Clarifying a team’s purpose is essential if you want to prioritise effectively. Yet too often, purpose statements become a hastily assembled string of well-intentioned words that carry little meaning and are quickly forgotten.

The questions that follow are designed to help you move beyond slogans and articulate a purpose that genuinely guides decisions, focus, and team effort.

Purpose is the view of the world that has your organisation do things differently than anyone else and do things that matter to those you serve (Montgomery, 2012).

What is your reason for being? Do you know who you are and where you are headed? Do you and your team know who you are collectively and where you are headed? Do you and your team know your “Why?”

1. Why did you initially choose to work at this organisation…and why do you stay?

2. What is it about who this team has been in the past, that is so critical to who we are, it should not be lost?

3. If this team were to be disbanded tomorrow (you kept your roles but just worked 1:1 with your manager) what would really be missed?

4. What can we uniquely do together (and would be difficult to do alone), that our organisation needs?

5. What do we want to be famous for as a team?