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August 2, 2006
Leading on Purpose
by Sridhar Ramanathan
When was the last time you took a few hours with your team to discuss its purpose? Executives and managers of successful companies are so busy working on the “what” (projects, deliverables, deadlines, issues, etc.) that they have very little time reflecting on the “why” (purpose, meaning, and the intent) behind their actions. They rarely stop to answer fundamental questions such as:
- Why is our organization here?
- What contribution do we make to the company, our customers and shareholders?
- Are we working on what’s most important?
- Are we doing the right thing or just doing things right?
Answers to these questions will help your organization produce better results and inspire breakthrough contributions. The mere discussion of these questions is quite motivational and empowering. It allows for new possibilities and breakthrough ideas that haven’t had the opportunity to emerge.
Benefits of an outsider:
A facilitated session helps free up the manager to participate and engage in the discussion without having to “manage” the discussion or act like a leader. And that creates an opening for your team to speak out perhaps on issues, assumptions, and beliefs that may have affected progress in the past. A facilitator can also help energize the team by clearing the way for new discussions/thinking that can yield a better outcome for the whole team.
One approach:
Use a facilitator with extensive operational management experience to bring practical guidance and depth to the exercise of honing your team’s purpose. Don’t focus on wordsmithing the perfect mission statement but rather on stimulating rich discussion, uncovering limiting beliefs/assumptions, and opening up new possibilities for your team’s future. The three phases of a 3-hour session might be:
- The Past – What are our successes and what has been limiting our success?
- The Present – Where are we now, really, relative to our expectations?
- The Future – What are new possibilities moving forward?
The output of the discussion is a “FAQ” document-- answers to infrequently asked questions that are vital to high performance teams and future success. Give it a try and see for yourself how much a difference a half a day can make.
(c) Sridhar Ramanathan Pacifica Group
Posted August 2, 2006 | Permalink
Posted to Leadership