One of the questions we ask when we sit down with a group of leaders is this, "From your perspective, why does your organization exist? Why are you here?" Then we listen as each person has a chance to respond. Sometimes we have to work hard to make sure everyone gets a chance; often the executive will try to answer for them. But we know it's important for each one to have a turn; it's the only way we can tell whether the people in an organization really have a common sense of purpose. If we hear a bunch of different answers to the question, we know they do not.
That happens a lot.
Think it doesn't matter? Imagine that you are the owner of a neighborhood ice cream shop. Now, imagine that each of your employees has a different understanding of why you exist. What kind of experience will your customers receive if they encounter an employee who thinks the purpose of your ice cream shop is:
- ...to sell ice cream. Period.
- ...to annihilate the ice cream shop on the other side of the street.
- ...huh? what purpose? i just want a paycheck for doing as little work as possible.
- ...to make your neighborhood the happiest place on earth.
Try asking this question of your leaders: "From your perspective, why does our organization exist? Why are we here?" Let each one respond. Listen! Does what you hear give you the impression that you have a shared sense of purpose? For real? Or are you living and working at the intersection of confusion corner because the message your leaders are communicating sounds more like this:
(Thanks to Dan Pink, collector of intelligent – and not so intelligent! – signs!)
"People who are courageous and smart enough to spend time really wrestling with these questions together find that they come out so committed to their common purpose that they are willing to do whatever it takes and change whatever needs changing in order to achieve it. They don’t get stuck on doing things 'the way we’ve always done them.' They don’t argue about things that don’t matter. Their traditions, rituals, rules, etc. take a back seat to their common goals. They can adapt to any new situation. They lean into the future. People today are longing for a sense of meaning and purpose. Your job as a leader is to help people ask the purposeful questions; the questions of meaning in your common work. This is true no matter what kind of organization you are leading."
- excerpt from The Future Starts Now (A Renewal Enterprise, ARE Books, 2009)
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