Everyone can agree that having a purpose is a good thing. But what constitutes a powerful purpose? What can it really do for an organization? And how do you go about clarifying one?
Those are questions that I still get asked. Answering them could fill a book. Well, actually, they do fill a book. And while I recommend reading said book, I thought I would share four rules that I keep coming back to every time I work with an organization to embrace its purpose. I hope you find them useful as you work to clarify a purpose for yourself or your organization.
1. Identify what it is that you are passionate about
When I set out to help organizations embrace a purpose, one of the key questions I ask is, “What are you passionate about?” I find that this question makes a fair amount of leadership team members uncomfortable at first. And rightly so. If you’re being honest and you do feel deeply about it, revealing your passion can leave you feeling a little exposed. So when we begin, it’s not unusual for leadership team members to bluster on about how they are passionate about improving profits in their division. That’s not a purpose. It’s an outcome of the company’s purpose. But it’s not the purpose itself. The purpose is something that ignites the room. It’s something that people feel. Deeply. It…
