Ideas Shaping the Future of Leadership

Step into tomorrow’s leadership conversation. Repa Patel shares visionary insights that challenge convention, expand thinking, and inspire leaders to elevate their impact on people, performance, and the planet.

The Leadership Dilemma: Why Purpose Isn’t Enough

Let’s dive into a little truth bomb – purpose is undeniably important, but it’s not the sole secret sauce for success. Shocked? Don’t be! Let me break it down for you.

Recently, I ran a poll on LinkedIn, tapping into the insights of executives just like you. Guess what? 83% of respondents agreed that while purpose is crucial, it’s not the sole driver of success. Enter: motivation.

When we talk about purpose, it often revolves around the organisation’s or team’s overarching mission. Take my experience leading an in-house legal team for a bank, for example. Our purpose, as defined by the organisation, was all about managing legal risks inside and out. Sounds noble, right? But did it light a fire in each lawyer’s belly every Monday morning? Not so much.

Here’s where mindful leadership kicks in: recognising the missing puzzle piece – motivation. It’s not just about having a purpose; it’s about ensuring that each team member’s internal drive aligns with that purpose. That’s the real game-changer.

This critical alignment starts right from the hiring stage. Remember, skills and experience matter, but they should never overshadow internal motivation. In fact, motivation trumps skills and experience.

And then there’s engagement. Crafting your collective purpose isn’t a one-person job. It’s about involving your team in the process, fostering a culture of shared responsibility and ownership. That’s where compassionate leadership shines, nurturing an environment where every voice matters.

If your team’s been through some changes lately, now’s the perfect time to reignite that purpose-motivation combo. Reach out to me, and let’s explore how I can help you accelerate your team’s performance. Together, let’s lead with purpose, passion, and compassion!

Be everything you are: The path to fulfilment

I know this is controversial but hear me out.  We are led to believe that we can do anything, be successful at anything and achieve anything that we want.  To some extent, you can achieve some level of success if you work hard.  The problem is that you often end up sacrificing yourself and your soul in the process.

The ancient yogis believe that everyone has a psychophysiological nature that determines where you flourish.  Let’s call this your inclination.  Each person’s inclination towards thriving is different.

When you work in alignment with your natural inclination, you feel alive, experience flow and are more likely to succeed with some degree of ease.

When you are not aligned with your natural inclination, you’re more likely to dislike what you do and find that it takes more effort.

In my corporate career, as part of the talent program, the aim of which was to build future senior leaders for the organisation, I found myself leading a large national operations team.

The theory behind the program was to rotate leaders into various roles within the organisation to become “well rounded” in readiness for further promotion.  The assumption was that you needed to be good at all types of leadership to succeed in the C-Suite.

I disliked this role and found it extremely difficult, energy draining and demotivating.  It contained very little of my natural inclinations of strategic, complex decision making and growing and developing people.

Within 4 months I realised that I had made a mistake in moving into that role.  I was incredibly fortunate that my organisation helped me to move back into a role that supported my natural inclinations.

As leaders, we need to learn about the natural inclinations of our team members.  Hiring for natural strengths that align with the role is the starting point.  This will enable your team members to thrive and do their best work.  They will experience higher levels of wellbeing, engagement and thriving.

In allocating projects, look for a natural strengths alignment with project requirements.  You will receive higher productivity, customer service and team engagement.

For yourself, in making career decisions, ask yourself  “How does this role enable me to be everything that I truly am?”

There will always be parts of a role that we dislike or that feel like incredibly hard work.  The aim is to ensure that this is the smallest part of the role or find someone for whom this is a natural strength.

 

If you’d like help understanding the natural inclinations of your team, I can help. Contact me to find out more. 

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Excerpt from Elevate

Discover mindful leadership strategies grounded in neuroscience, and positive psychology to evolve from reactivity to resonance and lead with lasting impact.