Connect through your professional purpose

I’ve recently returned from an overseas trip. One of the main reasons for the adventure was to test my new book with people in the UK. I was curious to find out what’s the same and what’s different when it comes to flex challenges, compared to Aotearoa, and how my book might support UK-based leaders with their flex challenges.

I connected with some great people who are driven by a similar professional purpose as I am, which is to create a future of work that’s more equitable. Some fantastic flex specialists were some of those new connections, including Flexa and Timewise, who generously shared their time and insights with me. 

Many flex challenges were the same in the UK. The challenge of how to create a connected hybrid team was on the minds of many leaders I spoke to, as well as questions about what it takes to create confidence in the workforce that flex is here to stay.

One of the differences I noticed was that UK businesses were much more explicitly driven to create an increasingly inclusive workplace through flex. Here in Aotearoa, my experience is that leaders are driven to improve their recruitment and retention efforts through flex, with inclusion of a more diverse team being a secondary driver. 

Since returning from my trip, I’ve committed to carving out more time and energy to connect with others who share the same professional purpose, at home and overseas. The insights and exchanges we had were mutually beneficial and we’ve all committed to keeping the connections alive and well. I already love doing this, but now more than ever, I understand the value it creates. 

That value comes from listening deeply, learning more about the context we’re in and broadening my understanding through multiple perspectives. My work becomes more useful as it more accurately reflects the complex reality we’re in and the lessons I’ve gathered along the way. I can more easily reference other people’s work and guide people to the right places because I’m better connected and better supported by this global community. 

My question for you is how can you connect more through your professional purpose? Do you share a similar purpose to me? Or is your passion something else? How can you find people who share that so you can feel more supported and create more value in your work?

Here are three questions to get you started:

1. What is your professional purpose?

The clearer you are about your professional purpose the easier it is to find, and be found by, others on the same mission as you.

2. Who can you (re)connect with who shares a similar purpose to you?

Reach out to others who share your professional purpose. They might be in a very different role to you, but having a shared purpose means you’ll have an instant connection and plenty of value to offer each other. 

3. How would your impact change with a richer network of people that centred around a common purpose?

The success we have professionally is never ours alone. It’s only ever possible because we have the right people around us. We all want to make more of a difference through our work, so who can you reach out to today?