Theme 9: Discovering Your WHY

My vision and values will allow me (and anyone else who may join my organisation) to:

1. Stay aligned to the core purpose and beliefs around EmpowerYou©

2. Create an identity and a sense of uniqueness. 

3. Ensure the short and long term goals are achieved over time.

4. Keep me on track and accountable when working with groups, businesses and organisations!

The first part of this important process has been to formulate a WHY or core purpose for starting this business. If I am not clear about the purpose of EmpowerMe© and can’t articulate this clearly to others, there will be a risk it won’t be successful or gain momentum.

Sometimes people think a Vision and WHY are the same however they are very different. A WHY relates to our past and the patterns that have existed in life where we or our organisation has achieved success. It is the foundation of who we are. A vision relates to the future and where we are going.

Simon Sinek has been a huge proponent of the WHY movement across the world and uses Golden Circles to define a person or organisations WHY, HOW AND WHAT. 

According to Sinek, every organisation and every person’s job/career operates on three levels: WHAT you do, HOW you do it, and WHY you do it. We all know WHAT we do (the goods we sell, the services we provide or the jobs we are involved in). Some of us know HOW we do it (the things that we think make us stand apart from others) however, sometimes people find it difficult to clearly articulate WHY they do what we do.

Herein lies a problem. If people working in an organisation don’t understand WHY they do,
what they do, what purpose do they have in that organisation? Work soon becomes a means
to an end. Life can be and should be better than this! Also as I mentioned before, consumers
are often not drawn to organisations who can’t articulate their WHY or purpose and what stands
them apart from their competitors.

In terms of the organisational structure of the Golden Circle approach, Sinek makes it clear that when using this framework we always need to start from the inside (WHY) and move out to the WHAT. When people are clear about WHY you do what you do, they are more likely to engage and interact with you or your organisation or buy your goods and services.

“People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it”.

Simon Sinek

When establishing Te Uru Tarata Primary, a new school back in 2016, we became very interested in the thinking of Sinek. The more we listened to him, his thinking, mindset and energy really began to resonate with us. Because we were a new and growing school, our WHY was especially important. We not only had to make sure we were all aligned to our WHY especially when discussing teaching and learning however also be able to articulate this clearly and succinctly with new stakeholders and visitors.   

We decided to use his Golden Circle approach and as a result, it became the basis of our curriculum framework. I don’t think many schools had used this framework before however, we felt confident that it would not only ensure our new school was future-focused but also unique and stood out from other primary schools.

Over time our WHY became firmly embedded in our culture and pedagogy and it created huge momentum across the school and wider community. We hosted a number of educationalists from across New Zealand and the world who were keen to hear about the high impact it was having on our teaching and learning programmes.

The great thing about this framework is that it can be applied to multiple groups, organisations and businesses. I remember taking a prospective parent around our school one day. We spent a few minutes in front of the Golden Circle Wall which was a huge visual in the Grove (our staffroom). He quickly saw a connection and explained that the banking company he worked for, had used the same approach! He could see how that although we were using it in an education context, it was also clearly aligned to the business world. 

Why is it important to define your WHY?

Discovering the WHY injects passion into people’s work. When your employees know your organisation's clear purpose, they will come to work knowing exactly what the organisation is about and more importantly aiming for. This, of course, creates alignment, energy and enthusiasm.

When employees can clearly articulate their organisations WHY it creates amazing collaborative opportunities to learn and continually improve. This was clearly evident at Te Uru Tarata. It allows people to feel connected and an important part of an organisation. This is because how we feel about something or someone is more powerful than what we think about it or them. Being aligned to organisations WHY allows for greater ‘buy-in’ especially when changes are being made.  

Finally, I would like to share with you my current WHY. I have purposely formulated it in a way so that it can be applied to not only my business but also my life outside work instead of having two variations.

Here are some starting questions that might get you thinking about your organisation's WHY.

1. What is the purpose of your organisation?

2. What makes your organisation unique and stand apart from other similar organisations

3. Can you articulate this purpose?

4. Are your employees aware of this purpose and can they articulate it?

5. How might your organisation change and improve if you were to develop a clear WHY?

I would be really interested in your thoughts around this article.

If you would like support to create your organisations WHY contact me.

sean bailey managing director – company owner m +64 21 059 8305  e sean@empoweryounz.co.nz   christchurch new zealand  w empoweryounz.blogspot.com

“Helping organisations thrive, by enabling and empowering leaders”