Logic and emotion are both of great importance to being effective. Sharing inspiring stories that demonstrate our values and highlight success help us to engage with both the logical and emotional sides of what we need to do.

The Psychological Requirement to Connect Logic and Emotions

“Humans are creatures with a two-sided brain: On the left side, there’s nothing right and on the right side, there’s nothing left.” Anon

Scientists have long explored the dual functions of the brain and many people have heard of the idea that the left hemisphere of the brain is for logical functions whereas the right side is more for creative thinking.

Although this lateralisation is an over simplification it does contribute to our understanding of thought processes and personality types. We all have some sort of preference to being either more rational or intuitive in our approach to challenges and psychologists have used this and other measures to help explain personality types.

For example in the ‘Big 5’ personality traits model a preference for being more creative, intuitive and creative in approach would lead someone to have a high ‘openness’ score. Equally, within the same system, someone with a more logical, ordered and detailed approach to life is likely to have a higher ‘conscientiousness’ ranking.

Once again these measures are generalisations but they demonstrate that we all have certain preferences and that any preference to one side or another has certain strengths and weaknesses and therefore we need a balance of the logical and emotional in our approach.

How to Get the Balance and Make the Connection

One way we can achieve that balance is through developing a good team and having people who can fulfil different roles and play to their strengths. But even with a well balanced team there are certain functions in an organisation – such as customer service and brand awareness – that everyone has an influence on and therefore, whatever their preference, they need a way to be connected to both the logical and emotional drivers in the business.

It has been demonstrated that one of the most powerful ways of connecting between the logical and emotional is the use of stories. For most people it is shared experiences, the conversations we have, and the life illustrations we hear, that are the lessons we tend to remember.  These things become the threads that tie together the logical and emotional aspects of what we do.

This knowledge is very important to organisations, as any team needs to engage their people at the logical level, through things such as goals and measurements, to more emotional issues such as values and purpose. Really successful institutions have ways of capturing and sharing stories that naturally spread through the group; encouraging people and embedding the right strategies and attitudes in people whatever level, role or function they operate in.

The Successful Military Model

Having had a military background I can share a way that the Armed Forces has created a process that enables the sharing of stories that demonstrated the values of the organisation and inspire people to achieve their tasks with the right attitudes.

Even though the values of the British Army are regularly taught to soldiers, if you asked the average private what those values were they would probably struggle to give you more than two of the six core values. The core values of the British Army are:

• Courage
• Discipline
• Respect for others
• Integrity
• Loyalty
• Selfless commitment

These values are the most important aspect of the emotional connection within the Army. The critical issue on the logical side is the concept of mission. The military operates within an approach called ‘mission command’ and the importance of achieving the mission is drummed into every service man and woman.

Because a mission in the Army frequently requires hardship or threat to life it is vital that the values are effectively understood and adhered to. Otherwise the deeper purpose and motivation would be lost. How then is this done when the average soldier cannot recall what the values are? The answer is that they all know stories that link the achievement of a mission with the values that underpin that success.

Stories that Inspire: Medal Citations

Many stories are passed on informally in the bars and barrack rooms of the military but there is also a formal process for capturing and celebrating the best of these stories. This is done through citations and the awarding of medals.

In the British Commonwealth the most famous medal of all is the Victoria Cross; the highest commendation that can be awarded for valour in the face of the enemy. Introduced by Queen Victoria in 1856 the Victoria Cross (VC) has only been awarded 1356 times, and only 13 times since the Second World War.

The stories that surround VC winners are legendary; VC winners are the heroes of the Armed Forces and the stories permeate the culture of the organisation. Their history is taught during training, pictures of their heroic deeds hang on the walls of offices and messes; teams and places are even named after them.

Lieutenant John Chard – A Hero of Rorke’s Drift

For me, being a Royal Engineer Officer, one story I have been steeped in is that of Lieutenant John Chard, the Royal Engineer Officer who led the defence of Rorke’s Drift during the Zulu War in 1878.

Chard was sent to Rorke’s Drift (a small garrison at a mission station) to build a bridge but the location became the site of a decisive battle.

A Zulu impi (an Army of 3000-4000 men) descended upon Rorke’s Drift fresh from subjecting the British to a terrible defeat at Isandlwana where they had annihilated 1350 British and Native troops.

There were only 139 soldiers (including 30 sick and wounded) and a handful of local and colonial troops (making about 150 in total) at Rorke’s Drift but John Chard led the successful defence of the station. The desperate fighting, often fought hand to hand, went on through an afternoon and an entire night but the defence held. The battle cost 17 of the defenders lives. The Zulus suffered several hundred mortalities and withdrew from the attack the following morning.

The incredible valour by the defenders led to the awarding on 11 VCs and 4 DCMs (Distinguished Conduct Medals). The story is particularly well known as it was made famous by the film ‘Zulu’ where John Chard was played by Stanley Baker and Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead – his fellow officer and VC recipient – was played by Michael Caine.

John Chard’s actions demonstrated his deep commitment to his mission and an exemplary illustration of the values of the Army. The leadership that Chard demonstrated at Rorke’s Drift has inspired generations of young officers, such as myself, and this is just one of many incredible stories that could be told of brave service men and women.

Inspiring Stories for Making the Connection

A recipient of the Victoria Cross is an extreme example of a story, and certainly not an everyday occurrence, but shows the power of stories to inspire people. Stories have the power to connect people to the logical and emotional requirements that an organisation expects of them and it is important that any team or business looks at ways of capturing and spreading stories that equip, inspire and release employees to take new levels of ownership in their work.

If you would like to read more about the story of Chard and Rorke’s Drift then you will enjoy this book:

Trying to come up with a short pithy mission statement that encompasses everything you are about in life is not an easy task!  Do not worry – the concept of mission statements is bigger than just one individual phrase, as I will try to explain.  Mission statements exist in the context of lots of interlocking levels, generally not just as some isolated goal that stands totally alone.

Different mission statements within a single company

Imagine a company, a company that makes toilet rolls.  The vision of the company is that every posterior in the world should be blessed by the ultra-soft ‘Cushionette’ produced by the business.  They have defined their mission, their measure of success as: ‘to have a roll of Cushionette available in every lavatory in the world’.  It is a bold and audacious mission.

Different departments, different mission statements?

There are many departments within the company to allow it to function properly.  There are Sales; the guys in sales have a mission statement that is almost exactly the same as the company mission because they are trying to sell the product into as many spaces ‘in the world’ as possible.  For the Quality Control team, the mission statement is easy too, they need to make sure each roll of Cushionette is ‘ultra soft’.

How about the Finance team?  Defining the mission for the Finance team is somewhat harder.  It is harder still at an individual level: how do you create a mission statement that applies to the person who does the photocopying for the Finance team?  Yet, if they are going to be effective they need a mission that connects them to the greater vision and shows them how they can make a tangible difference in achieving the bigger goal.

So the Reprographic Officer (photocopier person) will have their personal mission statement.  Let’s say in this case their mission statement is “to always produce copies that are timely, accurate and cost-efficient” but that mission is a sub-set of the Finance team mission, which is, in turn, a subset of the company mission.

Linking and nesting mission statements

This is important as the more productive each individual and team is the more productive the overall effect is.  Also, one failure of the smallest element can bring down the whole thing.  If the ‘Vice President of Printed Communications’ (another photocopier person) fails to copy the company accounts on time, the company is put at risk. All right, so this is stretching the point somewhat but on a serious note, any communications process can have a major effect on the effectiveness of a team or company.

So from the example above we can see that within an organisation there will be various missions that all need to interlock vertically across the company.  It’s like those Russian dolls that fit inside one another.  Not clear yet?  Let’s investigate this from another angle; here is some background to the theory.

Mission Command

The military has probably spent more time and effort on developing the idea of a mission than anyone else, and in the British military this overlapping hierarchy of mission statements is referred to as ‘mission command’.  This decentralised approach is to some extent based on the lessons learned from the effectiveness of German Stormtroopers and the ‘manoeuvrist’ approach of Blitzkrieg warfare, but again don’t worry if this means nothing to you, you do not need to be an expert in military history to understand the basic principles.

The idea behind mission command is to allow maximum freedom of movement, coordination and support at every level of the organisation by having interconnected mission statements.  It requires a highly trained and motivated force but when it works it is referred to as a force multiplier, in other words, it is highly effective and greater than the sum of its parts.  In business, this is sometimes referred to as ‘synergy’.

So maximum effectiveness is the aim; your main responsibility is to make sure you and/or your workforce are highly trained and motivated, and then to make sure the mission is clear and connected both up and down the organisation.

How to craft a mission statement

In the military, the mission statement actually comes in two parts.  There is both a ‘to’ and an ‘in order to’ phrase in the statement.  For example, I said earlier a mission might be ‘to capture the position on hill 321’ but it will also have a second half that says something like ‘in order to allow the battalion to advance’.  In other words, one mission is connected to another mission in a hierarchy.  In this case, the battalion cannot achieve its mission of advancing unless the enemy position on the hill is captured.  The battalion in turn will have a mission that connects to its higher command and so on up the chain. These go up from the tactical to operational, strategic and grand-strategic levels. That one mission to engage with the enemy on hill 321 will be part of a much larger picture such as a war between two sovereign states. Who knows, the whole campaign could pivot on that one action: that is why the mission is so important.

Mission statements work up and down and side to side

So just like the toilet roll company, all the missions interlock up and down the organisation. So that is the hierarchy – the up and down bit, but there is more.  There is a horizontal plane of mission as well as a vertical one. Every department in a company or every person in a team will have a slightly different mission but they need to complement each other. Crafting mission statements is likely correctly harnessing horses. You are trying to get people to pull together in the same direction.

As an individual you are likely to have a mission in your workplace that interconnects vertically and horizontally within that organisation but your career mission statement may have very little to do with other parts of your life.  Most of us have a range of responsibilities and wear a variety of different hats. Therefore we can expect to have different missions that are relevant to the various roles we play.  For example what is your contribution or role within your community?  What is your mission in terms of your family and relationships?

These personal mission statements have a hierarchy too as all the goals we set are effectively part of the mission and they only exist (or should only exist) to support the greater mission.  Confused? Don’t worry! Take a look at how to make an action plan.

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