Leadership Engagement: Managing YOUR Vision and Purpose
Take the next two minutes and write down your personal mission and vision. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Are you writing or are you locked in a state of fear/ disbelief/ cynicism? It is amazing how many leaders can promptly
articulate their organization’s mission…. But asked for their personal mission or vision statement, they are stumped. They’ve spent countless days, weeks, months hashing out what the organization represents and what it aspires to be in the marketplace but not a second articulating the same for themselves. What they don’t realize is that to be an effective and engaged leader, one must not only skillfully manage the organization’s vision…. They must also be adept at managing their personal vision.
Take James, for example, a former Paravis coaching client who is a Senior Vice President at an investment management firm. For years, James had been superbly successful. He had attended the best schools, worked at top-notch companies, and was quickly becoming a leader in his field and firm. By all accounts, James was a successful person. But James felt something lacking. He acknowledged that he was proud of all his accomplishments… yet he was starting to feel less and less engaged with his work. He realized that while he was busy fulfilling his firm’s mission, he had lost sight of his own mission. Upon further reflection, James realized that he did not have a vision for his own life. And as a result, he was unclear as to whether all his efforts were anchored in what was important to him. James’ busyness and doing, doing, doing were certainly building up to some enviable results… the real question was, were James’ results aligned with what he wanted for his life?
As an executive once said during a coaching discussion, “The more senior you become, the more critical it becomes for you to constantly assess whether there is an intersection between what you want for your life and where your organization is heading. Without that intersection, you are on a slippery slope to disengagement. And a disengaged leader is an ineffective leader.” Finding out what you want for your life is not always easy because it often requires making trade-offs. That said, part of maturing as a leader, is the ability to see the choices and options in front of you and put a stake in the ground on which you select.
In James’ case, we had him take a TOP-down approach to figuring out the personal piece of the formula:
- Think: The first step was to THINK. James took a step back and took a few moments every day over a month to jot down things that were important to him and how he wanted to live his life. His final list included statements like “I want every interaction I have to be engaging”, “I want adventure in my life”, “At some point in my life, I need to create and build something from nothing”. These were all statements that were anchored in who James is as a person and his life experiences without judgment… they are right for James but may not be right for someone else.
- Observe: The second step was to OBSERVE. Once James had articulated what he would like his life to look like, he took the time to observe two things: (a) to what extent was he currently living out his vision, and (b) to what extent was there opportunity in his current organization to support living out his vision. Much to James’ surprise, he realized that he had spent so much energy focused on what was missing from his work, that he had overlooked the possibility of how much his work could be a supporting pillar of his personal vision.
- Plan: The third step was to PLAN. With a good sense of what he wanted overall for his life and a new appreciation for how work fit in the picture, James could now get tactical in terms of planning not only a few years out but also day-to-day. He made it a habit to look at his calendar a month out and determine where there was opportunity both at work and beyond work to fulfill his vision.
While James’ 3-step process sounds simple, it certainly isn’t easy. It takes the discipline, maturity and willingness to take a hard and deep look at yourself, your work and your life. But if you make the investment, you will reap the benefits of taking your leadership engagement to the next level.
How can you define and manage YOUR personal vision and purpose? Ask yourself,
- What do you want your life to look like 5 years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now?
- What do you want to be known for and by whom?
- Look at how you live your life today – – personally and professionally – – to what extent does what you see support what you articulated in question 1?
- What one or two things can you either pick up or let go of in the next month that put you closer to your vision? In the next year?
– Muriel Maignan Wilkins