What Are You Longing For? Do You Dare To Realise Your Dreams?

Many years ago, when I was in one of my quests searching for my path, I asked a wise teacher/mentor:  What do you do if you are wholeheartedly clear that this is your path but if you follow it all that you have now will fall apart?

They mirrored back something I knew but I was missing the courage to acknowledge. They said, “You stay in your path.”

In reality, not much fell apart in my life as I had initially anticipated. On the contrary, many new doors have opened for me since then. Developing purpose in our lives in a grounding way comes in ‘glimpses’ of awareness at the most unexpected moments, and suddenly we realise that we have connected with something really important. This gives us strength to delete all the ‘should have’ and ‘do nots’ and move forward aligned with our blueprint, our purpose.

As we ‘stay on our path’, we support others to do the same, creating a purposeful path together. Since the pandemic, and given the challenging situations and fears it has thrown at us, we may have sometimes resorted to a ‘safe harbour’ approach; a kind of short-termism that delays decisions and tries not to look too far into the future. But soon we realize that this approach can be debilitating, and that we quickly exhaust the internal resources we need to regenerate ourselves and the organisations we are part of. Almost 90% of the coaching sessions I have led since the pandemic entered our lives, have centred on the concept of purpose, and finding new paths to new solutions.

Leading with Purpose. Impactful Lessons Learnt During The Pandemic

I would like to introduce you to some leaders I have had the pleasure of working with over the past year, and learn how they re-found and nurtured their purpose in extremely extenuating circumstances. Some of their stories are quite touching.

A UN senior diplomat was tasked to bring together social actors to support the pandemic response in African countries. For millions of workers in the region of course, lockdowns mean no income and therefore no food. They became frustrated with the polarity of perspectives and political red tape that was delaying decisions. In response, they regained their sense of purpose and saw a way to influence constituents, by tapping into their compassion and empathy. The very same day a new set of policies and several million funds were approved to help the most vulnerable groups affected by Covid-19. In reflection, they said, “When you hold multiple perspectives grounded in your purpose, you touch the pure essence of humanity”

A director in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire managing a team of 45 people in an international organisation also found themself in a challenging situation during the pandemic. Due to the intensity of emotions arising at that time, they “partially gave up” until they started working on themself and developing a sense of purpose governed by kindness. They were then able to make atypical managerial decisions based on ‘a purpose of kindness’ and protect the well-being of their staff, some of them suffering from PSTD and abuse from war.

A newly appointed director of an international organisation working in Beirut, was leading a remote team of 100 staff. They concurrently witnessed the tragic explosion at Beirut’s port, and lost relatives and staff to Covid-19. In the midst of overwhelming emotions they felt exhausted and disturbed while observing the polarity of the actions taken by the people around them. They found it extremely difficult to re-build something from their distraught state. Their purpose started to grow out of reconnection with the immediate needs of the people around them and the mission of the humanitarian organisation which they worked for. They described purpose as the ‘spark’ that they needed to take action. By leading with a strong purpose grounded in personal and organisational values and  showing staff why something is important, they motivated their team to support the restoration of the area.

What about you? How have you weathered the storm of the past year and a half? Are you motivated to reconnect even deeper with your sense of purpose and inspire your teams and colleagues to do the same?

We offer the following learning experiences to support organisations to move forward on their special path. We would be delighted to discuss objectives and impact of this training for your organisation:

–Coaching training for Managers and Leaders: Based on the International Coaching Federation competencies we train change agents to create a coaching culture within the organisation that empowers employees, increases well-being, and leads with a ‘continuous learner mindset’.

–Leading with Purpose and Meaning Workshop: Based on neuroscience that identifies the benefits of acting with a sense purpose and meaning; we practice stimulating approaches to apply at work to help employees love what they do and bring their best selves to work.