What's your purpose?

Whilst on my career break I've done a lot of thinking about my next career chapter and the other priorities in my life including my son, friends, family and hobbies .. (well actually I realised I didn't have any hobbies, so have started to re-discover some and find some new ones)!

Today I had a bit of a lightbulb moment. I stepped out of the freezing cold into a room full of warmth and positive energy. It was my first time at a women's networking event organised by the formidable Lady Val Corbett.

I'm proud to have recently become an Ambassador of the Corbett Network (along with Erwin James, Faith Spear and Diane Curry). The network does inspiring work mobilising employers to hire people with convictions and provides much needed discussion space for organisations supporting people leaving prison to find work.

I love networks and alliances. I believe collaboration is key. None of us alone has all the answers. My lightbulb moment came during a thought-provoking talk given over lunch by Alexander Inchbald on the theme of purpose. We were challenged to think about articulating our purpose not as a goal (in my case 'fix our broken criminal justice system'), but as a way of being that can be relevant not only to work, but to other aspects of life. My pull towards networks and alliances helped me realise my purpose as connecting people and planting seeds to make change happen.

At the networking event I met women change-makers from all different sectors. Facilitated by Lady Val we connected, laughed, shared hopes and fears, discussed our purposes and talked about the ways we could help each other. In an age of Zoom meetings these physical spaces where carefully crafted and interactive networking opportunities happen are now even more valuable.

This is an important part of system-change, called 'systems convening'. Bringing people together with purpose. The Centre for Public Impact describes systems convenors as 'those who are able to bring people together across different practices, organisations, goals, and cultures. They enable learning across boundaries and connect people across silos, seeking to engage diverse perspectives.' They conclude that we need more of it in order to tackle complex problems, such as fixing our failing justice system. So thank you Lady Val for your systems convening today!

'As a form of cross-boundary leadership, systems convening is an approach well suited to the most complex of challenges, with the potential to help all institutions thrive in the 21st century.' Centre for Public Leadership?

I look forward to working with the other Corbett Network Ambassadors to work out our 'purpose' in this role, so that its more than just a title, and we can play our part in building deeper connections and making lasting change happen.