Leadership means helping others find purpose and understand their part in achieving this
People come to work for a number of reasons and typically these are as follows:
- Income security
- Connection and purpose
- Challenge/ self-growth/ knowledge growth
Whether we have done a deep dive ourselves and really understand this or not, most of us will have a very strong association to our identity with the work we do and the careers we forge and in many ways this can define people. Therefore work has a much greater influence on our lives then just paying the bills, and as leaders we have a responsibility to ensure that people gain satisfaction and self-growth in their roles, alongside performing at their highest level of ability and comfort.
‘This does not mean working people to 100% capacity but rather is all about meaningful work, connection and purpose that creates high engagement, exceptional thought sharing and ultimately is a win/win for both individuals and organisational success’.
Do you understand and connect to purpose in your organisation as a leader?
If you have not done this then a great self-reflection and starting point, is often when people spend the time to explore why they are not enjoying a role or the organisation.
Do you truly know, and have you asked what drives your team members, and how they link and identify to the organisational purpose, If they do and where does this start?
‘Asking your team members to identify what really matters to them as individuals and in their own lives and how this links to the organisation is key to them having genuine connection to the organisation’s purpose and to really understanding the part they play’.
Activities as a team, to really explore this and help people understand this in the greater context and then breaking this down to more granular/ micro tasks and activities is critical for success, engagement and achievement culture.
How often do you talk and link activities and discussions to purpose? Is there constant messaging and connection established?
How do you test connection to purpose / observe and identify gaps / disconnects with your people?
This can be done in every one-on-one, team meetings, and in terms of setting goals and milestones by asking some simple questions.
Eg: How did this outcome link to our organisational purpose?
How have you influenced/ affected our organisational goals and purpose this month?
How does this activity/ line of thinking help us achieve our organisational goals and
purpose?
How is this reinforced ? How is this recognised and how is this rewarded / linked to rewards?
We are true believers that purpose, customer experience must always be linked to performance triggers for bonuses and incentives. Where people go above and beyond in achieving this then this should absolutely be rewarded in a visible way to again reinforce and profile success and genuine connection to purpose. This should not always be about a tangible monetised profit basis and should include actions which may have a longer, impactful result, which is not always immediately visible.
Leadership is all about helping our people to find meaningful connections to their work, teams and the organisations we represent. It starts with self-belief and awareness. There is never a better time to reflect, recognise and act as needed to keep lifting our game to achieve the above .