During my time in the corporate workplace, I worked with a senior leader who rallied his team behind him by uniting them against a common enemy. It would have made a fascinating study, except that the common enemy he chose happened to be my department. And this wasn’t only something I concluded through observation; it was a practice he actively defended.
It’s important to unite your team behind a common purpose, but that’s not the same thing as a common enemy. Here are a few important differences:
1️⃣ A common enemy motivates through fear or anger, while a common purpose motivates through aspiration and vision. Fear and anger restrict innovative thinking, while aspiration and vision promote creativity.
2️⃣ A common enemy is temporary; once you’ve achieved victory, you need to find a new enemy and start over. A common purpose remains sustainable over time, growing in its attraction.
3️⃣ A common enemy promotes toxic exclusion and distrust. A common purpose creates a sense of pride and belonging.
To find your purpose, consider how your department creates value for the rest of the organization. Then think about how that work translates to value for your customers, your community, and to the world at large. Finally, identify how that value creation shows up both short-term and over the lifetime of the organization.
When you understand the common purpose that ties your department together, you foster better alignment, faster decisions, and greater motivation. If you’d like a thinking partner to help you explore your own department, let’s talk. Visit stevedwire.com/talk to start the conversation.
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