Forget the ‘What’ and focus on the ‘Why’!

In this day of drones taking over people’s jobs (well, some of them), we all seem to know what we do and how we do it, but it’s not often enough we ask ourselves the question: WHY am I doing this? What is the meaning and purpose behind what I am doing?

This often happens from both a business and personal perspective. A lot of companies share what they do, how fast they do it and the quality they provide. They rarely share information on why they do it.

Understanding the ‘Why’ provides meaning and purpose. A strong sense of purpose is meaningful and nurturing for the business and its employees.

An organisation that only focuses on what it does may perform well and manage its people and resources well. It is unlikely for them to create a strong, sustainable, scalable organisation.

The large supermarket chain Tesco has clocked on to this. Even though they have been around for decades, they are seeing the importance of building consumer trust by focusing on ‘purpose’. The brand recently just launched a press and social campaign about their commitment to tackle food waste by its UK operations.

The need for purpose is one of the defining characteristics of human beings. It helps you answer why you’re getting out of bed every morning. It provides a bedrock foundation that allows a person to be more resilient against obstacles, stress and strain.

A powerful example of this comes from Victor Frankl’s famous book, Man’s Search for Meaning, where he describes his experiences in the concentration camps during the Second World War.

He observed that the inmates who were most likely to survive were those who felt they had a goal or purpose. Aligning ourselves to a purpose often makes us feel part of something bigger, provides a sense of belonging and resilience to overcome whatever challenges we may experience.

Purpose informs and creates the internal culture. Imagine the power of everyone in the business: from the CEO to the sskari (guard) or janitor being clear about the purpose of the company they work for.

A story that illustrates this well is when John F. Kennedy visited the NASA Space Centre in 1962. He noticed a janitor carrying a broom and interrupted his tour, walked over to the man and said, “Hi, I’m Jack Kennedy. What are you doing?”

“Well, Mr President,” the Janitor responded, “I’m helping to put a man on the moon.” He was able to see the difference he was making and the significance of his job.

We all have those gut-wrenching difficult days at work, but being able to remind ourselves of why we are doing what we are doing can make the world of difference.