3 Steps to Improve Your Leadership Impact – Lead With Passion

People want to be part of something bigger than themselves

People want their work to make a difference; they want to be a part of something bigger then themselves. Your teammates want to know what impact your institution, department or team is striving for, you’re vision for a better tomorrow. Your job is to let your team know what that is and why it matters. To make this real, put into place one to three measurable metrics that include short term, mid-term, longer term goals to both track and share progress as you go. It’s important to have shorter term goals so your team can see progress at least quarterly.

Research has found that ‘purpose driven’ people “are 4x more likely to be engaged at work and have 64% higher level of career satisfaction” (Forbes: Pursue Purpose Over Success).

Connecting work to that something bigger

Now that your team is excited about being a part of your great cause, you need to connect how your team and each individual’s work fits into or contributes to this vision. Your job is make sure they can answer these two key questions, how does what I do help us achieve this greater vision? How do I know if I am making a difference? Checking the box with a job description and an annual goal setting meeting is not enough. Discussing those two questions should be part of your one-on-ones, weekly and monthly KPIs or dashboards. It is critical to help keep your team connected to the bigger cause and the progress being made towards it. At least every month, make sure they see they are a making an impact, an impact that matters.

According to a study done by The Society for Human Resource Management, “94 percent of millennials want to use their skills to benefit a cause”

Making progress daily – culture

So your team is excited about the vision, see how their work impacts the cause, now they need to be able to make progress. Nothing is more frustrating than working in an environment filled with poorly organized meetings, lengthy approval processes, or micromanaging. With good guardrails in place, help your team get things done. Make sure they have some area of ownership, let them execute, give them room to succeed and fail. The key is to make sure they are able to make progress daily, otherwise work will become a source of frustration and the vision won’t matter. Culture matters, it may matter the most.

“54% of employees who are proud of their company’s impact on the world were shown to be more engaged in their work” (Good & Co)

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Jim Rogers

Jim has decades of experience in marketing, corporate leadership, and higher education. He's passionate about helping leaders create their best teams and culture to amplify success.