This article is based on a presentation given by Kelly at the Customer Success Festival London, 2023.

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Finding and defining your purpose within a professional role can be both challenging and rewarding. 

I'm Kelly Paterson, Director of Account Management at Workable, and I’ve navigated through numerous projects and organizational shifts, each offering valuable insights into the importance of purpose in our work. 

My experience underscores the necessity of a shared vision, the significance of individual contributions, and the transformative power of understanding our broader impact. 

In this article, I'll share the strategies and outcomes of Project Skopos, a four-week program designed to help our team at Workable discover and embrace their purpose, leading to improved job satisfaction and team performance.

Purpose, AKA “Project Skopos”

"Skopos" means "purpose" in Greek, reflecting our roots as a Greek company. The essence of the project was to explore and define our purpose. 

But what exactly is “purpose”? 

It's the driving force behind our actions and the reason we exist. Purpose serves as our North Star, guiding us, motivating us to make meaningful contributions, find fulfillment, and create a positive impact in our lives and the wider world.

Understanding and defining purpose is crucial for our Account Managers and their daily tasks. But how does this sense of purpose tie into what we do every day? 

Let's delve into Project Skopos to understand this better.

What was Project Skopos?

Project Skopos was a four-week program designed to help our team find their purpose at Workable and beyond. We initiated this project during the COVID-19 pandemic when remote work made us feel more disconnected than ever. 

The project's objectives were to remove the isolation of remote working, encourage big-picture thinking, increase motivation, job satisfaction, output, and overall happiness, as well as drive better results.

How we implemented Project Skopos

The project was structured as a four-week framework, each week focusing on different aspects of discovering and defining purpose. 

Project Skopos: How did we do it?

Here’s a detailed breakdown of what we did each week:

Week 1: Establishing a baseline

The first week was all about introducing the project to the team and establishing a baseline understanding. We conducted a team survey to gauge our starting point and held one-on-one interviews. Additionally, we reviewed an article from the Harvard Business Review on the importance of purpose in the workplace, setting the stage for our journey.

Week 2: Values and self

In the second week, we focused on understanding our values and ourselves. During our team meeting, we discussed Workable’s core values. Each team member performed a personal SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), which led to the creation of individual personal development plans. We also assigned some homework to reinforce these concepts.

Week 3: Team values and impact

The third week shifted the focus to team values and the impact we have as a team. We conducted paired interviews during team meetings and engaged in various team-building activities. This helped us understand our collective strengths and areas for improvement.

Week 4: Bringing it all together

The final week was about integrating everything we had learned. We took a step back to consider our broader impact on our customers and the world. We also discussed the key takeaways from the project, solidifying our understanding of purpose and its importance in our roles.

Let’s take a closer look at how each week worked in detail.