Do You Have Clarity Of Purpose?

A leader must have clarity of purpose for themselves first. Then it is essential that they give their people clarity of purpose too.

One thing I hated being part of any team was feeling confused about what it was we were trying to achieve. Being confused about our team’s purpose is not a nice feeling at all. Whenever you or your team are working on something, you want to know what it is and why you are doing right?

So, if you don’t know the “what” and the “why” from the very beginning, you are highly unlikely to buy-in. For a leader, that is a very bad place to begin something new with their team.

1. Clarity of Purpose

A leader must give their team clarity of purpose from the beginning, when implementing a new change or working on something new.

When a leader doesn’t ensure that their team knows and understands their purpose then others within the team, and outside of the team will do it for them.

DOWNLOAD MY FREE E-BOOK “INSPIRE YOUR PEOPLE”

When I was part of teams and we didn’t have clarity of purpose then I would think up my own, then I would discuss them with my teammates, and we would share them with others. Other members of the team would do the same thing with other teammates too.

Rumours would start to spread and the feeling you get from this is even more confusing. As a leader, rumours is something you MUST avoid, and the only way to do that is to share your vision and purpose with your team from the very beginning.

If you don’t have a vision or you are reluctant to share your vision with your team, then put yourself in your team’s shoes.

How will they feel if they think that their leader either doesn’t know what they’re doing, or that their leader won’t share their vision, purpose or knowledge with them? They are going to feel confused, frustrated and lack trust in you.

2. Building Trust

A highly effective leader knows how to build trust with their people. A highly effective leader is very happy to share their vision and their purpose with their people.

A low performing and insecure leader are reluctant to share their vision and purpose (if they have one) because they want their team to feel blindsided. When the team are blindsided, it makes the low performing leader feel authoritative and in control.

When a low performing and insecure leader is in control, they can tell their team what to do and how to do it. This is called dictatorship not leadership.

When a low performing and insecure leader is in a position of power and creating confusion and frustration, this is when the culture of the team and organisation becomes toxic.

The people within the team and organisation don’t know what is really going on, and when they feel frustrated, they will not put in 100%.

A low performing leader will not share their vision or give clarity of purpose because they don’t want anybody recommending improvements or ways to achieve the vision and purpose. A low performing leader wants to come up with all the ideas and then force those ideas onto the team.

The team will more than likely not buy-in to these ideas, but they will work on them because they have to. This is another example of a team who don’t follow their leader because they want to, they follow because they have to so they will get paid.

When the team are in this position, they will give minimal effort to complete the job. They will not go the extra mile for the team or the leader.

The mindset of a low performing leader is a limited mindset, and with a limited mindset it is impossible to help develop your team into a highly effective team. It is also impossible to develop a highly effective leadership culture within the team, and then spread that culture throughout the organisation.

3. Mindset

A highly effective leader has a limitless mindset, and with a limitless mindset you are very open with your team and with your people. A highly effective leader wants to inspire their team, and the only way to do that is to share their vision and give them clarity of purpose from the beginning.

They know that when they do this, they are building a relationship with their team members and more importantly building trust with them. With trust, a highly effective leader can increase their influence with their team, who will then multiply that influence with others.

By empowering the team with the vision and purpose, a highly effective leader encourages them to share their ideas on how to achieve the vision. They want their team to think for themselves and work together to grow themselves and the mission.

Many minds is a lot more powerful than one mind. By trying out new ideas, making mistakes and learning from them, the team will be one step closer to the vision. A highly effective leader embraces failure and sees it as an opportunity to learn, not an excuse to give up.

I do know leaders who have the right intentions at heart when it comes to culture change, or new change implementation. But, they go about it in the wrong way by not involving the whole team.

They either only involve their best performers, or they just involve their peers and other leaders. This is a mistake that many leaders make and is why I am writing my articles.

I want my articles to help you, your team and your organisation to become the most attractive in your industry. This is why I discuss vision, purpose and culture a lot.

4. Changing Culture

I want to help you change and share your vision and purpose, so that you and your team know exactly where you are going, and what needs to be done to transform your culture.

With a transformed culture and everybody understanding the vision, and having clarity of purpose, you will be well on your way to becoming the most attractive organisation in your industry.

My articles and I will show you how to get clarity of purpose for yourself first, and then how to give clarity of purpose to your people. When you are bought-in to your vision and mission in the first place, you will be a lot more likely to gain the buy-in from your team.

DOWNLOAD MY FREE E-BOOK “INSPIRE YOUR PEOPLE”

Your “why” is your purpose, so it needs to come from you. My articles will help you in establishing your “why” and how you can help your team to establish their own personal “why” too.

When a leader’s and each team member’s “why” is unified, that is when a highly effective leadership culture will grow and grow.

As a leader who is growing into a highly effective leader and helping your team to grow into a highly effective team, it is very important who within your team is on your side and who is not.

There will be team members who will not like or agree with your vision or purpose, and there will be team members who will. The team members who are on your side will be positive towards you and the team, and the team members who are not on you side will be negative towards you and the team.

A highly effective team and organisation is one who are all heading in the same direction. They all understand the vision. They all have clarity of purpose. They all follow their leader because they want to. They all multiply the leader’s influence as their own.

I welcome hearing how this post has influenced the way you think, the way you lead, or the results you have achieved because of what you’ve learned in it. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by commenting below.

Check out my other articles by Clicking HERE

All the best,

Tom (LeadGrowInfluence)

14 thoughts on “Do You Have Clarity Of Purpose?

  1. Tom,

    Great well written article. I found it very it insightful and engaging. The topic is important, and what you’ve written is simple straightforward and motiviational as well as encouraging. Without the right mindset nothing happens. It’s important for an effective leader to always stay positive.

    You might have this in your ebook already, real-life examples or case studies of leaders who have demonstrated a clear purpose in their actions and decisions to see if the’re actions align with their purpose – hence all on the same team

    1. Hi Arbonne MLM,

      Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

      I do have real-life examples in my E-Books and my physical books. I also have them in my blog posts, you should read them to find out.

      Keep working on your mindset and sharing what you are learning with your people.

      All the best,

      Tom

  2. Hi Tom,
    I like your site because you give a lot of insight into leadership. Sometimes I get caught up in the project at hand, and I overlook how I may be seen by the people around me. Articles like this one are great because they tend to keep me grounded and aware of who I am as a leader.

    After reading this latest post I took a step back and thought about each topic you mentioned. You gave me some great ideas to implement going forward. Hopefully, I can improve the team performance as a result. Thanks Tom!

    1. Hi Chas,

      Thank you for your very kind words and I am so pleased that my article has given you some ideas to move forward with.

      All the best in moving forward with those ideas and if I can help you in anyway then please let me know.

      All the best,

      Tom

  3. Very true and well said. I think that it’s important to have clarity of vision, not only for your team but also for yourself. How else will a leader lead if he/she doesn’t have a clear vision him/herself, right?
    I have seen it a few times that leaders chose to work with just a few employees, while leaving out the rest. In my opinion, that creates dissatisfaction and frustration and only adds to the “low performance” these team members are likely already tagged with. Although there are perhaps team members who are indeed low-performing, there are others who would like to feel inspired by their team leaders, but it doesn’t happen. How can a leader expect great team performance if he or she lacks vision, clarity and doesn’t inspire? That’s what I think.

    1. Hi Christine,

      I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on my article.

      I couldn’t agree with you more, clarity of purpose and clarity of vision are so important if you want your team to buy-in to what you want to achieve.

      Keep sharing your inspiration with your followers and helping them to develop into the leaders they always wish they had.

      All the best,

      Tom

  4. Great post on the importance of clarity of purpose for leaders and their teams! It’s so true that confusion about a team’s purpose can be frustrating and lead to rumours spreading.

    As you pointed out, this is where trust becomes crucial. A leader who shares their vision and purpose with their team builds trust and inspires their people to work together towards a common goal. It’s also important for leaders to involve the whole team in change implementation, not just their best performers or peers.

    Thanks for sharing your insights and helping us understand the importance of vision, purpose, and culture in building a highly effective team and organization!

    1. Hi John,

      Thank you for sharing your thoughts on my article.

      Keep sharing your vision and mission with your people and giving them clarity of purpose. Help them with their own life purpose and inspire them to follow it.

      All the best,

      Tom

  5. Hi Tom,
    Very well written article on Leadership. I loved how you made the distinctions between high performing leaders and low performing and insecure leaders. This makes me very reflective on my own leadership style in management positions. I think I really need to think more of leadership than management.
    You have hit the nail on the head that we need to empowering the team with the vision and purpose, rather than just “manage them”.

    1. Hi John,

      Thank you for your comment and your kind words.

      I am so pleased you can relate to the article and helps you to reflect on your own leadership syles.

      All the best,

      Tom

  6. Hi Tom

    I just love your articles they are so informative on the leadership subject. Finding purpose is important in life and very vital as a leader you have said it well. I have seen may aspiring leaders who do not seem to have purpose at all and it is always chaos. Thank you again for article.

    Kind regards
    Angee

    1. Hi Angee,

      Thank you for your very kind words on my articles, really means the world to me.

      Finding purpose is so important for us all in our lives, especially when your purpose is to help others and help them find their purpose.

      Keep working on your amazing purpose every day and creating the content you do on your inspirational website.

      All the best,

      Tom

  7. Hi Tom, yes so having a clear purpose is important for anyone that wants to be successful. I think if you dont have this then the end goal is not really clear either. And if this is the case then what are people really working towards so yes wise words here. Thanks for sharing

    1. Hi Alex,

      Thank you for your comment and I couldn’t agree with you more, a clear purpose is imperative in life.

      Keep working on your purpose every day and helping others to do the same.

      All the best,

      Tom

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