The Power of Purpose

Last week I had the privilege of working with the team responsible for an Australian project of significance; the First Nations Community Access to Archives (Museums of History NSW). The aim of this project is to improve access for First Nations people to important archival material about culture, kinship, stories and languages within the?State Archives Collection. Much of the information being gathered, reviewed and repaired is of a sensitive and traumatic nature and impacts the team members doing this essential work.

The aim of our day was to integrate new team members, to look at the diversity of the personalities and working preferences of the team, and to identify ways to work to strengths for even better outcomes.

I have been working with the chosen team development profiling tool (TMS Team Management Profile) from TMS APAC both as a leader and practitioner for over 30 years and I have been facilitating team development workshops for almost 20 years.

What was different about this team?

Firstly, there was great, natural diversity. The Manager of this team Gulwanyang Moran , was aware of similarity bias and consciously chose to recruit by actively seeking difference in personality, capability and other demographics. We know that diverse teams perform better but that it’s not always comfortable (David Rock et al), and this is where the difference that makes a difference comes in.

Each and every team member was fully committed, passionate about and driven to contribute to the success of this project and, in what I was experiencing, this was the glue that was not only holding them together, but contributing to the cohesion, commitment and desire for success.

Storytelling was an integral part of the day with team members sharing how they overcome challenges around difference, how they value and respect the diversity in the team and how they appreciate, in the words of Briggs & Myers, their ‘gifts differing’.

Having and believing in such a strong purpose is the anchor that stabilises them in rocky waters, where differences of opinion and problems that arise are swiftly put into the context of the bigger picture and left behind, so as to stay focused on the goal.

For me, this was such a clear demonstration of the Power of Purpose and something I have been an advocate of throughout my career. From my earliest of days in hospitality it was made clear how the work that I did (and the quality of it) contributed to an exceptional guest experience which enabled them to start their day refreshed and energised, and so we were directly helping them to achieve their goals and outcomes.

I shall leave you with some food for thought:-

• To what degree are your people bought in to the purpose of your organisation and its products or services? If not, why not? This also begs the question – does your organisation have a clearly defined and compelling purpose??
• To what degree does every staff member at every level understand how their role contributes to the mission and vision of the organisation??
• To what degree are the mission, vision and values alive and kicking? Not ‘words on a wall’ but daily conversations, woven into the fabric of communication at all levels??
• To what degree has every staff member had involvement and inclusion in the creation and maintenance of the values??
• If I were to take each member of your team aside and ask them what the purpose of the team/department/business is – would I get a cohesive, aligned response or something different??

Regardless of our role, I believe that we each come to work to contribute in some way and to make a difference, be that to our families, our clients, our colleagues or other parties. How that difference is articulated and reinforced can make the difference between a team like the one I worked with last week, or a group of people performing a bunch of tasks, and how privileged are we as people managers and leaders that we can be the ones who get to influence them in the right direction?? ????

#purpose #leadership #diversity #inclusion #teamdevelopment #teammanagementprofile #tmp #missionvisionandvalues