Sometimes teams go through periods of exhaustion.
They’re just showing up, checking off boxes, and going home.
As a leader, there are few things more disheartening. I’ve had several people tell me, “No one seems to care as much as I do!”
Some days it feels as if you’re trying to carry your whole team forward by yourself.
But what if you’re missing a crucial element?
It’s not that your team doesn’t care. They just don’t know what to care about. They don’t have your sense of purpose.
So the question becomes…
How do you help your team develop a new sense of purpose?
From Struggling to Purposeful
One of my clients, Amy*, stepped into a new leadership role right when the team was in a crisis.
They’d been through three leaders in two years, and the team was split between those trying to leave the company and those who felt stuck and overwhelmed.
As a new leader trying to improve the situation, there were 100 different things Amy could have tried—like scheduling more 1:1 meetings, or planning team-building exercises, or throwing a team party.
Instead, she started talking about purpose and values.
The company was serving a very important mission—but the team didn’t care because it wasn’t relevant to their own lives. So Amy started asking questions to help them name some of their own values and connect them to the company’s impact.
On the personal front, she shared her own core values around quality of work and talked about how she planned to lead the team with integrity.
Soon morale, engagement, and enthusiasm all began to climb.
The Connection Between Personal Values and Purpose
Amy’s approach helped steady her team because she understood how purpose relates to personal values.
It’s difficult to connect to a purpose that’s vague and intangible. Only when a purpose is connected with personal values or direct impact does it become tangible.
As a general rule of thumb…
➡️ Purpose is most powerful when it’s personal.
➡️ Purpose is most meaningful when translated to impact on human beings.
If your team is slogging through a hard season, connecting the purpose to the personal can create a huge shift in team energy, attitude, and quality of work.
Putting It Into Practice:
Developing a purpose doesn’t happen overnight, but there are several kickstarters you can use to help your team shift into a more purpose-driven mindset.
- Start a conversation about the company’s purpose.
What is your company’s mission? What are its core values? How are you making a positive impact and for who? Don’t just spoon-feed them information. Ask questions and open up the conversation to help them develop their own thoughts about the company’s purpose.
- Encourage your team to explore their own values.
Where do their priorities overlap and connect with the organization’s purpose? How are the company’s impacts most meaningful to the individuals on your team? Help them connect their specific role to the larger purpose of the organization.
- Model authentic leadership.
Lead by example by reflecting on your own values and aligning your actions with those values. Connect the dots between your own role and the company’s impact and share with your team. Practice what you teach on a daily basis.
The next time you start thinking “No one else cares” instead ask the question “What do they care about?” Only once you understand their values can you start thinking about how to create a sense of alignment between the individual and the bigger picture.