Four prompts I use to help teams get clear on their identity and purpose
Hi friends!
As you read this, I am enjoying time with my family in Greece. I want to be transparent that I am not sending this blog from vacation: I worked on this before I left and scheduled it to come to you while I am away! I want to model taking time off because it’s something I am trying to work on more for myself and prioritize in my life.
In today’s post, I want to update you on some work we’ve been doing internally. In May, we started working with a company that’s helping us clarify and elevate our brand. So far, the process has been incredibly exciting . . . and incredibly challenging and vulnerable.
When I think about “branding,” I often think about logos, color schemes, and social media feeds. But what I’m learning is that branding is really about identity: In this case, our identity as a business and team, and my own identity.
Since the Student Maid transition, I’ve had to learn how to let go of the identity I once had as the founder and CEO of a cleaning business that I started in college and embrace the identity that comes with focusing solely on helping teams and leaders build more human workplaces. This new iteration of the business feels like an extension of myself: It’s deeply intertwined with how I see myself and the impact I want to have on the world. So this branding work, at its core, is really about redefining and clarifying who I am and what I want, which has felt surprisingly difficult.
The most challenging questions we’ve talked about so far seem really simple: What is my “thing”? What makes me and our business special? What makes us unique? What do I want my legacy to be? But as simple as these questions may seem, they have been incredibly hard for me to answer. There are moments in our meetings when I’m at a loss for words. In a recent meeting, for example, we were talking about the work that I do most often with teams—the stuff I do pretty much every day—and I still felt like I couldn’t describe it. I could feel it, but I couldn’t articulate my process. I can clearly communicate what my work is not and I can immediately pinpoint when something we discuss fees off, but the rest is really difficult.
What I’m realizing is that it's hard to identify these things because you can only see yourself from the inside out. It's so much easier to help someone else identify what their “thing” is because you’re looking in from the outside. And that’s exactly why we hired a partner to help us.
It’s almost funny to me how challenging this identity work is because I help other people and teams get clear on who they are all the time. I understand that there's a real cost associated with being unclear about who you are and what you stand for. If people—from your clients to your own team—don’t understand your vision or the direction you're heading in, then you're not going to be as impactful as you can be.
We get clearer and clearer with each meeting, and I know we will soon be at a place where we can introduce our new brand to the world. I’m so excited for that day! In the meantime, I thought I could be a thought partner for you. I want to share four prompts that I use to help teams get clear on who they are, who they want to be, and what they want to achieve together. I use these prompts as a jumping-off point for a discussion that often leads to defining team values, setting a vision together, and determining goals that will help actualize the vision. So if you're on a team where you feel like it's not clear who you are, what you're doing, or what you’re here to accomplish—or if you’re feeling like it’s time for your next chapter-–here are four prompts that can help you get clarity:
What should be your number one priority as a team?
What is the problem your team should be focused on solving?
What do you hope the team will accomplish? What will your legacy be?
What is the future that you want to achieve together?
I hope these questions help prompt some great discussions!
I promise to keep you posted on our progress with our branding and identity work. As challenging as it’s been, it’s also been incredibly meaningful, and it’s already making a difference in my speeches and in my work with teams. I know that the best stuff gets messy before it gets clear, and maybe you need that reminder like I do.
Big hugs, and I’ll see you next week when I’m back from Greece!
