Team Purpose: More Than a Statement

Feed the athletes. That was the purpose of my first team. I was a member of the foodservice team in the athlete’s village at the Athen’s Olympic and Paralympic Games. Were we there to get autographs from Yao Ming? No. Collect pins from athletes from around the world? No. Those were bonus opportunities. Our purpose was to keep the athlete’s fed and prepared for the most intense competition in the world.

As a member of a sports team, debate team, business team, or board of directors do you know what your purpose is? Think about a time when you served on a team that had a clear purpose. This could be in your personal or professional life. Perhaps you are on an HR team working to make your workplace one of the best to work. Perhaps you are leading a team of architects to design a more sustainable building. Or perhaps as new parents, you are on a team with the purpose of raising a baby. As you have likely learned through your various team experiences, the clearer the purpose, the easier it is to define roles, track milestones, and ultimately achieve your goal. If you are looking for help, be sure to visit a leadership consulting company.

So what is a team purpose and how can you know when yours is clearly understood?

What is a team purpose?

In the athlete’s village in Athens, there were three distinct groups that helped feed the athletes – culinary, foodservice, and facilities. We had to ensure that the food was prepared in a healthy and clean environment and served in a way that hundreds of athletes could quickly eat in a makeshift tent on the outskirts of Athens. Effectively my role for the majority of the games was as a glorified lunch lady with a few rotations into facilities that involved cleaning out trash cans during the nightshift. And yet, this is one of my favorite team experiences. Why? Because the purpose was clear. I was helping to feed the most elite athletes in the world.

As employee engagement expert Robert Quin articulates, a team’s purpose “reflects something more aspirational. It explains how the people involved with an organization are making a difference, gives them a sense of meaning, and draws their support.”

A team’s purpose should articulate what that unique set of people can accomplish at this unique point in time. It is the glue that binds people together when the work is complex, confusing, or slow moving. If you feel like your team is without a purpose, ask yourself these questions…

What is our job as a team?

What’s our goal? How do we know when we’ve done our job?

What benefit are we bringing to the company and the world?

The answers to these questions are not just inspirational quotes to hang on your cubicle wall or use as a screen saver. As is pointed out in a classic HBR article, “Research has revealed that the vast majority of people want to feel part of something larger and more important than themselves. When workers were asked how important it was that their lives be meaningful, 83 percent said, ‘very important’ and another 15 percent said, ‘fairly important.’ That’s an astounding 98 percent to whom it was at least ‘important.’ It is a wonder that collective purpose is the first requirement in creating any real team.”

How do you know if the purpose is understood?

Have you ever been on a team but weren’t sure why you were on it?  This feeling is a red flag that you, and likely others on the team, do not understand the purpose of the team.

When you understand the purpose of the team and the expectations of the members, you have a better understanding of how you can contribute and add value. For me, a fresh-faced college graduate getting lots of advice to pursue a full-time job, the Olympic Games gig was temporary. I knew I had a finite window to experience the Athens games and I was itching for travel and adventure, so the opportunity to join the food service team aligned with my personal goals.

High performing teams don’t ever ask why they are on the team. They are aware of how their collective energies are more than the sum of their parts. They are aware of the impact of their work on those around them and it makes the work matter more. If you want to know if your team understands its purpose, you can ask…

• Do members of the team understand their unique contribution to the group?
• Do we have a sense that our work is progressing?
• Do I feel personally aligned with our purpose?

Consider the following checklist to define and then embed your purpose throughout your work as a team.

The last item on the checklist is often overlooked. For some teams, especially those with ongoing responsibilities like the governing of an organization, the work never ends so celebrating when key milestones are reached is an important aspect of a healthy team. For other teams, their purpose has a definite ending point, like a product release, or the end of the Olympic games. On the final day of the Olympic Games, we were in the Athlete’s village watching the closing ceremonies on TV and giving hugs to each other for coming together and completing what at the beginning felt like a mammoth task. To our great surprise, the athletes started streaming in with their bedsheets draped across their bodies like ancient togas to fuel up for a night of celebration. They gave us high fives, gave us pins and joined as we danced to the unofficial anthem of the Athens Olympic games – the theme from Zorba the Greek.

We hope that you and your teams also have a reason for celebratory dancing after achieving your purpose in your organizations.

TL; DR

–       Teams don’t just perform better with a purpose, they can’t really perform without one.

–       Just because you have a purpose, doesn’t mean it’s understood. Check-in regularly and calibrate accordingly.