Moving from "the" to "my" – (Part 2 – Leadership)

After months of planning, purchasing equipment, and a seven-hour drive, I arrived with my daughter at the trailhead of the Four-Pass Loop. We didn't plan to set any records; we would summit four passes in the Maroon Bell wilderness outside Aspen, Colorado, over the next five days. We parked our car just before sunset, arriving at our campsite well after dark, which resulted in a mostly sleepless night. In the morning, we headed for the first pass. But before lunch, the mixture of poor sleep and elevation created an overwhelming level of stress; my anxiety raced, and I was ready to call it quits.

Today my daughter is a registered nurse; at the time, I was freaking out at 11,500 feet; she was a recent high school grad. Instead of freaking out with me, she calmly assessed the situation, helped me calm down, and found a place for us to rest. She established a supportive framework that had us back on the trail, ascending our first 12,400-foot pass after a meal and a nap.

As my anxiety raced, two things happened. First, my planned hiking trip was no longer "my hiking trip." Instead, I was on some blogger's idea of fun—it was their trip, not mine. Secondly, I became a victim. What happened to me on the side of the mountain happens in our organizations every day. When the people we lead face challenges, are overwhelmed by stress, or feel ready to quit, they may feel like victims, shifting from engaged team members to passive contributors. As leaders, we are responsible for establishing and maintaining a supportive framework that empowers individuals to navigate the journey from the audience to the engaged, from the sideline to the field, from volunteers to team members, and from consumers to partners who intentionally engage in the mission.

Identity, belonging, and purpose are essential aspects of being human. As leaders, we drive toward mission, desiring the flourishing of our organizations and the people within. Providing a missional framework and inviting team members to participate in our organization is essential. A well-charted missional framework answers the core human questions of identity, belonging, and purpose. People are complex; work or vocation informs only a portion of a person's identity, belonging, and purpose. Our goal is to help our team members increase their identity, belonging, and purpose, moving from thinking they are working at "the organization" to working at "my" (or "their") organization.

A missional framework provides opportunities allowing team members to include their work or vocation in their identity, to find community within their work, and to align their work purpose with their purpose or calling in life. A missional framework is a tool to use throughout each day, reinviting team members to reenter the transformational journey from the audience to the engaged, from the sideline to the field, from volunteers to team members, and from consumers to partners who drive the mission forward.

On the side of the mountain, my daughter reminded me that we chose to tackle our father-daughter hike to create memories together. At that moment, the reminder of my identity, belonging, and purpose reduced my stress, fear, and anxiety and reinvited me into the story of our adventure together.