3 - We Deeply Understand the Purpose and Vision of Our Department, Our Team, and Ourselves

~ We Deeply Understand the Purpose and Vision of Our Department, Our Team, and Ourselves ~

We must understand that the importance of our work is paramount. We must believe this, or nobody will. The work we do is no simple feat. For the entity we serve to protect, we are the LAST LINE of protection. We take great pride in holding this incredible responsibility. We keep top of mind: “if not us, then who?” We constantly remind ourselves of this critically important purpose and position. We stand upon it whenever we set out to produce our valuable outcomes. Because of this position, our heads are always held high.

If not us, then who? In the face of strategy, speed, money at stake, status quo, inertia, power, manipulation, disrespect, discredit....If not us, then who? Who will look deep, who will effectively challenge, who will speak up and affect the change necessary to protect the institution. We are an important function and we serve an important purpose.

We can never lose connection to this purpose, and the responsibility it comes with. When doubt about our purpose creeps in, and it will creep in, we must remind ourselves of our purpose and position. We are the Last Line, the final gatekeeper, the final checkpoint, the last people within this entity that can speak up to avoid impending doom. This thought is always roaming in our minds, and we take great pride and feel great purpose in holding the responsibility of this position. We never transfer this responsibility back to lower lines. We never give in to the urge to say “if it’s ok with them, it’s ok with us”, or “it probably won’t happen”. We know that too much is at stake. Too many times have we given in only to see our concerns eventually come to light.

Our purpose exists at, and must be felt at multiple levels. Our department has purpose and our leadership must continuously instill this level of purpose to all that must know it. All stakeholders must know it, whether external or internal. And of course, all members of the function must know it. Leaders must develop a sense for when others do not feel the purpose, and promptly remind those of the truth of our purpose.

The subunits, or teams of our function also have a level of purpose rooted in the functions purpose. Teams cannot exist without a common sense of purpose. Find me a team that doesn’t work well together and I’ll find you a team without a common sense of purpose. Leaders of teams must define and instill a common sense of purpose to all of their team members. The greatest teams share a strong bond of purpose.

All individuals on our team must also have purpose. Individuals, part of teams, that make up the department. All of our individuals must have and feel a deep purpose. A purpose derived from the teams purpose, derived from the departments purpose. Purpose is foundational to motivation, drive, and spirit. It anchors the activities of our days, it guides us to what we should be doing. So each individual must architect their individual purpose in a manner that is aligned to the purpose of their team, and the purpose of the department. After architecting it, build it.

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With respect to Vision, it can simply be understood as where we want to go. Where is the department going? Where is the team going? Where is the individual going?

Unfortunately there are many departments, teams, and individuals that do not know where they are going. They can be described as meandering on a vessel in the ocean without sails. Such a state is devastating, a bad dream. It’s the reason for the conditions of work where we are constantly “putting out fires”. There is no direction, no path to a better place. It’s a big reason why people eventually will “jump ship”.

So it is rather obvious that we must think through, and develop a vision. We must know where we are going as a department, we must know that place that, when we arrive, we will be better at what we do. We will be more effective, more efficient, we will enable ourselves to improve our outcomes. Leaders MUST develop and clearly articulate this vision to every member of the function. Clarity is key to develop a collective vision, or we are all hallucinating.

Similar to purpose described above, vision must also exist at the subunit/team level, and it must be derived from the vision of the department. Leaders at this level must also do well to clearly articulate the vision to their team members.

And lastly, there is the vision at the individual level. We must have a beautiful vision for ourselves. A vision to excel at the individual level, a vision that well serves our team and our department.

We have Purpose and Vision. Our Departments, our Teams, and our Individuals all have Purpose and Vision that is aligned. We know that so many people are counting on us. We never forget the wide scope of people counting on us: our team, our management, our control owners, our fellow employees. Our clients, customers, families of customers, societies are counting on us. These statements are not extreme, they are the Truth. If you don’t believe me, look at history, look at news stories, and I can assure that you will see devastating events which could have been prevented by people in our profession who felt strong purpose and vision in the work they do. Thus, we cannot lose sight of how widespread the impact of our failures can be. It’s profound, and we will never overlook this impact. We know it’s so easy to overlook.

So, we chose to feel amazing when exercising our sense of Purpose, and working towards our Vision. We feel amazing when executing our responsibility and delivering the outcomes of our Purpose. It’s not just a report. It’s not just another finding. It was the last opportunity to protect the firm, clients, customers, families of customers, societies. And WE DID IT.