Encyclopedia of Leadership

NESTED PURPOSES

A specific purpose keeps a workgroup or team in touch with the larger organizational purpose.

Each purpose should be aligned and nested within a larger purpose.

HOW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL

“The conviction that life has a purpose is rooted in every fiber of man, it is property of the human

substance. Free men give many names to this purpose, and many think and talk about its nature.”

—Primo Levi

Use this tool to write a purpose statement for your organization, for your workgroup or team,

for a specific project or project team, for a decision, or for a personal or life issue.

WEB WORKSHEET

Two steps are important in developing a purpose statement:

Step 1: Determine why you need a purpose statement.Discuss the need for a clear purpose state-

ment (i.e., the purpose of a purpose statement). Work with your group to discover and define

why it needs a clear purpose statement. Outline the pitfalls of nothaving a clear purpose state-

ment. Don’t skip this step. It’s important for people to understand why they are spending time

defining and writing a purpose statement.

Step 2: Commit to implementing your purpose statement. Use whichever of these three scenarios

best suits your unique situation.

A. If you have a purpose statement already drafted, stay open to improvement. Present

it as a draft, and seek input from all workgroup or team members. Commitment to a

60 SECTION 2 TOOLS FORBIG-PICTURETHINKING

Organizational

Purpose

Workgroup

Purpose Project Purpose

Briefly summarize why you and your group think that it is important to have a purpose statement.