Why does purpose matter? If you are building a castle, knowing its purpose yields dramatically different features and results. Are you defending? Entertaining? Controlling a harbor? Making an architectural statement? Each version shares iconic similarities but adopts critical elements that amplify its purpose. Knowing who you are serving changes the focus of your work.
Top performers learn how to use their elite capacity in doses. Instead of maintaining an output that is always at their redline, they can calibrate the scale of their effort to the requirements of the terrain they face.
How might we scale our efforts to better reflect the real-time demand on our resources? How might we set those who serve up for success by coordinating their efforts to the work that matters?
How many posts, announcements, launch celebrations, press releases, or community meetings have you observed during which information was shared about a new initiative or a significant organizational event? How many of these organizations continued to share relevant updates and nurture your engagement?
In my experience, people are keen to make the first announcement but struggle to find an appropriate communication cadence along the journey. It does not take much, but checking deepens connections.
Imagine boarding a long-haul international flight on which the pilots never confirm the destination, make no remarks about the flight plan, do not address abnormal flight conditions, and provide no update before landing. This might make some passengers a bit apprehensive about the journey. Perhaps we can aspire to be more like a well-regarded commercial pilot. Greet passengers, orient them, care for their safety, point out remarkable landmarks, address the unexpected, prepare them for landing, and thank them for their loyalty.
What new initiative are you launching? Are you embarking on a journey intended to provide service to others, or is it an intriguing route for you to explore? Understanding our intentions helps us provision and promote the quest. What ‘help wanted’ sign will you post to assemble a crew? How does it change based on your motivation?
If you are a member of the traveling cast in the Broadway mega-hit Hamilton, how do you benefit from the DNA embedded by the original cast? With multiple productions worldwide, there are some links back to the original cast members who developed the characters and added depth and dimension to the songs. If you play King George III in a current production, you can trace nuisances to Jonathan Groff, the original performer portraying the Broadway King George. Your performance is calibrated in some measure based on the first iteration.
How might we recognize that when we join a cause, we have some connection to the original cast who started the enterprise? How might we benefit from their insights and add our own perspective as we build the best version of the cause? What transitive properties from the founders have cascaded to your work?
If we build on a fault line, expect dynamic experiences. If we desire stability, we may need to seek more durable ground. Flying into my city earlier this year, I spoke with my seatmate who worked as a facility manager, building served farmers (data centers). He was overseeing the construction of a new center outside the town. I asked him why his company picked this location, and he stated that it met four critical criteria: geologically stable land (i.e., limited seismic activity), a good source of inexpensive power (hydro and wind), less expensive land, and the cost to build was attractive. The exact property would not work well as a prospective site for a geothermal pool or a national park that contained geysers.
Where we work may influence our impact and ability to establish a stable foundation. A ski instructor has more prospects in the mountains than being based in the tropics. A social service organization might likely thrive in a region with an established nonprofit center and a community foundation. If your cause is a search and rescue organization, it exists on the frontier between emergency services and volunteer resources. The business model demands working in dynamic settings and functioning on fault lines.
How might we assess where our services are most needed within a community? How might we be willing to migrate if the need has relocated?
What is the castle that you occupy? Is it a structure, an idea, a way of being, access to certain rights, or a relationship?
How might we understand that we cannot govern all the terrain before us but contribute to a confluence? We can help those seeking input to navigate and succeed on their journey.
Remarkable Ideas
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Making It Possible
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Being of Service
How might we deliver on our promise as consistently as possible? How might we inform those we serve when a disruption occurs? How might how we behave when we encounter unexpected circumstances deepen our relationships with those who want to see us succeed?
In the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry needs to select a wand before attending Hogwarts. He enters the wand shop, and the shopkeeper attempts to find the right wand while sharing, ‘The wand chooses the wizard.’
If we amplify the inquiry, does the organization we serve choose us, or do we choose the organization? There are causes I wish to serve but have never been asked to take a significant role. Other enterprises have asked me to join their team, and I am forever grateful after completing a term of service.
Where do you fall on the decision matrix? Do you believe the wand or wizard chooses?
What-if-concepts 