Why you need to know your personal ‘why’ at work
Are you clear about what you want from yourself and your career? Find out why it’s important to know your personal ‘why’ at work.
What’s your story? Why do you approach work the way you do? What personal purpose is attached to it? What rationalisations do you give yourself (and others) for how you divide your energy and attention between work and other aspects of your life? Do you feel you’re getting the balance right?
If you’ve never really considered these questions, you’re not alone. Modern life is so speedy now there’s little time to ponder what you do or why you do it. As habit-driven beings who generally feel most comfortable when things are stable and predictable, humans are hardwired to repeat specific and preferred behaviours.
When the pressure is on – and it seemingly always is – people will tend to default to doing what they normally do (but often attempt to do it faster), drawing on the belief that it has worked until now so it’s probably sensible to keep doing it.
However, these questions are posed for good reason. Getting a firmer, more honest grasp on your personal why and being able to describe to yourself what you find meaningful at work is a prerequisite both for protecting mental wellbeing and unlocking full performance potential.
Intentionally reflecting on the extent to which what you do every day aligns with your inner purpose is a vital first step towards achieving personal sustainability.
Your ‘why’ will help you avoid conflict and lead others
The pace, uncertainty and complexity of modern life are increasing rapidly. If you want to stay on top, subtle recalibrations in the way you respond to these external pressures will be necessary. When what you do every day illustrates why you do it, you not only avoid stressful and exhausting personal conflict but others are often inspired to follow suit.
When these things are not aligned, you’re effectively flying with crossed controls, which is not only wasteful of energy but even more importantly sends the wrong messages to others about what really matters to you.
You need to be clear about your personal purpose
Having a clear line of sight on your personal purpose is obviously important. Just as importantly, heightened awareness of what you’re telling yourself in any situation can help you remember that your individual stories are likely to differ from other people’s.
The aforementioned tendency to repeat specific and preferred behaviours, combined with the accelerating pace of life, means you can erroneously assume that the absence of pushback means that everyone has bought into what you’re trying to achieve and is comfortable with the steps you’re taking to get there.
Because you’re excited about an opportunity and can visualise the benefits in glorious technicolour, it usually suits you to believe that everyone else can see the same things in the same way.
But it’s not just the skill set that turns up for work each day – specific, task-focused capabilities are accompanied by a human with unique lived experience, biases, blind spots, anxieties and fears as well as hopes and joys. In other words, internal stories come to work too and people are as wedded to theirs as you are to yours and there are multiple dangers in riding roughshod over them.
Get the best from yourself and others
Whatever place you currently occupy in your organisation’s hierarchy, getting the best from yourself and others (and helping all parties to stay well in the process) means sharpening up your hearing in relation to both your own stories and those of others.
If you accept that outlooks and perspectives differ and are actively curious about those differences – your why versus their why – you’ll have greater sustainably meaningful work, improved wellbeing and the ability to unlock full potential at all levels.
Lesley Cooper is a management consultant with over 25 years of experience in the design and delivery of all elements of employee wellbeing management programmes.
In 1997 Lesley founded WorkingWell, an award-winning specialist consultancy that helps companies manage workplace pressure in a way that facilitates growth and development. She is also the co-author of Brave New Leader: How to Transform Workplace Pressure into Sustainable Performance and Growth.
