CHAPTER 13Conversation 1: Activating Purpose
How many meetings have you been in that caused you to ask yourself: Why am I here? What am I doing? What's the purpose of this meeting? Are we accomplishing anything? Such is the character of the Swirl—high activity, low focus; intensive motion, little direction. And it's exactly what the experience of a high-performing team should never be. Activating Purpose is an antidote to precisely that kind of organizational drift. In an HPT, we know why we're meeting, why we exist, what we're seeking to accomplish, and how we are doing it. All of that begins with clarity around purpose and leadership.
Activating Purpose can also apply to the larger organization. Indeed, given today's proliferation of books and content on business leadership and organizational development, it is perhaps a cliché to say that great companies are alive with a higher purpose. But it's true. Every company or organization that aspires to do important activities in the world has a purpose, a telos, that animates the energy and productivity of the social system. They are moving; they have a direction; they are going somewhere. That sense of purpose provides an emotional connectivity across an enterprise, bonding together the larger ...
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