Do you know the why behind what you’re doing as a leader? I don’t mean the organisational why, but your personal why. Your purpose.

In this episode of the leaders with impact podcast we explore the importance of having clarity in your purpose, how that helps organisational performance and what you can do to make sure yours has maximum impact.

We explore:

• Why you need clarity in your purpose
• The organisational cost of clarity
• How to identify your purpose
• The benefits of leading with purpose
• Supporting colleagues to own their purpose

Resources and helpful links

• Leaders with impact - (E6) How a personal leadership strategy will improve your impact

About leaders with impact

Want to know the secret of great leaders? In Leaders with impact we'll be exploring what makes an impactful leader; sharing stories of success and strategies that set them apart.

If you are ambitious for your organisation but are struggling to identify what you can do differently as a leader to deliver the right improvements, then hit subscribe to learn how you can get clear on your strategy, implement some self-leadership and connect with those you serve.

New episodes are released every fortnight.

Get in touch

If you enjoyed the episode please leave a review on Apple podcasts (or your app of choice) and let me know what you thought on LinkedIn or instagram.

I’ll be back with the next episode in two weeks so in the meantime remember to sign up to my newsletter to get notified of new episodes, guest appearances and further insights on how to lead with impact.

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Do you know the why behind what you're doing as

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a leader, and I don't mean your organizational why but your

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personal why your purpose. In today's episode of the leaders

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of impact podcast, I'm exploring the importance of having clarity

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and your purpose, how that helps organizational performance, and

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what you can do to make sure yours has maximum impact. I'm

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Lee Griffith, a communication strategist, executive coach, and

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all around champion of leaders who shun the old school

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stereotypes. I'm here to help you get clear on your strategy,

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implement some self leadership and connect with those you serve

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through your communications so that you can deliver improved

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organizational performance, engagement and reputation. If

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you're enjoying the podcast, please leave a review over on

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Apple podcasts or even more leaders have the chance to make

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a greater impact in the workplace.

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So from what I noticed, when I talk to people, they'll tell you

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their job title, they'll explain what's in their portfolio, or

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what functions they're accountable for. And they'll go

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into the details of the practical delivery side of

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things. But rarely do they explain why. Now our comfort can

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be found in describing the house and the watts of our work. That

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connection comes through the wise. So I want to spend some

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time today exploring why having clarity and your purpose is an

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important first step, if you're trying to make a great impact as

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a leader, as it's in this that we start to find the golden

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thread that goes through everything you do as leader, it

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becomes the north star to guide your decisions and actions. It

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underpins your narrative. And it just makes everything a whole

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load easier. Now in Episode Six, I talked about why you need your

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own personal leadership strategy and the benefits that brings to

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you and your organization. So I'm not going to rehash that

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episode here, I will put a link to it in the show notes. If you

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can go back and have listen. In this episode, I am going to hone

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in on one element that I discussed in Episode Six, which

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is the purpose piece because for me, that's the starting point of

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everything you do as a leader. And I want to start by answering

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the question of why does this matter? And why does this matter

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to the organization that you work for? Is this just some

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personal pet project? Or does it have organizational benefit? And

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to answer that question is absolutely yes. So research

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shows that employees working for a leader who they feel has

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clarity in their purpose is 70%, more satisfied, 77, zero, and

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56% more engaged with their work. Now if we roll that

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forward, more satisfied and engaged staff, we know means

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better performance, greater productivity, greater delivery,

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higher morale, that leads to better customer satisfaction,

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improved reputation with stakeholders, the ripple effects

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go far. So we're starting from a common point of understanding

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when I'm talking about defining your purpose, I mean, get into

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the heart of what is the unique perspective or approach that

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you're bringing into your role. So if you were to leave

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tomorrow, I was going to use that if you get hit by the bus,

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but that just felt a little bit morbid. But now I've said it. So

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if you get hit by a bus tomorrow, and you're not, what's

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the gap, the others are going to notice isn't being filled by you

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not being there. So your purpose is the thing that's so innate to

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you. It's something that you've probably struggled to articulate

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before now. But when you do, it will feel like one of those

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cryptic puzzles, where suddenly everything just slips into

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place, and it unlocks the secret inside. And you get your

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purpose, it's going to help you with your decision making. It's

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going to guide you into the next role you undertake, and the one

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after that, because really your purpose is unique to you as a

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person. It's not just about your organization is not unique to

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the role you do in that organization. It's something

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that you bit like your National Insurance number you take with

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you for life, and is your purpose is unique to you. So is

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the way in which you're going to want to express it. So I don't

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know about you, but I'm completely over these

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inauthentic one liners full of corporate BS that could belong

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to anybody. And we're seeing it more and more with

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organizational vision and mission statements. When they're

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trying to articulate their purpose. It could be any

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organization and you kind of go well so what and so what I'm

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saying is we're not looking for a word perfect statement of

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intent. But instead, I want you to start thinking of your

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purpose almost as like a proclamation of what people are

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going to get from you, and what you're going to give and get

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from yourself. Now, I've had many conversations over the

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years about how do you start to tap into your purpose? And do we

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even all need to have a clear purpose? Now to answer that

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second part first? Yes, we do. It might not be groundbreaking,

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and that's okay. It's just got to mean something to us

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individually, we need to know why it's our purpose, and why

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it's unique to us, rather than something that any leader on the

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exec corridor would say. But tapping into your purpose is a

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bit trickier. It's like I always think of it like finding your

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perfect pair of jeans, you're gonna have to try on different

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styles, different sizes, understand how and when you're

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going to be wearing them does it fit with your lifestyle, you

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might have to ask the opinions of a few trusted people about

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how they look, you might even start wearing them with the

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label for a little while before you decide where you're going to

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keep them and if the fits, right. So it can take a long

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time to land on your purpose. I know certainly for from my point

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of view, I didn't really start to land on my purpose until the

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end of my corporate career. And I started to understood about

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who I was and how I wanted to be showing up. And it's something

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that I've continued to play with and explore as I've set up and

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develop my own business. I know the essence of my purpose is to

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challenge and change the way people lead through

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communications. And that has become my guiding star in the

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work I do for my business through the podcasts that I do

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and the collaborations that I do. And just generally what I

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engage with online and the discussions that I have, and

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finding your purpose starts with your stories. So those moments

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that have impacted you in your life in your career. For me,

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when I was finding my purpose, it was certainly my experiences

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of working in toxic environments, working with

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outdated leaders who just fell into the stereotypes of what

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they thought leaders needed to behave like. And I went down

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that trap within that times, and felt really misaligned and torn

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by some of the decisions that I was having to make. Over time, I

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started to learn what brought me joy, what lit me up inside, and

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what gave me that fire in my belly, that was so important to

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the work that I did. And that's why, you know, I'm really clear

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that my purpose is to challenge and change things because I

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still see some of those difficult behaviors being played

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out in the most senior levels of leadership. So if you're looking

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at trying to identify where your purpose is, what it is how you

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find it, start with your stories, those as I say those

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moments have impacted you. So things that might have happened

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when you were growing up when you felt the most content or

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connected, it might be the challenges that you've had to

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deal with in the past or experiences that have really

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tested you. Look at the things that interest you or the

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activities that really light you up the stuff that you're

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passionate about. And it can help by asking others about

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their stories of you, when you've been at your most unique

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self, what have I noticed. And it's a combination of these

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stories, the things that light you up that feel really

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positive, the things that challenge you and light that

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fire for you, that start to help you to hone into the thing

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that's driving you at your core. So take these stories, write

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them down what you thought how you felt, evoke all your senses.

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And make note of the words that came to mind as you start to

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think back over those experiences. And if it's other

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people's stories that you're listening to write down words

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and statements that resonate with you as they're talking. And

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what you'll start to see are themes and patterns, that that

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might be specific words or feelings that are evoked by the

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words that stand out is meaningful to you. capture

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everything in whatever way helps you to process your thinking. It

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doesn't need to be as I say, a perfectly formed sentence. It

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might be an image I've seen some people do it as an equation

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because their brain works in that way. What you're going to

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have at the end are perhaps a handful of words from which you

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can start pulling together your own purpose statement. And there

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is no formula of what that looks like how long that should be.

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You don't want To be like every other person, so I'm not going

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to say, you know, complete the sentence or anything like that

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you come up with what feels comfortable for you. And

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remember, it's a work in progress. So like a strategy is

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not something that you're going to write to file away and then

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forget, it's something that you'll revisit and might tweak

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and change over time, as you begin to learn more about

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yourself and the person and the leader that you're becoming. And

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knowing and leading from your purpose will help you to grow as

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a leader, because it's going to provide a direction and

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encouragement to do the hard things that you might have shied

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away from before, it's going to show the real you to you and to

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others. So we often talk about authentic leadership, and I

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don't really like that word anymore. Because that often can

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be focused on the style rather than substance. And your purpose

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allows others to understand what makes you tick. Whilst you can

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adapt your style to make the things happen that align with

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your purpose, knowing and leading from your purpose is

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going to help you to be more grounded as a leader. So let's

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be honest, the circumstances and context in which you operate are

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always going to change. And when we don't lead in a way that's

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connected to purpose, we can let those situations run away with

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us. And as I was you alluded to earlier, I have been in

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situations in my career, where I felt really uncomfortable with

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decisions I was making or behaviors I was displaying. And

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it's because I was going along with the flow and copying what

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other people's and other leaders were doing, rather than really

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tapping into who I was and how I wanted to show up. So our

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purpose provides that foundation for the way that we operate. It

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helps us not compete with others and see that we've got to behave

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in a way that other people behave. Because we begin to

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understand that unique role we play, whether that's at work, or

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whether it's home, or socially, as I say, this is an all

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encompassing thing about how you're showing up. And knowing

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and leading from your purpose is going to change the way that you

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communicate and connect with others, because they're going to

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see the cause that you're pushing for rather than the

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task. And they're going to believe in you more as the

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leader that's going to make change happen. So if you've not

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really spent any time considering your personal

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strategy before, if you've struggled to answer the

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question, when someone asks you why you do what you do, if

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you're finding it hard to articulate the change you're

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trying to make in your team or organization, maybe you think

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you've got clarity, but you're failing to take other people

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with you, then I'd advise you to start working through what your

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purpose is, is going to help you with your personal leadership

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strategy. It's going to define your leadership brand, it's

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going to help you understand what you need, from a self

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leadership point of view, it's going to help give you a voice

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to what you're striving to achieve. Again, think of those

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ripple effects. And if you're responsible in any way for

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identifying or developing leaders, help them to make

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better impact by sharing why leading with purpose makes a

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difference, support them to explore and clarify for

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themselves what

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they're all about. I find in a lot of the coaching work I'm

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doing at the moment, actually, particularly at the moment when

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the organizational challenges have only increased post

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pandemic, bringing our conversations back to purpose

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have provided those aha moments that unblocked the sticky point.

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I know I'm mixing my metaphors up there, but you know, go with

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me. And it froze up different thinking that feels right for

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that individual. So whether it's someone worrying about how

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they're going to take challenging board members with

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them through a change program, or someone becoming more

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ruthless with their day to day self management so that they've

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got the time and space to work on the things that only way you

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can do instead of working in the weeds and disappearing others.

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Bringing it back to purpose provides a new lens in which you

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can start to make the impact you want to as leader. Now if you

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want breakthroughs like this, my coaching packages provide that

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safe space to explore and test different ways in which you want

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Sharpe as a leader. And if you want to get clarity on your

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purpose and strategy, a VIP intensive day could be the

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answer. Visit my websites undisguised For further

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information, or drop me an email Lee at Sundayskies.com. Until

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next time. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a review

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on Apple podcasts and let me know what you thought on

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LinkedIn. You can find me at Lee Griffith. I'll be back with the

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next episode in two weeks time. So in the meantime, sign up to

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my newsletter at Sunday skies dot com for monthly insights on

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how else you can lead with impact until next time