Why the 'Why' of your business isn't the most important

Why the 'Why' of your business isn't the most important 

'A deep orange sun in a clear sky. Clarity, warmth and energy. I got them, my leading principles,' I say enthusiastically to the speaker of my mobile. Seconds later, Elly responds. 'Yes, and light, that's also part of the sun and part of you.' 

Elly and I are taking a course in Team Coaching with Horses, in which a day earlier we were dwelling on leading principles and how they work systemically. 'Every person and every organization have leading principles, conscious or unconscious. They are rawer than the beautifully formulated and communicated Why or vision. Everyone experiences them, even without giving them words,' I heard our trainer Nicolle say. 

Nicolle's words immediately brought them to mind: the Corona Teststreets where I train the coordinators on location. A 'pop-up' organization, so no nicely worked out Why, but where I sense a strong leading principle: saving lives. That is what unites and guides everyone who works there from various backgrounds. It's the energy I feel at the spot, from the parking attendant who receives me to the manager in charge. But it's not something you express directly and ‘raw’.

The difference between the leading principles and the Why is now as clear to me as the importance of working with both. Your leading principles are the core of who you are and they have always been there. A Why or vision you define, that is about who you want to become, there ambition in there gives direction, but is not yet a reality. Therefore, it is less perceptible than what is already there; your leading principles. These are, even if they are not made explicit in words, stronger than the Why and can therefore support or counteract it.

My own vision or Why is, Being a guide who creates movement that contributes to the happiness and success of others and setting an example in doing this myself. Alternately this is already there, then it is enjoyment, or it is an ambition that asks for a move. To set movement in motion costs energy, so energy is my turn signal. I am on the right track when something gives me more energy than it costs me. This guiding principle "energy" helps me to realize the ambition in my Why. 

What makes my Why personal and realistic are my leading principles: full of energy and with a warm interest to put 'everything there is' in the sunlight in order to give myself and others clarity and to set them in motion towards happiness and success in work and life. That is what typifies me as a person and as a professional and what helps and strengthens each other.

Do you want to discover for yourself or with your team your guiding principles and how they reinforce your Why or vision? You will find them in the answers to the following questions:

• What would be lost if you were no longer there?
• What are you at the core?
• For what are you the answer?

Good luck and have fun. And yes, I love it when you share your discoveries with me!