The Leadership Year: Month 7
As leaders, being passionate about what we do is a compelling characteristic. We’re more likely to follow leaders who show a real drive towards a vision and do so in an authentic way. In fact, it would be hard to be led by someone who didn’t feel at least equal our own sense of passion for what they or their company did. But sometimes this can feel like a luxury. Not all jobs have the “follow your dream” nature to them. Many of us are not in roles we saw ourselves doing “when we grew up”. So how can we ensure that we still have purpose and drive throughout our careers?
Finding our “Why” might be the key here. Why do you do the job you do? When you stop and think about it there are lots of jobs you could have done, so why specifically do you do your job. There will inevitably be some logistical reasons. Perhaps the pay is right, the hours work for you etc. Perhaps even being employed gives you a sense of security versus having your own business. These are important factors, but to really tap into our passion we need to dig deeper. What do you really value about your role? Even people with the same job role may have very different answers to this question. Perhaps you’re in sales and enjoy making a difference to companies you work with? Or that you like getting to know more people. Or even that the fast-paced environment is something you thrive on. Sometimes we can lose sight of these things as our roles are often busy and may also include things, we’re not so driven by such as paperwork or mundane tasks. When we’re distracted by these things it’s even more important, we can tap into our “why”. Paperwork stops being quite such a distraction if we can see it as a route to achieving our why, but we often need to work harder to reinforce the positives. A Satisfaction or Victory log might be a good route here. Rather than focus on problem solving and meeting company KPIs (although of course still do this…!) spend some time capturing the things you have done that reinforce why you do your job. Don’t just capture what happened, but why it was important to you and how it made you feel.
Finding the “why” in our everyday work is a great first step. But to take this further we might like to explore a mission. Mission statements are common in businesses, but why shouldn’t they also be personal? Take someone like Martin Luther-King. He has a very clear vision for the future and made it his mission to drive towards his vision. Now of course such a well-known figure can be daunting, and whilst we can think big, perhaps we’ll never be so driven by our mission as to become famous for our motivating speeches! But having a mission gives us a real feeling of purpose. It’s something to drive towards, and that is empowering. By being clear on where we want to head, we feel more in control of our lives, and it can make decision making a lot easier.
There is perhaps no better person to look to for why “why” is so important than Simon Sinek. He’s become something of a rock star in the leadership theorist world and his TED talk is one of the most watched of all time. What Sinek does so well is communicate clearly how important the why is to getting other people to buy into our vision. It is a technique that can be used with teams and clients alike. His “start with why” concept is one that I have found to be universally popular in training sessions. Often when we communicate with others, we start with what we want them to do, how we want them to do it, and then finally giving them reasons why it’s important. This approach is driven by logic perhaps – a focus on what exactly needs to happen but neglects the important factor of personal motivation. Understanding what needs to be done doesn’t give us a compelling reason to do anything, and certainly not to do anything well. Now of course in a business we do often have to do what we’re told in order to keep our jobs but how much more inspired would we feel about the work if we explored the why first? And this is what Sinek suggests. Start with why something needs to be done, this will get emotional buy-in early. Then reverse the usual process by explaining how and then what needs to be done. Even the most complicated tasks can see better results when people start by buying into the why. Sinek sums this up well by saying “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. For leaders to inspire teams to want to follow them, being clear on their ‘why’ may be the most important step.
The best thing you can do to find your why is to spend some time simply reflecting. Taking time to re-connect with why we do our jobs, and why others should buy into our vision is something we should make time for as regularly as possible so as not to ‘drift’ through our careers. If we drift too much, we may become leaders who fail to inspire and become immemorable to others. It’s therefore even more important for leaders to be more certain of their purpose for better professional and, perhaps more importantly, personal satisfaction too.
