Expanding your purpose

When dealing with goals only in the pursuit of any endeavor, there are a few problem areas that will curtail your performance. These can be overcome by deriving from your vision a much broader perspective in terms of what to do and what not to do. This is done by adding the terms purpose, goal and objective. To make the best use of these terms they are arranged in a particular format with a specific meaning attach to each to facilitate systems thinking.

To deal effectively with purpose, goal and objective, I have introduced the concept of purpose structure design. This design entails the purpose at the apex followed by output and input goals to establish a framework for systems thinking in pursued of your vision. It is also a valuable aid to really meet the requirements of the acronym SMART (Specific, measureable, attainable, relevance and timely).

The purpose structure design requires that the terms purpose, goal and objective must be defined precisely. This is essential to identify and classify the numerous ideas that are normally generated. It implies that these definitions will also serve as standards to evaluate these ideas to enable you to know what you are dealing with.

A purpose is defined as the basic function, reason for being or right of existence to fulfill a need in adding value. A goal is defined as an open-ended long-term aim in a defined key performance area in support of the purpose. An objective is defined as a commitment to achieve a result in a specific time and in accordance with a standard to pursue a goal in the purpose structure.

These definitions are definitely not new to you, but you will find that they were slightly adapted to meet the requirements of systems thinking within the purpose structure design.

The purpose structure must meet certain design criteria, in order to meet the requirements of effectiveness. It must, among others, serve as a basis for balance, planning and control, time management, structuring the organization and, in particular, performance and risk management.

So how many goals should one have? I have found with the many designs that I have facilitated, output goals vary between five and nine, while input goals are seldom more than three. Note that you should always have more output than input goals.

But how do you start to design a purpose structure? The first step is brainstorming. Produce as many ideas as possible without evaluating them to determine whether they have performance potential. It is not uncommon to end up with many pages of ideas depending on the subject that you are dealing with. And at this stage you may only have a vision, but you may not have a clue about what your purpose is and what the output and input goals should be.

The sorting is then done with the aid of purpose structure design. Your next step is to test each idea against the definitions to determine which idea or combination of ideas match the definition of a purpose. Note that you can only have one purpose. Once you have determined what your purpose is or should be the next step is to select ideas to formulate goals. Always start with the output goals.

Now remember the purpose and goals that you have formulated at this stage are only assumptions. To determine whether they really have purpose and goal status, you must list the remainder of the ideas under the respective goals, so that each goal and related ideas form a family of activities.

Each of these ideas must then be tested for performance potential to become a key performance indicator in order to set objectives. You will often find that your purpose structure design will at this stage need a rethink. More often than not you will end-up with various reshuffles of activities to produce new designs. Don't despair if you end up with a variety of designs. These will provide you with excellent information to do the final design. Time spent on this design is time well-spend.

How to you know whether your purpose structure design is correct? This is only possible when you are able to set meaningful objectives to pursue each of the respective goals.

You will find this approach a most challenging and rewarding experience in the pursuit of your vision. You may, however, find the process, especially the think part, somewhat taxing. This is because the manner and quality of your of thinking may need to be brought in line with this dynamic approach.

But just for fun, why don't you attempt a purpose structure design to pursue your purpose? Tackling your purpose of life should present and excellent challenge.