Serve, Coach, Lead Newsletter #8: What is Your Leadership Purpose Statement?

A common motivation strategy is to come up with your "why" for what you do. Whether it is for your occupation, coaching, volunteering, or furthering your learning, understanding the underlying reasons that you do what you do can help you prioritize what's important.

This week I challenge us to not only understand our "why" but to develop a leadership purpose statement. Your statement will be a tangible resource for you to refer to whenever you lose sight of your "why."

There are two types of coaches: transactional and transformational. Transactional coaches focus on what the players can do for them. Transformational coaches focus on what they can do for their players. Here is an example of what a transactional coach's purpose statement might look like:

"To make my players into very good athletes so that I can win as many games as possible."

Obviously, not many coaches would outwardly announce these words, but for many this is their intrinsic motivation in coaching.

Some coaches simply see their players as resources to attain the personal success that they want to achieve.

Here is an example of what a transformational coach's purpose statement might look like:

"To inspire people to become the best version of themselves in all aspects of life while becoming a contributing member of a team."

See the difference? One is strictly based on the outcome. What can the coach get from the players? The other is focused on their development. What can the coach do to help the players succeed in life?

Here is a template from 3 Dimensional Coaching for constructing your transformational coaching purpose statement:

1. To (verb) inspire, lead, teach, develop, create, encourage, mentor, empower...

2. (target) athletes, players, coaches, people...

3. (outcome which incorporates your core values)

My purpose statement (developed in 2018 while working through the 3D coaching course at Evangel University) is:

"To develop athletes into people who are committed to pursuing excellence as leaders who love one another."

This week, I encourage you to work through developing a coaching purpose statement. Determine the core values that you live by or want to live by, then use the template above to create a purpose statement centered on the betterment of those in your care.

If you already have a purpose statement, or once you create one, I would love to hear it! Simply reply to this email (or send to harrison.stevens3@gmail.com).

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this week's newsletter. As mentioned before, I would love for this to be an interactive experience for each of us. Please share any comments, questions, or feedback that you may have. Also, if you know of anyone that would benefit from these emails, please send them this link to sign up.

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If you would like to reread last week's newsletter, you can find it here.

Thank you for your support, and I look forward to connecting with you all next week.

God Bless!