A Clear, Elevated Goal

In 1961 President John Kennedy gave a speech exhorting an entire nation to put a man on the moon before the decade was over. Some years later he visited the team at NASA who were working furiously to fulfil his vision and was introduced to several eminent scientists and researchers. He met the administrators, the accountants, the aspiring astronauts. Everyone seemed to share a sense of pride and passion for their collective dream. Walking through the corridors on the way back to his limousine he came across an elderly grey-haired man stooping with a bucket in one hand and a mop in another. The President stopped to make conversation, asking a somewhat redundant question, 'And what do you do here at the Cape?' Straightening his back the old man looked squarely at the President, 'Sir,' he replied, 'I'm doing the same as everybody else. I'm working here to put a man on the moon.'
Adapted from The Magic of Metaphor by Nick Owen, 2001

What happens when team members are inspired by a goal, a vision that is much bigger than their current task?