What's Your Cause?

What do you do?  Not just the title bestowed on you by the HR department, but what do you do? 

Jason Jennings puts it well - Great leaders turn what they do into a noble cause and purpose.  It’s beyond the financial impact.  They are able to state what they do in such a way that it inspires action in themselves and others – and they act in such a way that it is about more than the bottom line or themselves.  They have framed their work in a way that it is tied to improving the quality life for their team or their customers – it’s an outward focus.

Those of us working in nonprofits may have an easier time defining our noble cause, but we are just as susceptible to losing sight of it in the middle of busyness as with any leader in any career.  The urgency of a budget, the crisis with the business plan, the HR issue that arrives without an appointment, or the personal issue that becomes a professional issue – they all have the power to derail the most passionate commitment from its cause driven perspective.

Three things help leaders stay connected to their noble cause and purpose.

• Share your cause and purpose with others.  It creates understanding.  It creates accountability.  It creates support from others.  It cements it in your own beliefs and values.
• Connect stories and situations to your cause.  Stories are emotional and illustrate the noble cause in a manner that helps people understand the cause even better.
• Prioritize your time with activities and tasks that are most connected to your noble cause.  Spend the maximum time on those things that score highest on the alignment scale.  Block the time on the schedule for those things – turn down those things that are not connected.

These are not new things.  If you take a look at the life of Jesus in the Gospels, you will find that he did these three things.  He shared the cause of why he came and what his purpose was on earth -- and wasn’t shy about it.  He shared stories in parables that helped people understand the message better.  He prioritized his time and committed it to activities that were in sync with his cause.  Two thousand years later his actions are still changing lives and he is the model of a servant leader.

What is your noble cause?