Finding Purpose

Why do you really do what you do?

It is no secret that purpose fuels passion and performance. When we have a compelling reason to do something, a purpose, we are totally engaged and seem to be able to achieve the impossible.

Athletes speak of additional power to their legs, people find strength in an emergency they would otherwise not have … because their focus went way beyond themselves.

I thought it would useful to explore the next layer of this onion. Knowing that purpose can lift people beyond their fear doesn’t actually help unless you can identify and voice that purpose.

What I do know is that when we focus on ourselves we become the issue. When we focus on something or someone else beyond us, often bigger than us, everything seems to align to make it happen and we can move mountains.

Zach Mercurio is incredibly informative on this subject, as pointed out by my friend and colleague on Monday. “Altruism is one of the most primitive parts of our brain … we are hard wired to help others” is one of his key findings.

When we focus on finding our purpose, it’s like we hit a blind spot in many cases. Like trying to get our eyeball to look at our own eyeball. It is elusive. Here’s the thing … it isn’t complex, it isn’t even business focused in its content. A true purpose is simple, people focused and fills your being with energy when you think of it.

In this example Zach tells us of a cleaning lady, she had come out of retirement having held supervisor positions previously. She was now doing basic cleaning at the university including cleaning toilets. WHY he asked her would you come out of retirement to do this? She replied that she just couldn’t bare staying at home when she knew there were students at the university needing a parent figure. It didn’t matter you see what she did. It was what she brought to the environment. She therefore timed her work to have maximum interaction with the students, to be available to them in a parental way. Simple. Caring and totally focused on her gift to the students. It wasn’t about the task, it was about the difference she could make to others.

Simon Sinek has for many years now famously urged us all to express the WHY and not only the WHAT and the HOW. In fact it is clear from our cleaning lady story that the WHAT and the HOW are coloured by the WHY. Our actions and how we conduct them are driven by the WHY … the Purpose behind all that we do.

In my work with the wonderful TAI Group, we are guided, during our training, to find our meaning and purpose through exploring art, our life-story (narrative) and our values. They combine to show a red thread of passion that has fueled key successes, and is notably absent during tough times when we might be failing. In leadership it is easy to lose that personal focus or True North that guides us, creates meaning and gives us strength. So often I work with people whose purpose has become the figures and they face burn out. Employees are only ever disengaged when they can’t see the meaning in what they do, they can’t see the difference they make by doing what they do and how it aligns to what they are passionate about.

While we spend this time in isolation, we are given a chance to reflect, and find that “True North”. When we have our team meetings on Zoom or whichever platform you use, we are instantly transported into that personal environment. Children, pets and artifacts are all visible to our bosses, colleagues and clients. We are in “Home clothes” not suits. At the beginning of this isolation experience, some did still feel the need to put on a suit … on the top half at least! As the days go by I notice people relaxing into their personal and real brand. This is a valuable piece which encourages us to include the personal in the business, because we now have to. Let’s hope we can keep some of these gifts from this challenging time.

This journey is made easier with a guide or coach. Discussion with your teams around when they experienced being most fulfilled in their lives, what they were doing and how it affected those around them may just clarify some useful direction and focus over the coming days and weeks.