On September 12, 1962, President John F. Kennedy committed the nation to a path of manned space exploration that would take us to the moon, launching a view of the future as bold and bright as the moon he committed not just an agency, but an entire nation to reach.

Inspired by the challenge, NASA’s 36,000 employees and 376,700 federal contractors, including the world’s preeminent physicists, metallurgists, medical specialists, and engineers, did the best work of their lives over the next seven years. Americans held their collective breath on July 24, 1969, as astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, and the Apollo 11 spacecraft returned safely to Earth. Mission accomplished.

Though we still venture into space, the results since then have been less compelling. Ask 10 people what NASA’s mission is, and it’s likely you’ll be met with blank expressions and random guesses, even from elected representatives who fund the agency.

And here’s why: people don’t perform in an inspired manner without big-time commitment to a compelling cause.

Every major achievement in the history of mankind has been accompanied by real commitment to a common purpose. Otherwise, Christopher Columbus and crew would likely have held out for better maps before they sailed off the edge of the known universe. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his supporters probably wouldn’t have marched out of Selma, and astronaut Alan Shepard might have suggested sending more monkeys up before strapping himself into a relatively untested rocket. Well, the same goes in the business world.

In a recent leadership seminar, participants were asked to describe their organization’s mission or core purpose. The result? Those same “deer-in-the-headlights” looks and wild guesses. When the members of the assembled senior management team were asked to write down the organization’s top three priorities, the answers revealed incredible disparity. It’s no wonder that many organizations struggle to gain traction. Here are some strategies to help management create employee motivation through a common mission:

Make It Clear
Legend has it that shortly after signing on as head coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi whistled practice to a halt one day, assembled his players—who had grown far too accustomed to losing—and got real instructive about the organization’s core purpose. Picking up one of the practice balls, he began with the statement, “Gentlemen, this is a football.”

Investment guru Peter Lynch, in his book Beating the Street, advises investors not to put their money into anything they can’t explain with a crayon. He reasons that if you can’t explain it with such a simple instrument, then you don’t understand it. Lynch’s advice is as good for the manager as for the investor. If a manager can’t explain with that same crayon what the organization is all about and where it’s going, then employees can’t explain it, and people won’t buy it.

Beware Mission Flatulence
Corporate (or individual) noise, usually expressed on a poster, plaque, or T-shirt, about the entity’s mission statement is not helpful here. Given the level of cynicism that exists today, if you expect people to believe in it, let alone support the cause, it must be simple, straightforward, and not wobbling or morphing into something else as time passes.

Compelling
Modest objectives beget modest effort, period.

Consistency Matters
As former NFL head coach Jimmy Johnson once said, “Confused players are not very aggressive.” If the folks on your team see the goalpost changing on a regular basis, or words and deeds not matching up, expect to see some confused, disillusioned players who are going nowhere.

Having an Adversary Helps
Shortly after American Airlines flight 77 was crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11, Lee Evey assumed responsibility for reconstructing the building. Evey set the ambitious goal of having the damaged portion of the building rebuilt and ready for occupancy within one year.

Work began quickly, with crews toiling in shifts around the clock. Commitment to the task was off the chart—practically no one quit during this time; when workers got banged up, they kept on working. Indeed, Evey got some pushback from workers when he wanted to shut the project down for a few days at Christmas. Ultimately, the work was completed, well within the 12-month deadline, due in no small part to the discretionary effort of thousands of individual workers.

In short, the effort meter often gets a boost from the presence of an adversary. As FedEx founder and Chairman, Fred Smith once said, “If UPS weren’t around, we would have had to invent them.”

Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden are the authors of Contented Cows MOOve Faster. They founded Contented Cow Partners, LLC to help business leaders produce better results via a focused and capably led workforce. For more information, visit www.ContentedCows.com.