A Path Toward Their Purpose

Helping our team members achieve real work/life harmony, rather than chasing the illusion of balance, by empowering them to work toward a meaningful purpose of their own will go a long way toward earning positive answers to each of the questions we just looked at. Keeping their purpose in front of them will show that we care, consistently looking out for their best interests (while still keeping them focused on the required tasks) will add to how they trust us, and providing them with the opportunities to grow in the areas that move them closer to reaching their individual purpose will show we’re investing into helping them. But to make sure we’re giving them the support they truly need overall rather than what they want in the moment, the part we looked at previously about listening to what they’re telling us and being able to verbalize the purpose they’re driven by needs to be something we’ve taken to heart!

When we’ve done the work necessary to understand exactly what gets them out of bed in the mornings and where they see themselves in the years to come, we can actively look for ways to give them exposure to tasks and experiences that tie directly to what we’re working to achieve as an organization but also help prepare them for the next step in their career. In What’s KILLING Your Profitability? (It ALL Boils Down to Leadership!), I dedicated nearly an entire chapter to not pushing someone into a role just because it seems like the next logical step in their career progression. Truth be told, that’s where learning what drives our team members becomes critical. All the exposure in the world to new and different opportunities, as good as our intentions may be, can lead to a very different result than we hope for if the role we’re attempting to groom someone for isn’t aligned with a purpose that fulfills them.

The idea of Reproduction, the fourth R we challenge folks to consider near the end of our Emerging Leader Development course, certainly ties to preparing team members to succeed us in the roles we’re currently filling but it shouldn’t stop there - especially if our role (or whatever we’re attempting to prepare them for) doesn’t line up with their goals. It’s not all that empowering if we’re pushing someone in a direction they’d prefer not to go… The more in tune we are with the purpose that each of our team members are driven by and how we can connect those things back to what we’re working to achieve with them, the more effective we can be in creating a career path that feeds both while ensuring any delegation we’re able to do to reproduce ourselves is indeed moving them in a direction they’ll enjoy; one that’s in line with both their individual purpose and the organization’s purpose.

As we close this look at providing a clear purpose for each of the team members we lead, we’ll work through how we can help them develop a career path that feeds both AND yields the work/life harmony that only comes when there’s fulfillment in nearly everything we put our hand to. We’ll pick up there soon.