The Missing Link Between Strategic Goals and Purpose
In a recent Leadership Team meeting, we learned a process designed to distill our strategic goals into actionable steps. The intention is to align our individual actions with corporate objectives and drive better outcomes.
The process undoubtedly has merit. I think it would achieve alignment and get us all pulling hard in the same direction. But I couldn’t ignore what I thought was an important missing piece. Processes like these seem to focus on what needs to be done and how to do it but miss the crucial why. The connection between these actions and a greater purpose for everyone tasked with execution.
The Power of Purpose: A Personal Revelation
I found my purpose about 15 years ago. I was on the verge of burnout and a business coach threw a proverbial life-preserver by suggesting I should think bigger. I should tie my work to something beyond professional success. Not about money or possessions, but about the impact I would leave behind—a legacy. What would I want people to say at my funeral?
That question reframed my perspective. I realized that too many of us get up in the morning and report to work, do a good job, go home, repeat. We are content. We get paid well. We like the people we work with. It’s fulfilling in its own way, right? Maybe.
How much different would it be if your work wasn’t just a job? What if you knew that the work was meaningful in a way that a paycheck couldn’t satisfy. That you would accomplish something uniquely worthwhile to you? Imagine the passion and the drive that follows enriching your own life, and the lives around you, for something other than a paycheck.
Connecting Work to a Greater Purpose
During the meeting, I seized the opportunity to offer the same “life-preserver” to our Leadership Team that my business coach had thrown to me many years ago. I challenged them to dig deep and determine the driving force that governs the actions, not just of themselves but, of the people they lead, and to connect it to a significant life accomplishment. It could be anything! From empowering others to reach their full potential to inspiring a deeper sense of purpose in everyone they encounter– it doesn’t matter what it is as long as it fits with the goals of the department in some way and connects with something very deep within the individual.
Why Purpose Should Be the Rule, Not the Exception
Even though I will be here to provide coaching and support through the process, I understand this is uncharted territory for a lot of people, and not everyone is ready to embrace it. But it’s worth pursuing, and I am hopeful that many of them will ponder this in a way that positively impacts their lives. Why should this way of thinking be the exception, and not the rule? Work, and life, would be infinitely more rewarding if it were.
