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Purpose and moving towards board roles

In my last post, I spoke about ‘purpose’ and its link to boards. I spoke about how clarity of purpose helps us gravitate towards directorships with organisations that are more aligned with our own purpose and values. There is a strong sense of belonging, of being more comfortable and feeling more fulfilled as a director when we know and feel that our personal values and guiding principles align with those of the organisation.

We know that understanding your personal purpose and capability is the most effective driver for successful board contributions. We also know that a well-defined and clearly communicated organisational purpose is a key contributor to organisational success.

For me, alignment between my own purpose and values and those of the organisation is critical. It’s the key driver in my due diligence research when I’m considering a board opportunity, whether we are talking about a not for profit, government or commercial board. When you do your research, you know the alignment is there when you feel the connection with what the organisation is trying to achieve and where it wants to go in the future. With this information you know immediately what value you can contribute as a director based on your experience and skills.

Sometimes it’s not easy to access the information that you need to know, as it’s not always well articulated by organisations or by people within the organisation. In many cases you may find that current directors may not be able to provide you with sufficient information to help you come to this conclusion. Yet despite the challenges, it’s important to persist to find the right fit.

In my experience, working from my purpose has helped me to clarify which types of boards I might be interested in joining and those where I know it is unlikely there will be an alignment between my own purpose and values and those of the organisation.

‘Fulfilment comes when we live our lives on purpose’ – Simon Sinek