When I ask people in workshops to discuss that question and craft a simple answer, an interesting thing often happens.
Typically, people respond with comments like this: ‘We repair and maintain horizontal infrastructure.’ ‘We provide IT support for the company.’ ’We take care of the organisations accounts.’ ‘We deliver community-based health care.’ Maybe you came up with a similar response yourself.
Pause and think. Are you describing why your team exists? Or are you describing what your team does?
What your team does is important. For most of us our workdays are focused on what we need to do. We spend a lot of time being task-oriented. The risk is that we can begin to think that the tasks are the reason for our existence. When that happens work can become a drudgery—a monotonous repetition of going through the motions.
Our tasks are not the reason for our existence. They are a means to an end. We need to know why we are performing tasks. A sense of purpose helps to keep us all engaged and productive.
Being able to describe the purpose of your work in everyday, real language is the key. Vague, grandiose statements like ‘We are here to be the best in our field and save the world’ are not going to be useful.
To be useful, the way you describe your purpose needs to:
Challenge the answers you give by continuing to ask, ‘but why?’ or by adding the question ‘which means?’. Take notice of the phrases that feel natural and authentic. By making the discussion of purpose a part of everyday workplace conversation how you view your tasks will change.