In the for-purpose sector plenty is said about financial sustainability. Diversify funding streams, don't rely on one funding source, don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Another high-risk area that should follow the same philosophy is motivation, in our teams and in ourselves.
So many people are drawn to the for-purpose sector, not for money (surprise!), but for the mission, the positive impact they want to make, the small moments and the lasting change.
Whatever you call it (mission, purpose, your 'why'), it is motivating and energising and it's what gets us out of bed in the morning.
It can't carry the load on it's own though.
When workload, pay and resourcing are stretched, or the support around us is missing, that's when we see good people burning out and leaving the sector. We may be motivated to get out of bed, but if we're stretched in other ways, it gets harder to get up each morning.
Most of us have come across Maslow's hierarchy of needs somewhere along the way, with meaning and making a difference sitting at the top of the pyramid.
A top-heavy pyramid will fall over, and so will the leader who carries the weight of the mission, the people and the business if they rely on purpose alone to keep them motivated.
I see this so often in the leaders I coach, and I’ve been in it myself. There have been times I’ve had to share difficult news with the people we support when it was hard for me too. In the moment you focus on the people and the purpose, and that gets the job done. But if you do that time and again without support, without someone checking in on you, it gets harder to get out of bed each day. Or take a leader who is passionate about the mission and put them in a role with an outdated job description, or micromanage them, and their passion will slowly fade.
As leaders and systems-builders, our job is to lift performance, wellness and engagement in our teams and in ourselves. Self-determination theory from Deci and Ryan gives us a useful way to think about how. It describes three psychological needs that support autonomous motivation, which is -
- motivation that comes from within because we value the work and feel it is ours.
Those needs are autonomy, relatedness and competence, and when all three are met, people do their best work. Unlike Maslow's pyramid, they sit side by side and all need nurturing at once.
I like to picture these needs as baskets. Put all your eggs in one and some will fall out, crack, and things will get messy!
Three of the baskets below are the needs themselves, and Purpose sits alongside them as a fourth, touching on autonomy and relatedness by connecting us to our values and to the people we support. The other three take more intentional work from leaders and systems-builders.
🧺 Safety and Trust (autonomy) fills when people have a real say in how the work gets done and feel safe enough to speak up and be heard. There are some things we can influence, like how a team works together, and some we can't, like funding and pay. Feeling psychologically safe to have a conversation about both helps fill this basket.
A leader I coach cared deeply about the people their organisation supports and wanted to advocate for them in the boardroom yet never felt comfortable enough to speak candidly. The purpose was there, and the safety to act on it wasn’t. We identified the systems and internal barriers that needed moving.
🧺 Belonging (relatedness) fills when inclusion is an everyday practice and people feel seen and valued by the team around them. Purpose connects us to the people we support, and Belonging connects us to the people we work alongside, including the ones who check in on us when the work gets heavy.
An empty basket can look like a team member who holds back parts of themselves for fear of being treated differently, or a CEO or leader who is surrounded by people and still feels isolated.
🧺 Strengths and Growth (competence) fills when everyone gets to use what they’re best at and sees themselves getting better. We might know we’re good at what we do and still find our confidence wearing down if the systems around us don’t back it up. This is where the passionate leader with the outdated job description needs systems in place. A title that matches the role, the authority to make the decisions that come with it, and feedback that is specific all tell a person their contribution is seen and valued.
A prompt to try this week: what did each person on my team do well, and have I told them exactly what it was?
🧺 Purpose For most of us in this sector it is already full to overflowing. As the other baskets fill, purpose is at its best!
How many eggs have you cracked lately?
Even if things are messy now, you can get more eggs and start filling up the other baskets!
What’s currently in your team’s baskets and your own, and which one needs topping up?