4 Steps to Surface Your Ultimate Motivation

WHY are you working toward the goal? Last week, I posted about The What and The How of our goals. Typically The What is the most clear-cut; The How takes a little bit more intentionality; But THE WHY takes some much deeper reflection.

I often find that the Why is BIG. It’s our vision – and it connects to our values. If we’re going to keep doing the thing, having the hard conversation, putting ourselves out there, making the big scary asks, etc... That WHY has *got* to be clear, Big, and LOUD for us.

When helping folks surface The Why in leadership or team goals, there are typically 4 Steps I channel:
✔️1. Reflect on MOTIVATIONS: What's the pull or push driving you to do this?
✔️2. Analyze the Desired IMPACT: What specific change are you trying to see?
✔️3. Connect to Your VALUES: What principles are at the heart of your actions and decisions?
✔️4. Visualize SUCCESS: How does the future look when you've achieved this?
This process of introspection, helps you land at YOUR WHY.

For me, this looks like…
✔️Motivations: What pushes me is constantly witnessing leaders –particularly leads of color – in tension with trying to fit into a predefined leadership mold AND trying to lead authentically. (Spoiler alert: those two things are ALWAYS going to be at odds.)
✔️Impact: I hope to see nonprofit organizations where leaders are empowered to lead authentically, free from restrictive scripts and paths and thus, truly innovating for the communities they serve.
✔️Values: I stand on the belief that we already have everything we need inside of us. Our unique identities MUST be at the heart of how we lead.
✔️Success: Leaders who are whole *AND* effective. Not sacrificing the self for the goal and not missing the goal because it’s not aligned with the self.
✨MY WHY is to foster environments where leaders can lead with their whole selves, ensuring their unique identities drive meaningful and effective change in nonprofit organizations.

Whether YOUR WHY is what you hope to accomplish as a leader or as an organization, I encourage you to continuously revisit and reinforce Your Why. It's this clarity of purpose that will guide you through challenges, inspire innovation, and ultimately lead to more fulfilling and effective outcomes.
#leadership #purposedriven #goalsetting #organizationalchange #nonprofitimpact