New year resolutions can often trickle out just as the first days of spring appear. Yet, these early days of spring are invigorating and a great time to refocus on goals. I always feel that there is still much time to follow through on commitments but I am grateful for the necessary ‘jolt’ into action.
We all lose focus on our goals at some stage. Instead of trying to ‘eliminate’ this inevitability, a better use of our energy is to improve our chances of staying focused. Becoming aware of what distracts you and why, can be the beginning of breaking a cycle or pattern of behaviour, which isn’t helping you. A more effective or sustainable approach is to find a steadfast ‘mechanism’ that helps you to regain that focus.
That ‘steadfast mechanism’ is one simple word. Purpose.
It may be simple in size but it is significant in importance.
From over 20 years helping hundreds of people, teams and organisations get back on track with strategy, or a change plan, or work through a conflictual situation or to get better outcomes or find their resilience, quite typically, the point in the discussion, which ‘jolts’ people into action or to change unhelpful patterns of behaviour, is a question or a discussion on purpose.
Like any good coach I should now ask you what purpose means to you? It means different things to different people in different situations. Dictionary definitions range from, it is a ‘reason for something’, a ‘cause’ or it is a person’s ‘sense of resolve’. Purpose is often connected to themes like motivation, mission, values, authenticity, determination and drive. Purpose is an incredibly rich and powerful word. It covers a lot, succinctly. It is typically overlooked.
On some leadership/management development programmes I include a simple exercise to help people understand purpose and to voice what is important to them. Many of them find this exercise powerful and moving because they realise how much they’ve steered off course as they continuously get wrapped up in the day to day ‘busyness’ of relentless delivery and juggling multiple commitments- with no time to think and absorb what they are doing and why. The reflection is often, rewardingly, a significant jolt for people, as it sparks a more balanced, authentic and therefore more impactful sense of self, which strengthens them as individuals and as organisational leaders.
This practice experience highlights that ‘purpose’ plays a few interlinking but critical roles for people. Purpose is like a compass as it gives direction and can help you hold your course or get back on track if the way becomes foggy or unclear.
Purpose is also a motor as it is energising. Purpose strengthens conviction in self, in decisions and actions. (Re)connecting with what is important to you- your values, gives a ‘jolt’ forward. The energy needs to be channelled in the best direction for it to be effective and efficient. Motors are therefore like ‘rudders’- helping you to hold your course to reach your destination efficiently.
Purpose is also like an anchor: if the way becomes ‘rough’ or you wobble or have setbacks, it might be good to drop anchor for a while to hold steady. As an anchor, purpose helps you retain power and stay in control of sometimes fluid situations.
Purpose is therefore intricately linked to resilience. Greater conviction and confidence help you move forward with strength and resilience to challenges. Resilience is our ability to cope with varying demands of work and life and remain determined, focused, confident and in control under pressure (Jones et al, 2002). Therefore purpose/ resilience is a ‘driver’ or motor and it gives us the agility we need to flex to changes in organisations and in life. It ensures we remain ‘masters of our own fate’, ready to create or avail of opportunities.
Life is 10% what happens to us, 90% how we respond
Helping people to build awareness as to how they react to situations is a well-chosen path to finding better, alternative approaches, if required. Being aware and being ‘able’ to do something about it are however, two different things. A powerful, sustainable approach to help people respond better, is to help them tap into what makes them who they are – their values, motivators, dreams.
As a people manager remembering the importance of purpose could be a game changer when faced with, for example, low energy and motivation in teams; building commitment to change or with poor organisational communications. Remembering purpose helps you focus on the ‘bigger picture’; or identify your own goals in the absence of clarity around organisational goals.
Defining a common goal or purpose is therefore like a ‘compass’ when faced with strategic choices in organisations. Purpose acts like a ‘gelling’ agent, pulling a diverse range of people, needs or priorities together around a common goal. In my experience in strategy or change planning with top teams, the turning point in their own dialogue with each other is when they agree or remember their common organisational purpose. It is often the necessary ‘jolt’ to impasses or tricky situations.
Building or finding purpose is the motor or drive needed to move forward and is therefore an important element for life effectiveness. Exercises to enhance self-awareness and build emotional intelligence can help you to live and work closer to your true values, your purpose. Greater expression of this authenticity and less dissonance between what you say and do, between what you need and want, is the motor and rudder you need for resilience in life, it’s the compass and anchor to keep you focused, whether an individual or a collective in an organisation.
Resilience has long been a topic for discussion in the leadership domain but it has reached mass appeal in recent months as people find ways to cope with the uncertainty and change that a global pandemic has induced. As individuals and organisations alike look for ways to respond constructively to the current and future challenges, finding or reconnecting with purpose is likely the key to building sustainable responses to remain the ‘master of your own fate’. Now quoting Benjamin Disraeli- the secret of success is constancy to purpose.
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