Some of our most impactful moments emerge amidst adversity, and these moments become part of our story, shaping our resilience, and fuelling our determination to persist. You will be unstoppable, if you create a purpose for the work that you are doing that is bigger than yourself. What a statement! Think about it, if you have a reason or story to keep showing up the daily grind will not be overwhelming or drain your energy. I think by anchoring your work to a purpose larger than yourself, you create a compelling story that keeps you going, driving you past obstacles towards meaningful achievements.
Do you agree?
If you agree with the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, that all human action is purposeful in some way, and you are only truly happy when you are doing something that is moving you toward something that you want. The big questions then become:
· What are your goals?
· What purposes are you aiming at?
· What do you want at the end of the day?
This year I had the opportunity to work with a global financial services organisation, and they clarified their purpose as ‘enabling positive futures’. In other words, the better able they are to deliver financial services, the more likely they are to enable the positive futures of their customers. The key was that every employee in their organisation was conscious of this purpose and incorporated it into everything they did.
Pursuing purpose
Purpose gives you an overriding reason to do and act in certain ways, then using agile practices to respond to changes in the environment, I think you will be able to align quickly to the direction that you set. The commitment to the framework goals that you are trying to pursue, and the purpose driven approach helps you to do that as well. Agile is very people centred, it’s about giving people autonomy so that they can pursue the initiatives that you are trying to put in place. Agile is the ideal approach to execute change because it tends to make more committed employees and give them more of a reason to want to engage and develop the change programmes you are trying to pursue.
Recognising the agenda
Business leaders are under pressure come up with a corporate purpose and defining your purpose is equivalent of being able to define your organisations North Star. I think to qualify as a “North Star,” a metric must do three things: lead to revenue, reflect customer value, and measure progress. Finding the right answer involves identifying the most authentic and motivating basis for alignment among key stakeholder groups on which the success of the business depends. For example, climate change, workplace safety, diversity, employee well-being (whistleblower platforms), etc. Contact me via e-mail to discuss the possibilities for your organisation to incorporate the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals into your strategy.
And the other side
We all want engaged employees who want to deliver, not just for the organisation but also for themselves. We are now seeing more stories about how organisations are getting very hands on about building a bottom-up processes, where teams of employees are working with managers at the customer interface level, helping individual employees work out how they can connect to the corporate purpose. Understanding the dreams of the people in the organisation and how they might be the key to motivating your employees. This will ensure that the organisations purpose is something that their employees can really engage with in a meaningful way, as this helps them as they decide to give their full effort at work.
This is one side of the coin
What does purpose really mean?
Purpose is one of the hot topics for the moment, just like mission and vision were thrown about in the 1990’s. Jonathan Knowles HBR article from March 2022 explained that different organisations use purpose in different ways; some are around competence, some are around culture, and some are around cause. I think all organisations really need to understand which type of purpose is most authentic to them, fits with their strategy and really aligns with their stakeholders. Organisations have to be really thoughtful around what really motivates employees and helps them with that alignment process as you are trying to implement strategy. Pursuing purpose is a good idea but you have to get the right purpose and ensure it’s authentic, sits with the strategy and serves stakeholders.
Brand with purpose
Your purpose is about where you spend your best energy and where you put your love, and it isn’t always about your day job. Your purpose might be something you are in service of, something or someone you love and care about deeply, or it might be a call to action that you cannot turn away from. Your purpose doesn’t have to be big and dramatic, or even a global one. I feel like the luckiest and most privileged person in the world because I found purpose in my life at a very early age.
Some people are having short term success with hustling and spamming, but it’s trust what makes people continue to buy. We all want to trust brands who help us solve our problems, unfortunately nowadays consumers seem to have very little trust in brands. I think trust is claiming the high ground and stating things that are actually true. In the short run, you may not get a lot of sales as the brands who are spamming and hustling but in the long run they’ll be gone, and we’ll still be here.
Redefining your goals
A campaign without a clear goal is essentially a waste of money, as you won’t know how to measure the impact or value of the work you’ve put in. Goals are there to provide clarity, purpose, direction and vision. Whether personal or commercial, they are what lead to success for you, your department, and the business as a whole. Hitting your goal proves you're making an impact. Contact me via e-mail for an evaluation of your goal setting procedures.
Lead from the heart
For things to be better you first get yourself better, don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better and ask to be wiser and stronger. Have a great week and work on the small gains.
“Men will work hard for money. They will work harder for other men. But men will work hardest of all when they are dedicated to a cause. Until willingness overflows obligation, men fight as conscripts rather than following the flag as patriots. Duty is never worthily performed until it is performed by one who would gladly do more if only he could.”
Your corporate culture is vital
Culture is a set of invisible rules we use to operate, the do’s and do nots, and how you behave in an organization. Purpose is a why do we exist question. One could argue that culture and purpose are interrelated as when you articulate your purpose hopefully it will shape and form your culture. I think one of the main reasons why culture is so important is due to the stability it provides for so many people. It creates a sense of security and safety for individuals as it gives them a united and unified sense of belonging. Contact me via e-mail if you would like me look into your corporate culture.
“Bad companies are destroyed by crisis, good companies survive them, great companies are improved by them. ”
Ikigai
Ikigai (生き甲斐, "ee-kee-guy") is a Japanese concept that describes the things that make your life worthwhile; the things that give you a deep sense of purpose, satisfaction and joy. Ikigai is made up of two Japanese words, iki (生き), which means life, and kai (甲斐), meaning effect, result, value, benefit, or worth. Iki and kai come together to give us ikigai: a reason to live/to exist.
Journey of discovery
How does purpose drive performance?
Your purpose will be the foundational base for driving strategy, so sharpen and tweak it continuously, and this will also help to implement it. Purpose is not a statement, it’s an ideal. Purpose is a sense of what are my goals and ambition, purpose also asks what my duties are and why I exist. Writing the words is the easy part, the hard part is how you translate a set of words into a plan of action. And when you think long-term it forces you to think about the stakeholders you want to serve.
Why before the what
When you really feel an idea and just don’t take “no” for an answer, it doesn’t take much for us to feel good about ourselves. We don’t have to announce it to the world, we just have to begin, and the small journey will have begun.
“I am so grateful for the circumstances that brought me to this place as all these twists and turns have brought me to this destination. Now I have the opportunity to serve other people as well as to help myself fulfil my destiny.”
Do your best
I think in a remote working environment, autonomy, mastery and purpose helps to replace managerial control with empowered self-control. Nowadays, everyone has the opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills. As a leader, it is your duty to offer your employees the opportunity to master new skills. Overcoming challenges and acquiring mastery is a satisfying part of the human experience, whether it’s related to your work or not. Everyone wants more money; in my experience salary is rarely the main motivator for excellent performance.
Giving back
Before the pandemic, I was what one would call a frequent flyer, traveling across the globe and meeting people. Nowadays, these meetings are taking place via believe that businesses around the globe are suffering from the common phenomenon of a LACK of clarity of purpose. My belief seems to be echoed by a number of Customer Experience specialists and commentators. If you look at the dictionary definition of ‘purpose’, it is quite simple: “the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists”
Developing a very clear and well understood organisational purpose is critical if the business is likely to succeed in its attempts to sustainably achieve its strategic goals. If employees have differing senses of the ‘reason for being’ of an organisation, then this will and can only translate into the delivery of random customer experiences. If you want your customers to have a consistent customer experience, all employees need to know what that consistent customer experience should be.
Remote working
In the current remote working world, managers and leaders must promote ownership and accountability to help their employees to connect to the organisations mission. Do you have a clear picture about your team members?
- Who are they as a person?
- What skills can be improved?
- How can you help them to thrive?
Leaders who want to maximise self-motivation for each member of their team would have given them a clear definition of their purpose and role in the organisation as they began working from home. And this should be connected to the organisations overall purpose (or why). Purpose may include a desire to make an impact by contributing to something larger than themselves or challenging themselves to grow and learn new skills. Overcoming challenges and acquiring mastery is one of the most satisfying parts of the human experience, regardless of whether it is work related or not. How well do you understand your employees’ current skills, aptitude, and potential?
Working from home
Working from home is not a new phenomenon but due to the Covid-19 pandemic it has become the new normal for most employees. It’s more than likely that many of you have been or will be working remotely for the foreseeable future, so it’s imperative to distinguish between private and professional life at home. As employees are the key drivers for all businesses, companies, and organisations, hopefully your boss sent you home with more than just your laptop.
In a remote working model, autonomy, mastery and purpose will help leaders to replace control with empowered self-control. Leaders and managers should focus on empowering and motivating their teams by establishing clear goals and boundaries for each member of their team and allow them freedom to operate within these boundaries. I think leaders and managers should concede control and enhance motivation by trusting employees to work in ways that suits them best.
Going against the grain
The idea that we are trying to optimise something is fundamentally mistaken, we are using the wrong maths and the wrong mindset in making marketing decisions if we assume only that our job is to be the best at something. If we define ourselves by our competitors, we’ll be even worse because we are trying to be better at something that a lot of people are already very good at. What’s the point of doing that?
My purpose is not to be a great competitor, my purpose is to create a mental monopoly in the space. Essentially, so that I have a monopoly (price and power) and can operate like a business - innovate and take long term decisions. The second I try to be competitive; the future health of my business is already in doubt because I’ll be driven by short-term thinking and the whims of the market. What about your organisation?
Heroes have a growth mindset
Leadership is not about being the best, leadership is about making everyone else better, and you can’t learn leadership from a textbook or by gaining a certain title or number of years of experience. Leadership and the ability to influence others are a result of understanding people and if we take the time to develop this, it is much easier to influence other people, because you will be able to speak to their purposes and motivations.
As a leader, you cannot do everything yourself in a fast-changing business world. You need a team that takes ownership, that coaches and helps each other to cross the finish line together, that maintains each other’s energy. If you have this kind of culture, where people are also rewarded for these behaviours, then everyone can have the ability to influence change for good, and they will want to do so. I think the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley made an excellent speech at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, see “When will leaders lead?”.
The magnificent obsession
In general, leaders expect to influence how people think and behave at work, but they feel ill equipped to understand and actively manage how employees feel and express their emotions at work. I love sitting down with experts, people who have dedicated their lives to understanding more about human behaviour and the dynamics of how the mind works. Contact me if you feel stuck and you are trying to figure out your life purpose.
The Holocaust survivor and psychologist Viktor Frankl stated in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning,” that a person can withstand just about anything as long as they have a purpose to strive for. I have found that people who have purpose in their lives, have something to go for. Purpose is the thing that pushes us into the future, some people are always pulled back by their past and some people are always pulled aside by distractions. I think that when you have a list high purposes in your life it will push you towards the future. The clearer the purpose, the stronger the desire to fulfil and achieve your purpose.