How to Sharpen Up Your Purpose-Driven Leadership Strengths

 In Designing Solutions, Leadership, Personal Purpose, Purpose-led Business

I look back on my decade or so in corporate team leadership roles with both fondness and trepidation. I did some things well and some not so well.

If I’d been able to articulate my purpose as well as my leadership strengths instead of relying on my intuition, I believe I would have been much more capable and effective.

Given that I never gave any formal thought to this predicament back then, the opportunity to sharpen up my purpose-driven leadership strengths went begging.

Channeling my inner sheepdog

I have ‘sheepdog’ qualities as a leader.

I’m not saying I was hairy and had four legs, but it’s true that I would naturally ’round up the pack’ and try to bring everyone along together as one happy group when it came to change initiatives.

However, there are downsides to this quality, such as wanting to be everyone’s friend, giving too much latitude to poor behaviours or avoiding tough conversations.

Today, I have enough awareness of my sheepdog attributes, and I know when they must be to modified or managed.

I also now understand the role of my strengths in pursuing bigger picture goals.

Connecting strengths to goals

Many of us shared a desire to make a significant and positive impact in the world through our work. We were intuitively purpose-driven.

However, our efforts were somewhat ad hoc and piecemeal because our organisation lacked a coherent purpose and, even if it had one, I doubt we’d have connected it to our everyday work.

Functionally, our work was okay and performance good, but it was like driving with the handbrake on. It could have been so much more.

We were leaving too much on the table.

What’s your take?

Take a moment to think about your own leadership strengths:

  • What comes naturally? What’s intuitive? What’s your ‘inner sheepdog’ equivalent?
  • When does it work well for you, and when not?
  • Can you see the links between your strengths and your purpose / goals?

The challenge for many leaders is to increase their awareness of their strengths and bring focus to the goals that really matter.

It’s tempting to flirt with purpose without doing the heavy lifting and creating a plan of action with measurement and accountability.

If I’d known then what I know now, I would have benefited from a checklist with 3 focal points:

1. Professional purpose

Get to know yourself. What is your purpose as a leader? What are the unique and valuable qualities you possess and how do they fuel your 3-5 year goals? Are you mindful of where you need to adapt and / or call on people with complementary strengths?

2. Organisational goals

Do you have clarity of the common goal(s) that you and your people are working towards? How does your leadership support those goals? What development might you need?

Connecting your people to your organisation’s purpose creates a driving force that pays off in the form of innovation, performance and productivity.

3. Societal impacts

Are you focused on what the world genuinely needs? In other words, in our evolving business landscape, are your personal, professional and organisational goals aligned with positive societal impacts?

If these three focal points resonate, you can work on them in isolation or do it as a team. I find there’s tremendous bonding benefits when explored together.

Needless to say, I provide guidance and services in this regard.

By sharpening up your purpose-driven leadership strengths, you’ll be well on your way to cementing your leadership legacy.

Phil Preston helps leaders, teams and organisations embrace purpose as the driving force for their future success. He’s a speaker, strategist, facilitator and author who can be contacted on LinkedIn or via hello@philpreston.com.au

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