LLM Book Knowledgebase

Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team

19 min read

Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team

Metadata

Highlights & Notes

For those who hold a leadership position, creating an environment in which the people in your charge feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves is your responsibility as a leader.

People and organizations who know their WHY enjoy greater, long-term success, command greater trust and loyalty among employees and customers and are more forward-thinking and innovative than their competition.

The goal is not simply for you to cross the finish line, but to see how many people you can inspire to run with you.

Your vision is only actionable if you say it out loud. If you keep it to yourself, it will remain a figment of your imagination.

waking up inspired to go to work and coming home, at the end of the day, feeling fulfilled by the work we do.

Fulfillment is deeper. Fulfillment lasts. The difference between happiness and fulfillment is the difference between liking something and loving something.

We don’t necessarily find happiness in our jobs every day, but we can feel fulfilled by our work every day if it makes us feel part of something bigger than ourselves.

implications. Happiness comes from what we do. Fulfillment comes from why we do it.

Every organization—and every person’s career—operates on three levels, as shown in the illustration on the next page: What we do, how we do it, and why we do it.

Loyalty is not built on features and benefits. Features and benefits do not inspire. Loyalty and long-lasting relationships are based on something deeper.

What good is an idea if it can’t be shared? Our company was founded to help spread ideas. The more ideas that are shared, the greater the likelihood those ideas will have an impact in the world. There are many ways to share ideas; one is the written word. That’s where we come in. We make paper for those words. We make paper for big ideas. Wanna buy some?

Leading with WHY has a deeper, more emotional and ultimately more influential value.

Companies that inspire, companies that command trust and loyalty over the long term, are the ones that make us feel we’re accomplishing something bigger than just saving a buck. That feeling of alliance with something bigger is the reason we keep wearing the jersey of our hometown sports team even though they’ve missed the playoffs for ten years and counting. It’s why some of us will always buy Apple products over other brands, even if Apple isn’t always the most affordable choice.

When we align emotionally with our customers and clients, our connection is much stronger and more meaningful than any affiliation based on features and benefits. That’s what starting with WHY is all about.

The opportunity is not to discover the perfect company for ourselves. The opportunity is to build the perfect company for each other.

There are two ways to build a career or a business. We can go through life hunting and pecking, looking for opportunities or customers, hoping that something connects. Or we can go through life with intention, knowing what our piece looks like, knowing our WHY, and going straight to the places we fit.

This happens to the best of us—when all signs say “go,” yet our gut is telling us to hold back. It’s because we are about to make a decision that’s out of alignment with our values and beliefs. As soon as a company’s WHY is put into words, the culture becomes a little more tangible and the right decision becomes clear immediately.

Sometimes the intangible values are abandoned because the internal or external pressure to “make the numbers” overwhelms concerns about the company’s long-term well-being.

The WHY can help set a vision to inspire people. The WHY can guide us to act with purpose, on purpose.

The first blank represents the contribution you make to the lives of others. The second blank represents the impact of your contribution.

It is everlasting and must be relevant in both your personal and professional life. It is a statement of your value at work as much as it is the reason your friends love you. We don’t have a professional WHY and personal WHY. We are who we are wherever we are.

At its core, the WHY is an origin story. Who we are is the sum total of all the experiences we’ve had growing up—the lessons we learned, the teachers we had and the things we did.

It’s really hard to connect with a feeling when we speak in generalities. We can’t stress enough that the stories your companion shares need to be very specific.

Remember, the WHY is not who we aspire to be, it’s who we truly are. The stories are tangible proof of who they truly are.

You’ll know you’re getting somewhere when they begin talking less about what happened and more about how they felt about what happened. It might sound something like, “It just really filled me up to be a part of that,” or “It was pretty disappointing to know that I let my parents down.” Statements like these are where you want to start digging. For example, what do they mean by “filled up” or “disappointed”? You may assume you know, but their definition may be different from yours.

Our struggles are the short-term steps we must take on our way to long-term success.

The reason to find your WHY is so that you can act on it.

The Tribe Approach is intended for any group that wants to articulate their common purpose, cause or belief—to put into words what an organization’s culture is like when it’s operating at its natural best, even if the organization is not currently performing at that level. We define a “tribe” as any group of people who come together around a common set of values and beliefs. A tribe can be an entire organization or a small team. Often, where you sit within the organization determines who you view as your tribe. If you are the CEO of an organization, everyone who works within the organization is your tribe. If you are the director of a division, the people who work in your division are the members of your tribe. If you are the leader or member of a team, the team is your tribe. If your organization’s structure isn’t so clearly defined, rely on what feels right. It’s possible that a team member may fit into more than one tribe. The bottom line is a tribe is the place where you feel you belong.

The goal is for each individual to work for a company in which they fit the culture, share the values, believe in the vision and work on a team in which they feel like they are valued and valuable.

The great thing about a Why Discovery for a subgroup within an organization (i.e., a Nested WHY) is that it can influence the whole organization to want to find its WHY. When a single division starts to think, act and communicate based on its WHY, good things happen: performance tends to improve, innovation tends to rise, employee turnover tends to decline. Senior management notices these developments.

a small group of inspired and engaged employees can have a positive impact on the entire organization.

When we know our sacrifice or allocation of time is appreciated, we give it more willingly. The idea is to reassure participants that they have permission to focus fully on the session. This may seem like an obvious point, but individuals often hold back when they feel they should be doing some other work that is “more important” to the company. We want participants to know that this is important work and they have permission to fully participate.

If you think back to the time when you joined the organization, what inspired you most? What inspires you to keep coming back?

Once you’re ready to communicate the Golden Circle to your group, an easy way to begin is to show them Simon’s TED talk video (http://bit.ly/GoldenCircleTalk). Alternatively, you can review the concept with them yourself—free slides and notes are available at http://bit.ly/FYWresources.

WHATs are products, services and job functions we perform. HOWs are values, guiding principles and actions that make us stand out. The WHY defines what the organization stands for—it is the collective purpose, cause or belief.

It’s human nature to go from what’s easiest to understand to what’s hardest to understand. In terms of the Golden Circle, most of us think, act and communicate from the outside in (WHAT–HOW–WHY). Those with the capacity to inspire do it differently. They think, act and communicate from the inside out (WHY–HOW–WHAT). The WHAT corresponds to the neo-cortex, the “newest” part of our brain, which is responsible for rational, analytical thought and language. The WHY corresponds to the limbic brain, which is responsible for our feelings, such as trust and loyalty. This part of the brain drives all human behavior and decision making but has no capacity for language. This is how we are hardwired; it’s biology, not psychology. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. When a company has a strong WHY, it inspires trust and loyalty in its customers, clients, employees and supporters, all of whom will cheer you on in your cause.

Story Sharing: The goal is to collect specific stories that reveal both the contribution the organization makes to the lives of others and the impact of that contribution over time. Limbic brain: See chapter 4 in Start with Why for more on this topic. Drafting the Why Statement: The goal is to take the themes that emerge from the participants’ stories and use them to write the first draft of the tribe’s Why Statement: its purpose, cause or belief.

Remember, this exercise is more about the feeling that is generated in the room than the exact words that come out of the conversation.

If a movement is to have an impact it must belong to those who join it not just those who lead it.

FACILITATOR TIP The route to WHY is through WHAT. Instead of asking questions that start with “why”—for example, “Why did you like those particular photos?”—ask “What was it about those particular photos?” People find it easier to answer questions starting with “what” or “how” rather than “why.”

In each of your stories, what was the specific contribution your organization made to the lives of others?

(Think about how people’s lives were different after they interacted with your organization when at your best.)

Before we can stand out, we must first get clear on what we stand for.

The ability of a group of people to do remarkable things hinges on how well those people can pull together as a team.

As the teams start work on this exercise, they may get into a semantic debate about the meaning of certain words. If that happens, refer them back to the stories behind the words and the underlying feeling. It is not so much the dictionary definition of the words that matters. What’s more important is the deeper meaning these words have for the team.

Our WHY is our purpose, cause or belief—the driving force behind everything we do. Our HOWs are the actions we take when we are at our natural best to bring our WHY to life. Our WHATs are the tangible manifestation of our WHY, the actual work we do every day.

the combination of your WHY and HOWs is as exclusively yours as your fingerprint.

Bottom line is when we focus on our strengths and lean in to the strengths of others, we can make the impossible possible.

Remember, HOWs are not aspirational. They do not express who we want to be. They express the ways we actually behave—the things we actually do—when we are at our best. The other difference between HOWs and core values is that values are not, in and of themselves, actions. “Courtesy” is a value. “Treat people with kindness and respect” is a HOW.

If we expect people to live the core values of an organization, we have to be able to tell them what those values look like in action.

As we explained earlier, HOWs must be actions because they are the things you do to bring your WHY to life. Traits and attributes, such as “honesty,” or adjectives, such as “determined,” are not actions. We turn themes into HOWs by making them actionable.

Connection Connect with people in meaningful ways Making others feel safe Make others feel safe Always learned from others Learn something from everyone There’s always a solution Look for creative solutions

Find the positive in everything—When things look like they’re going wrong, look for what’s going right. Connect with people in meaningful ways—Make relationships personal and let people know you care about them. Make others feel safe—Extend trust to others and let people know you have their back. Learn something from everyone—Be open to the ideas and points of view of others; they all have something to teach us. Look for creative solutions—Assume there is always a solution and don’t give up until you find it.

Once you know your WHY, you have a choice to live it every day. Living it means consistently taking actions that are in alignment with the things you say. If you say one thing and do another too frequently, you will lose the trust of others. Our actions either add to or take away from the trust and loyalty others feel toward us. When the things we say and the things we do are aligned with what we believe, we are fully living our WHY. Will you choose to take a stand?

Remember, the WHY is a filter. When you start with WHY, it attracts people who believe what you believe and repels people who don’t.

Simon’s TED talk video (http://bit.ly/GoldenCircleTalk). Alternatively, you can review the concept with them yourself—free slides and notes are available at http://bit.ly/FYWresources.

If every member of a team doesn’t grow together they will grow apart.

We have experienced situations when the WHY simply didn’t resonate with one or two people in the room. Some of the common reasons for this are that: In the past, the organization hasn’t always lived its WHY. The WHY doesn’t align with what the organization and/or the team members have agreed on as their current strategy. Sometimes team members feel it’s right but don’t believe all employees will get behind the WHY, so they feel the need to change it. Occasionally, a team member who doesn’t resonate with the WHY isn’t a great fit for the company. If the majority of the room isn’t on board with the Why Statement, there is a good chance it needs more refining.

Your goal is not to convince everyone to buy in, but to provide an environment in which they have the opportunity to be inspired by it.

Our WHY comes from our past, but its value and promise lie in the future. An inspiring, clearly articulated WHY acts as a springboard for new and different ways an organization can move forward.

If people fear that offering a suggestion will stick them with making it a reality, they may keep their most ambitious ideas to themselves. It’s important to state that a Conversation of Possibility is full of possibility yet requires no commitment.

So often, organizations get comfortable providing their core offerings and don’t consider what other products, services or partnerships could help them live their WHY.

Each participant will have started to bring the WHY alive with stories of their own. The more they talk about it, the more the WHY starts to take hold. This is how to begin to scale the power of WHY.

Communicating our WHY is an essential part of identifying the people in the world who believe what we believe, who will be our trusted friends, loyal clients or customers, dedicated employees and inspired partners in bringing our WHY to life. That’s huge. And it’s only the beginning.

For an individual, finding their WHY may lead them to realize that there is something else they could be doing or somewhere else they could be doing it that would likely leave them feeling more fulfilled. Finding an organization’s WHY can lead to a similar conclusion. Maybe the organization should be offering a different product or service. Maybe it should reconsider its hiring process or its metrics for progress. Perhaps certain employees would do better in different positions or divisions. Or maybe they simply aren’t the right fit at all.

If the initial list of things you’d like to change is pretty long, that’s normal. It doesn’t mean that you have to make immediate or drastic changes. Allow your WHY and HOWs to settle a bit before you move forward in a new direction. Build the relationship to them as you consider how they might shape your next steps. If you decide a change feels right based on what you’ve learned about yourself and your organization, start small and move forward with confidence.

Remember, the times we feel most fulfilled are the times we are living our WHY. It has always been that way; we just couldn’t put it into words. Now you can share your WHY and act on it intentionally. When you keep your WHY on a piece of paper in a drawer, you have a piece of paper in a drawer. When you live your WHY, you thrive and so do the people around you.

When an organization is founded, what it does is inextricably linked with why it does what it does, even if the company can’t express its WHY in words. As the organization grows, its WHAT and WHY grow hand in hand. But as the business scales over time and more and more people are hired, that’s when the split becomes a real threat.

In the beginning, when an organization is small, the founder makes the initial hires and directly shares their vision with the team. The entire tribe is often working from the same office; if not, they generally are in daily contact. Employees are inspired by the founder’s vision and excited to come to work. They give the organization everything they’ve got, even if the pay is low and the hours are long. Under these circumstances, the WHY remains alive and well. As the organization gets bigger, things begin to change. The original founder assigns someone to hire and manage some of the staff. Eventually a management structure is put in place to handle the growth. The person who was hired to hire people now hires someone else to help with this task. After a while, those being hired are further and further removed from the founder and the reason the organization does what it does. The newer hires instinctively start to focus on the more easily measurable WHAT and soon the WHY becomes fuzzy. The point at which this occurs—when the WHY goes fuzzy and the focus shifts to the WHAT—is the split.

Although we may not be able to articulate the change, we can all recognize when our organization experiences the split. Symptoms include increased stress, decreased passion and lower productivity, engagement and innovation. People start saying things like “It used to feel like a family around here. Now it just feels like a job.” Whereas people were formerly inspired to stay with the organization, now executives and upper management must actively work to retain them, using tactics such as salary increases, bonuses tied to delivery and share options available only to individuals who’ll commit to five more years with the organization. This kind of money-based manipulation can work in the short term but inevitably fails in the long run. Eventually, employee trust and loyalty break down, performance suffers, numbers drop, layoffs begin and the entire culture of the organization begins to erode.

“If you’re different at work than you are at home, in one of those two places you’re lying.”

If we sell a product or service that is inconsistent with what we believe, it will be inauthentic, and our employees and customers will eventually see and, more important, feel that. On the other hand, to completely change a product or service because it doesn’t align with our WHY isn’t necessarily a good option either. We’ve never seen a situation where an organization’s entire core business was out of alignment with their WHY. From time to time, a product that isn’t doing well or a division that feels like a misfit is now easily explained. We’ll hear someone say, “No wonder that’s not working; it’s out of alignment with our WHY,” or “I see the reason this acquisition is struggling; we’re out of alignment.” Sometimes it makes sense to retire a product or spin off a division that doesn’t fit. The idea is to spend energy in places that have the greatest positive impact.

Our decisions are driven by feelings, sometimes (although not always) backed up by logic and reason.

What makes a WHY powerful is its authenticity. Neither employees nor clients are fooled when an organization attempts to manufacture a WHY to suit what they feel customers want to hear. This is manipulation. The people you do business with, and the people who work with you, will sense a disconnect. Trust and loyalty will diminish (if they ever existed). When that happens, the company often resorts to discounts and other forms of manipulation to try to convince customers and employees to stay. This may work in the short term but it has no hope of long-term success.

Backlinks