outside HR. HR lives in conflict by design, protecting the organization and looking after employees at the same time. The Comfort Care role has one job: find out what needs exist and meet them. Billy also learned that there needs to be a male to male and a female to female connection when meeting the needs of employees. So his second Comfort Care director was a husband and wife team.
But he got in the way there too, at least at first. He told the first Comfort Care directors exactly how he thought it should be done. It took him until the second couple in that role to understand that his job was to encourage them, supply what they needed, and step back. That realization eventually produced the company’s foundation when the specific abilities and giftings of one of those couples made it evident that there was a role for meeting needs in the surrounding community. Now in his fourth generation of Comfort Care directors, Billy is amazed at what God has done.
A Journey of Ministry
Looking back it is obvious that God has called Billy to a life of ministry. But it wasn’t what he envisioned 40 years ago. Instead of being neatly contained in a job description on a foreign mission field, Billy’s calling has spilled over into every area of his life, because that’s what callings are. Over the years I’ve seen Billy use so many things for ministry: air conditioning, a community foundation, soccer coaching, offshore fishing, and lately disc golf. Disc’n For Him Lodge is a 21 hole disc golf course Billy created where he welcomes strangers to his property for a round, a hot dog and maybe even a conversation about life. Along the way his willingness to “get out of the way” has created some extraordinary leaders. If you would like to hear Billy tell some of these stories in his own voice you can listen to podcast episodes 197 and 198.
Key Takeaways
When business and calling feel like competing jobs, fix the definition, not the operations.
Write a mission your team can fail on a given day. One nobody can fail is decoration.
Hire for the strengths that cover your weaknesses, then get out of their way.
Look for silos in your life and question whether they are holding you back from God’s best.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I know if my mission statement is doing any work?
A: Ask whether somebody could fail it today. If the answer is no, the statement isn't doing anything. Name an outcome instead, like a customer compelled to tell somebody about the experience, and everyone has a daily pass or fail.
Q: Should a chaplain or care role be outsourced or brought in house?
A: An outside provider is shared with other companies and isn't always there. In house, the role covers employees and their families. Keep it out of HR, though. HR protects the organization and looks after employees at once, so it lives in conflict. This role has one job.
Q: I want to delegate the operating side, but I am the one who cares most. How do I let go?
A: Start with why you think you're the only one who can do it. Then find someone whose strengths cover your weaknesses, tell them the outcome you want, then give them what they need and let them run it.
References and Downloadable Resources:
Grow With Purpose podcast: More conversations for owners and leaders who lead with purpose.
Listen to the full conversation: Episode 197 on the Grow With Purpose podcast