Why Every Role Matters: Building a Team Culture That Drives Mission-Level Impact

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy visited NASA headquarters for a tour. While walking through the facility, he stopped and noticed a janitor sweeping the floor. Curious, he asked, “What are you doing?” The janitor’s reply was clear, confident, and extraordinary:
“I’m helping put a man on the moon.”

Now pause and think about that for a second.

He wasn’t just cleaning. He wasn’t just following a shift schedule or ticking off a chore. He saw himself as an integral part of the mission one person, holding a broom, contributing to one of the most ambitious goals in modern history.

That story has stayed with me for years not because it’s heartwarming, but because it’s a reality check. In business, we often speak about alignment, vision, and execution like they’re boardroom topics. In practice, they live (or die) in the hands of every single person in the organisation from the receptionist at the front desk to the executive in the C-suite.

If you want to scale, outperform, and truly lead? Then you need more than strategy, you need shared meaning across your entire team.

When Vision Becomes Shared Identity

What struck me about that janitor’s response wasn’t his job description it was his identity alignment. He didn’t just work at NASA. He worked for the mission. He saw how his piece, no matter how humble, fit into the whole.

At Cobus Visser International, we coach leadership teams and organisations on growth. But often, what companies come to us for better processes, clearer goals, stronger execution is only part of the solution. The real turning point is when people at every level of the business can finish the sentence,
“I’m here because...”

When that sentence leads to something bigger than a paycheque or a job title, culture shifts. Performance shifts. Energy shifts and yes results follow.

How Misalignment Quietly Sabotages Momentum

Let’s talk about what happens when people don’t feel connected to the vision.

They clock in. They meet KPIs. But they operate like lone islands. They protect their scope. They stop innovating. They begin to say things like:
“That’s not my department.”
“Someone else will figure it out.”
“Management doesn’t listen anyway.”

That’s not incompetence it’s disconnection.

When people can’t see how their work contributes to something meaningful, they disengage. Once that happens, you can roll out as many strategies, dashboards, and restructures as you like it won’t matter.

Engagement isn't created with louder messaging. It's created with alignment, recognition, and context.

A brilliant 2024 study by Qualtrics found that employees who feel their work directly contributes to company goals are 5.2x more likely to stay at their job and 3.7x more likely to go above their job requirements during critical moments.

Why Every Team Member Needs to “Touch the Moon”

Leadership is not a department. It’s not a title either. Leadership is influence and influence is distributed throughout your team whether you like it or not.

That means the barista at your company’s coffee bar may be the person who shifts a client’s mood on a tough day. The intern may be the one who catches an inconsistency in your pitch deck. The cleaner might notice the patterns in team behaviour others overlook.

Every single person is a potential catalyst or a constraint.

Which is why alignment isn’t just about meetings or vision statements. It’s about how we treat people, how we recognise their contributions, and how well we draw lines between their tasks and the company’s purpose.

Too often, leadership teams try to inspire with abstract goals, but people need translation. They need to understand:
How does sweeping the floor contribute to the launch?
How does reviewing a spreadsheet support the mission?
How does a single line of code, an email, a client call move us closer to our version of the moon?

How to Build a Culture Where Everyone Aims Higher

It starts with conversation. Not broadcast. Not strategy decks. CONVERSATION.

1. Ask what people believe they’re contributing to.
   You’ll be surprised how often people are unclear even in small businesses.

2. Build rituals that connect the micro to the macro.
   It could be weekly check-ins where teams reflect on how their work impacted a client, a partner, or a business goal. Keep the mission front and centre.

3. Celebrate unexpected contributions.
   The junior developer who spotted a potential security risk. The logistics driver who suggested a route that saved fuel. The janitor who helped with an emergency cleanup. These are not “extras.” They are cultural gold.

4. Redesign recognition.
   Stop celebrating only outcomes. Start celebrating alignment. The people who embody the mission, protect the values, and inspire the rest even if they’re not in “leadership.”

When people feel seen, they show up differently. When people feel valued, they push boundaries. When they see that their work matters, they don’t just perform. They contribute.

Why This Matters Now More Than Ever

Today’s workplaces are more complex than ever. Hybrid schedules. Distributed teams. Technology replacing tasks at scale. And amidst all that change, what remains constant is this:

People need purpose, not generic purpose specific alignment with a bigger goal. The future of leadership isn’t about telling people what to do. It’s about helping them see what they’re already part of.

When a janitor can see himself as part of a moon landing, there’s no excuse for why an operations analyst can’t see herself as part of a bold client transformation. There’s no reason why a financial officer can’t feel like their forecasts are contributing to impact. There’s no reason a business should run where only executives feel they’re building something that matters.

Everyone deserves to touch the mission. As leaders, it’s our job to create that connection. Not with slogans, not with vision decks but with honest and human alignment every single day.