Teams Don't Create Purpose; Purpose Creates Teams

I work with teams who want to bring more meaning and purpose to their work.  They often ask “What is the real purpose of this team?”. “It must be more than just meeting the bottom line”?  Organizations are like people – we are all at different stages of development.  Taking Maslow’s Theory, if an organization is at the survival stage, then cost cutting, turnaround or sustainability is probably going to be the order of the day.  The focus is short-term and internal.  Conversely, if the organization is financially successful and moving into the “self-actualized” stage, then having a higher purpose becomes a driving force and the focus is more all-encompassing and future based. E.g. How do we make the world a better place for all of us and for future generations?

If we are not at the higher end of this continuum, how do we start to create a team purpose that goes beyond just the financial goals?  Simon Sinek’ Start With Why and his now famous TED talk[1]  1 is great for inspiration, especially if your company is changing the world.  But what if it’s not?  Then you Start with Who Commissioned Your Team.  And you ask them “What do you need from my team”.   You see, they appointed your team for a purpose that already exists. 

“Teams Don’t Create Purpose; Purpose Creates Teams”. 

This is a phrase often used by Peter Hawkins[2] , a thought leader in team coaching.  That is our starting point.  But we need to do more than just ask the group that commissioned our team (the Board, Executive Team, etc.).  We need to bring this “alive” for us and align it with our own values by creating our own team vision.  This needs to be done because sometimes the commissioning group needs our input to get clear on purpose.  At other times, the purpose might seem stale or déjà vu as goals and targets get handed down and negotiated year after year.

To give more life to your team purpose, try these two exercises at your next team meeting. 

Exercise 1: Stakeholder Mapping

  • On a flip chart draw a circle for each stakeholder group e.g. customers, suppliers, employees, direct report teams, next level up teams, etc.  Draw each circle in relationship to the amount of influence this stakeholder group has on the success of the team (e.g. big influence = big circle, small influence = small circle, and everything in-between).
  • Next connect your team to the other stakeholders by drawing lines.  A dotted line for a weak relationship/understanding of needs, a single line for an average relationship/understanding of needs and a double line for a good relationship/understanding of needs.  What stands out? How clear are we about what each stakeholder needs? How strong are our relationships? How do others see us? Do the larger circles have the strongest lines?
  • Now ask team members to imagine that it is 3 years into the future and that they are the stakeholders.  What do what do they want the stakeholders to be saying about the work of this team in 3 years’ time?  Brainstorm ideas from the perspective of the stakeholders looking at this team from the future.
  • Ask each team member to write down, silently from the perspective of writing in the future, 2-3 things that the team started to focus on today.
  • Capture the learning / dialogue on a flipchart.  Include in this process the values your team started living by, how you grew and developed as a team, what you learned to do differently, and so on.

Through this process, the team sees a vision and a purpose emerge from two different perspectives:

  • Stakeholder/external perspective (from the outside in); and
  • Future perspective (from the future back).

Exercise 2: The Four Whys

A great way to consolidate all this creative learning is to complete the “Four Whys” Exercise from the work of Richard Barrett.  If you consider a vision to be the future and a mission to be what you need to do now, then the vision/mission structure in this exercise is the future/back work you've already done in exercise 1,  It also captures the outside-in or stakeholder perspective that you've taken in Exercise 1. Go try it!  Click here .

If you find yourself in a position where your team purpose is short-term, narrow or unfulfilling, these two exercises will create a rich source of data for clarifying and expanding the team purpose and vision that will take you over the horizon! 

Please reach out to me with any questions or ideas you may have at brendan@i2icoaching.com

References

[1] TED Talk, Simon Sinek - How Great Leaders Inspire Action

[2] Leadership Team Coaching: Developing Collective Transformational Leadership by Peter Hawkins is a great reference on Team Coaching.

 

Brendan Geary