Lisa Earle McLeod* says a new way of thinking will be needed as organisations adjust to the realities of a post-pandemic environment.
In a volatile market, when the stakes are high, a leader’s ability to create shared belief for a team can mean the difference between failure and perseverance.
History is filled with examples of small, nimble teams who beat out formidable opponents.
The smaller team won because it was more emotionally invested.
It believed in a cause bigger than itself, and because of that it exhibited more grit, focus and tenacity.
This point in history will be no different.
The organisations who believe in their noble cause will emerge as the victors.
Here’s what is playing out in today’s marketplace.
As organisations face pressure to rebound, two responses are emerging.
The teams who believe their purpose is to hit their targets at all costs are marching off to market thinking about themselves.
As a result of this self-focus, they come across as desperate and transactional.
Instead of building business, they’re eroding their brand reputation because clients find them off-putting.
Teams who believe their clients need them, who believe that noble purpose is to improve life for their clients, march off to market focused on those clients.
They’re assertive for the clients’ benefit.
Instead of simply pitching, they engage.
As a result, clients view them as partners.
The difference between a team that wins the market and a team that erodes its reputation starts with belief.
There are three things you can do right now to build the beliefs that will enhance your reputation.
Believe in something bigger than yourself
Organisational research has shown a team that believes its work matters and will make a difference will outperform a team who believes its boss needs it to hit these targets.
It’s not enough to believe in your products.
To build resilience and tenacity, help your team understand how its work makes a difference to someone other than their boss.
Human beings are hard-wired to crave meaning.
Leaders can build belief by describing how the team’s work improves life for clients and others.
Tell client impact stories
When elders repeat familiar stories at the family reunion, they’re telling the tribe this is who we are, and this is what we believe.
Stories are your organisational narrative.
To build noble beliefs, repeat stories about teammates going the extra mile.
Describe how your solution helped a specific client.
Real human stories that include emotional up and downs build belief in a way that generic case studies do not.
Stories need to be told often, they build the right beliefs by reinforcing to the team its work matters.
This is how it helps people.
Purpose-driven leaders build belief by emphasising success metrics like how well clients are using your solution, or even customer happiness.
When leaders measure the positive impact the organisation has on clients it tells the team: We believe our clients are crucial; that’s why we measure how well we are helping them.
Teams with shared belief in something bigger than themselves have greater urgency, they have more tenacity, and they’re more resilient.
When the pressure is on to produce, it’s tempting for leaders to look internally at performance and activity targets.
The leaders who look outward, and take the time to build belief in a noble cause bigger than the last quarter’s performance, will create teams who can go the distance.
*Lisa Earle McLeod is the leadership expert best known for creating the popular business concept Noble Purpose. She can be contacted at mcleodandmore.com.
This article first appeared on Lisa’s blogsite
