How to Inspire Your Team with Purpose, Vision and Strategy (Part 1 of 2)
How to inspire your team by defining a clear purpose and vision—and why it’s the foundation of great leadership.
Hey Titans!
Today, I want to share a powerful approach I’ve used to inspire my teams—one that has transformed how we work together and achieve great results.
And here’s the best part: at the end of this post, I’ve got a little surprise for you—something that will help you run this process with your own team! (trust me, you’ll want to stick around for it)
But why focus on inspiration?
Because motivation fades, but inspiration fuels lasting change.
So right now, you’re asking me the question…
What can I do to inspire my folks?
Have you ever played with Lego blocks?
Let me share a story instead of answering with another question.
When I was 5, I received a Lego fire brigade set. The box showcased a magnificent fire engine with brave Lego firefighters manning the water cannons as if their tiny plastic lives depended on it. Behind it stood the fire station—a pristine building where these first responders could rest, restock, and prepare for their next mission.
Looking at that box, my young mind raced with possibilities: rescuing cats from trees, battling infernos in towering buildings, and becoming a hero who would save every life through acts of courage.
But do you know when the real magic happened? Spoiler: it wasn't during assembly.
It was when I held the instruction manual next to the set picture on the box.
Two elements, side by side:
The LEGO box with the set picture (the dream)
The assembly manual (the plan)
In our world, these translate to:
A Vision – the aspirational picture of what we want to achieve
A Strategy – the step-by-step plan to get there
Inspiration doesn’t just come from a compelling vision, but from having a clear, structured path to achieving it.
The Purpose—the big, yet crucial 'why?'
The Purpose answers the ‘Why?’
The Vision answers the ‘Where are we going?’
Everything begins with a team’s purpose—the foundation that fuels performance and growth.
Why do we do what we do?
Who are we and what do we stand for?
Think about it—your current position reflects your identity. Whether you’re a manager who thrives on leadership or an engineer who built trust through technical excellence, your role stems from who you are.
Teams must stand for something, too.
It took me two years and reading When They Win, You Win by Russ Laraway to fully grasp this. As a leader, it’s not just about defining the purpose—it’s about helping your team recognize their identity and shared future.
The magic happens when you heighten awareness of what makes each person successful—beyond business goals, into values, creativity, and perspectives.
The Vision—'where are we going?'
Once your team has established their belief system, they need to paint a picture of the future. This happens through creating the vision—imagine everyone picking up a brush, mixing colors on their palette, and making those first strokes together.
The first strokes might be messy, but the magic is in the act of creating together.
A strong vision answers:
What hill are we climbing?
It’s 2028—Our CEO is holding a party in our honor. What happened that caused him to throw this extremely expensive party?
While finding this answer isn't easy, the process is truly remarkable. I find myself eager to work with new teams just to experience that magical moment again!
Active participation in creating the vision statement lets everyone shape their future. I must emphasize participation because without it, the entire exercise is meaningless. The process must be inclusive, giving every team member a voice. Why? Because everyone wants to belong and contribute to group activities. Even those of us in technical roles, who typically focus on metrics and hard data, need to feel heard and valued.
The vision statement session benefits everyone involved. As a leader, you'll discover who's most passionate about the team's direction—and who isn't. It's particularly valuable when you're new to leading a group, offering insights into emerging leaders, team sentiment, and past experiences. You'll notice who actively engages and who stays quiet, providing valuable topics for future one-on-one discussions.
As an example, I'm sharing with you some of the vision statements:
Lego - A global force for Learning-through-Play.
LinkedIn - Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.
Zoom - The AI-first work platform for human connection.
IKEA - To create a better everyday life for the many people.
The Strategy—roadmap allowing to know ’how do we get there?’
Once you have the purpose and the vision of the team, the last part of getting your team fired up is the creation of the strategy.
This part you do yourself.
And it’s my favorite one, because this is where you get to shine as a leader!
The strategy connects the ‘now’ with the future. **
Think of it as a roadmap—a structured plan that makes your vision achievable.
It’s incredibly rewarding when a team realizes, “Wait, we can actually make this happen!”
Sounds simple? Well, there’s one catch—it needs to be a good strategy. And that’s where most leaders go wrong…
Wait—I just realized that I’ve been writing this post for 4 hours… writing about the strategy will at least take me 2 hours, and I need to focus on my day job 😅
I promise that I will post an article about untangling the strategy and how it should be defined—deal?
Great—for now, read on how to run the Purpose and Vision workshop!
How to facilitate the Purpose and The Vision?
If you spot a gap in team identity, propose a workshop - it's a chance to show leadership skills.
You don't need to be in management to run a Purpose and Vision workshop. As any team member, you can lead this initiative to boost inspiration, which all managers will appreciate.
Let's get to the practical details—how do you organize and facilitate such a workshop?
1. Value Ideation (15 min + 1 hr discussion)
15 minute reflection—every team member takes that time to themselves and writes down their values in the notes; to stimulate the creativity, use the questions:
Why do we exist?
Why do we matter?
What fails to happen if we don’t show to work tomorrow?
1 hour discussion—everyone presents their values, explaining what they mean. The goal is to align on a shared team identity. These are example values that a 6-person team can identify:
Priya (Senior Software Engineer):
Craftsmanship – Writing clean, maintainable code.
Curiosity – Exploring new technologies and approaches.
Ownership – Taking initiative to solve problems.
Alex (Product Manager):
User-first Thinking – Prioritizing the user experience.
Clarity – Ensuring simple, structured, and transparent communication.
Impact over Effort – Focusing on meaningful outcomes rather than just hard work.
James (UX Designer):
Empathy – Understanding users' needs deeply.
Iterative Mindset – Designing through continuous feedback and improvement.
Collaboration – Working closely with engineers and PMs to build great products.
Marta (DevOps Engineer):
Reliability – Ensuring systems are stable, scalable, and resilient.
Automation – Reducing toil through smart automation.
Security – Keeping systems and data safe.
Elena (Engineering Manager):
Trust & Transparency – Creating an environment where people feel safe to speak up.
Growth Mindset – Encouraging learning and development.
Accountability – Holding myself and others responsible for commitments.
Dan (Data Scientist):
Evidence-based Decisions – Using data to guide strategy and execution.
Integrity – Being honest about results and their limitations.
Exploration – Experimenting with new approaches to find better solutions.
Make sure that everyone has enough time to go through their values. This part is critical as you want the entire team to converge on a similar sense of purpose. That won’t be possible unless everyone actively participates in the session and speaks their mind.
2. Vision Ideation (15 min + 1h discussion)
For this part, you’ll at least need the entire second half of the 3-hour meeting. It will follow the exact same structure as in the previous part:
15 minute reflection—everyone writes down their team vision in the notes; to stimulate creativity, use the question:
What hill are we climbing?
It’s 2028—our CEO is holding a party in our honor. What happened that caused them to throw this extremely expensive party?
1 hour for sharing visions and noting them down. This full hour is essential - even experienced team members will get deeply engaged in the discussion.
This is a rough agenda for the meeting. Schedule it when everyone is at their best—ideally at the start of the workday when minds are fresh.
For distributed teams, you can split these two sessions across different days to reduce the energy demands of a single long meeting.
Final Thoughts: The Power of Purpose & Vision
This 3-hour workshop can transform a team’s alignment, motivation, and energy. It’s a simple yet incredibly effective way to inspire your team and create a sense of shared ownership.
If you’ve made it this far, here’s what I promised you at the beginning… If you want to run this workshop, I’ve got something for you!
Get these free resources:
⚡️A Slide Deck – A ready-to-use presentation with the workshop agenda and key talking points to help you facilitate the session.
🙋♂️ A Free Consultation – I’ll personally help you tailor the workshop to your team and share insights on making it work in your specific environment.
Interested? Drop a comment below or reply to this post, and I’ll send you the details!
This concludes Part 1 of how to motivate through Purpose, Vision, and Strategy. In Part 2, I'll explain how to craft an effective strategy.
Stay tuned!
- Leszek, From Teams To Titans