How Each Thing Ties to Your ONE Thing

With that last reference to Jeff Henderson’s book Know What You’re FOR in mind, I want you to consider one more idea that still resonates with me several years after reading it for the first time. Make no mistake though, it was packed full of amazing ideas; this one just connects here really well! Jeff shared a story about his time as a minister, where his church was experiencing significant growth and had dozens of guests every week. They had a group of volunteers designated to check in with guests but those volunteers often struggled to get to everyone. Some of those volunteers were growing very concerned that this would result in some of the first time guests having a bad experience. Jeff emphasized the importance of “doing for one what you wish you could do for everyone,” and not worrying about the things that were out of their control.

When it comes to helping our team members identify the clear purpose that drives them and how that purpose connects with our organization’s overall purpose, the idea of doing for one what we wish we could do for everyone won’t be enough. That’s where it will be critical for us to make sure we’ve done a tremendous job of helping the leaders that support us connect their purpose with the organization’s purpose AND we’ve empowered them to be able to do the same for the team members they’re leading. To achieve the best possible results from leading with a clear purpose, we really do need everyone to be working toward a purpose that’s just as clear as our own. The reality we’ll have to face, as will many of the leaders on our teams, is that much of the work we’ll need to do as we help ALL of our team members make the connection themselves will not necessarily be what any of us love most.

This is where Henderson’s idea (kinda) ties back to what we looked at before from Buckingham - but we’ll need to add a bit of our own creativity! If we’re being reasonable, we’ve accepted the fact that we can't only do the things we love; leadership (or anything else that requires acting even a little bit responsible) doesn’t work that way. But if we can get to the point where around twenty percent of our tasks are indeed things we find joy in - those things they tie directly to fulfilling our clear purpose - there may just be a way we can apply Henderson’s advice to the rest…

Here’s where I’ll be brutally honest with you. I nearly failed my English class as a junior in high school and I just stopped registering for classes at the community college I was enrolled in when English Comp was next on the list. To that end, I never earned the Environmental Science merit badge as a Boy Scout because of the requirement to write a 500 word essay. To this day, writing is not something I really enjoy.

If you and I talk about catching up over lunch, on a web conference, or possibly even a phone call, there’s a high likelihood that I’ll send you my calendar link to choose a time that’s open. That link then creates an appointment on both our calendars with any additional detail needed to ensure we have a productive session. Just like writing, the technology tied to that calendar link and the calendar tool itself aren’t things that I prefer.

OK then, Wes, why do you spend so much time doing things and using tools that you don’t necessarily care for if it’s so important to be working toward a clear purpose that we love? 

At this stage, I write almost every day; not because I like the process of writing but because it’s something that I know I need to do to be the most effective I can be in the things that tie most directly to my purpose. The calendar and any technology around that helps me control the time I have available so I get the most results from it. I’ve learned to treat them as means to an end, and that end is the purpose I’ve identified that gets me out of bed every day and keeps me pushing forward.

By tweaking the idea of doing for one what we wish we could do for everyone to how I think about the things I rarely want to do (but know are necessary), it helps me grind through them knowing the impact they have on the things I really do want to do, the things that truly are connected with my clear purpose. But to even tolerate them that long, I’ve got to think about them in terms that tie back to how I’m wired so we’ll pick up there next time.