When AZIZ asked me to write about Purpose, my first thought was “what new can I add that you won’t already know?”. But then I realised I bring meaning and purpose into almost everything I do at work and with almost everyone I work with, and so I thought I might share some of the variety of (what I think to be straightforward) ways in which I do that.
Generally in my work, I tend to keep things as simple as I can. Partly this is because I am not particularly clever or sophisticated myself, and partly because I want my clients to use the tools we use together again and again without the need for ongoing coaching or facilitation.
Perhaps it might help to think of your purpose as way beyond you – it is really about what gets created, enhanced, amplified, or shared because you do what you do. The purpose element of this is about what is intentional, rather than unconscious or accidental.
I am not a religious person but Ed Rowland of The Whole Partnership introduced me a few years ago to this lovely quote from Frederick Buechner in his work Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC:
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
With gratitude to both Ed and Frederick, I have stolen this quote and adapted it in my work to:
“My purpose is in that space where what brings me real joy meets what the world needs from me.”
Without the joy bit, I am unlikely to sustain it through the tougher times, and without the “what the world needs” bit probably means it doesn’t make any difference.
What do you think the world (as you describe it) needs from you or people like you? What contribution to meeting that need would bring you utter joy?
Many years ago, Claire Breeze and Khurshed Dehnugara of Relume introduced me to their powerful “signature” process which, again with real gratitude to them, I have adapted over the years. For me, it acts in numerous ways. I can use this set of questions in the immediate moment or I can use it for the purpose of my life or for anything in between.
The questions are:
- Why do I think I am here? What do I really want to achieve that has meaning and importance for me? (In this life, in this meeting, doing this particular piece of work etc.)
- What core values do I want to bring to this?
- What experience do I want this to create for the people whom I work/live with? (NOT what do I want them to think of me – but rather how do I want them to feel, what do I want them to go away with, what do I want to get created or grown for them?)
- What challenges am I facing or anticipating to get there (don’t over analyse)
- What mindset or attitude would support me in achieving this?
- What energy is needed now to take this further?
My own example right now might be:
- Why do I think I am here? Helping people to be the very best they can be, feeling loved and appreciated for their decency is something I aim for in most of my work
- What core values do I want to bring to this? I would like to bring kindness (but not niceness), integrity, decency/good intention and transparency
- What experience do I want this to create for the people whom I work/live with? I would love people to go away from the work with me feeling really seen and heard with more self-confidence, with increased self-awareness, feeling empowered and hopeful that they can do what they need to do in life and more encouraged to bring care and love for others in what they do as well as self-care and self-love
- What challenges am I facing or anticipating? Challenges I face are that people might mistake kindness for niceness (indeed I might find myself being too nice), and that care and love might not be perceived as important in a rather transactional and temporal world of work
- What mindset or attitude would support me? A mindset that might support me might be that I will do it anyway, I will role model it, I will keep going with it, and that I will really try and hear where people are coming from and understand their challenges and perspectives
- What energy is needed now? The energy needed right now might be simply a quiet determination and acceptance of what is and where people are – with compassion rather than any form of righteousness
Another way of drawing out purpose in this rapidly changing and complex world with so many dangers to planet, nature and the most disadvantaged of people in the world, is to ask questions around the wider impact. Such questions (which fall under the general question “what kind of ancestor do you want to be?”) might include:
- Who do you think your followers will be in a generation’s time? (People you lead and develop now? Your children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces etc? The people who will use the products of your organisation in 20-30 years’ time? Etc.)
- What kind of world do you want them to be living in?
- What kind of life do you want them to be living?
- What do you want them to be saying or thinking about the contribution you made to that world and to that life?
- What don’t you want them to be saying or thinking?
- What might you achieve if you brought all your skills and expertise, your connections, your courage, your heart and soul to it and were truly committed? What stories might be being told? What contribution might you be most proud of?
- Where do you want to take this now?
In this last respect it is important to continue to keep and build the hope that we can make a difference, even if it is only to how people are treated while the climate and the planet change around us.
I hope this stimulates your thinking and that some element of it resonates for you, and that it is useful. And I wish you all the very best while you consider who you want to be and what you want to create. Why are you here?
By the way: my favourite work on this subject is by Margaret J Wheatley in her book “Who Do We Choose To Be?” but of course there are many other wonderful books on the topic should you wish to read more.
