A powerful everyday tool for leaders and managers to improve decision-making, communicate clearly, delegate with confidence, and tackle imposter syndrome. 

Leaders bring many different challenges and feelings to coaching: decision-making, leading change, managing behaviours, facing tough conversations, or thinking about their future and what they want. At some stage, almost all grapple with self-doubt, worry or fear. These can hold them back from moving forward and making the impact they hope to achieve.

Shifting focus away from looking inward to looking outward often starts to change things.

So, if you’re feeling stuck, hesitant, or gripped by imposter syndrome, try asking yourself:

What purpose drives my work? Who benefits from it?

There’s an exercise I offer clients – a visualisation.

Imagine the situation that’s bringing up doubt: it could be a group meeting, a presentation, or an awkward one-to-one. As the feelings of uncertainty or discomfort arise, something strange begins to happen. The walls start to crack, crumble, and disappear, replaced by sheets of glass. Outside, looking in, are all the people who benefit from your work – clients, customers, users, or beneficiaries. They are gathered, watching and listening to you, urging you on.

Now imagine they are saying:

“This isn’t about you. We need you to act, to speak, to decide – for us.”

This can shift your thinking from questioning your right or ability to do something, to seeing it as a responsibility to those who benefit. And the thought of those people behind you – whose shoulders you are standing on – can boost your courage.

How does your fear feel now?

I’ve seen how connecting everyday actions to an authentic personal purpose – visualised as that group of stakeholders – helps leaders in many ways. When it’s authentic to you, not a corporate slogan, it can help you to prioritise, speak clearly, make bold decisions, and inspire trust, especially during times of uncertainty.

What It Looks Like – Stories from Coaching Sessions

A housing director thought his career had plateaued – and he was content with that. Until he remembered a single resident he’d met. He realised that by stepping into a strategic role, he could help not just one, but hundreds like him. The image of that resident completely changed his motivation and gave him a new reason to step up. He took an executive role and later moved organisations to help even more clients.

A finance leader felt exposed and judged in a new rotation where she had no technical experience – it was company policy to move leaders around. For the first time in her career, she felt unqualified, like an imposter. Then she met a family who’d secured a mortgage thanks to one of her company’s innovation schemes. They reminded her of her responsibility – who she was there for. That image helped her reframe her “outsider” voice as a superpower, to challenge the status quo, ask more questions, and pilot innovative approaches.

An engineering lead was overwhelmed by the pace of change. But he kept coming back to the one thing that would not change: safety as the first priority. He imagined the families – his own included – relying on the transportation systems his team designed. That vision helped him lead others with steadiness and clarity. Describing the clear purpose that remains constant amid disruption can help calm resistance in teams.

A medical leader needed to have clear conversations about performance with her team and worried she might be seen as unsupportive. Being supportive was a strong personal value. She began bringing patients – the purpose she served – into every meeting and conversation, even keeping a small object on her desk to represent a patient, that she occasionally squeezed to remind her why she was there. That simple symbolic act shifted the weight of those conversations and reduced her anxiety about having them.

Why These Stories Matter

Each of these leaders moved through discomfort – not by pushing it down, but by redirecting it.
They stopped asking, “What if I get this wrong?” and started asking, “Who needs me to get this right?”

People I’ve coached have found that connecting to personal purpose can:

• Improve decision-making: Purpose acts as a North Star, helping leaders stay grounded – especially during change.
• Combat imposter syndrome: Seeing yourself as representing others helps you move from self-doubt to contribution.
• Clarify communication: Purpose gives focus and meaning to even the toughest conversations.
• Empower others: Clear purpose builds trust and enables confident delegation.
• Ease fear of change: Purpose provides a through-line – anchoring what stays the same, even when much is shifting.

Leaders often take these outcomes of empowerment and change and start working directly with their teams to identify a shared team purpose, based on their stakeholders’ perspectives and needs.

A recent Great Place to Work survey of over a million US employees found that people were nearly three times more likely to stay in their roles if they felt their work was meaningful. Purpose was the top driver of retention – even among Gen Z. Demotivated staff cost organisations money, while losing and replacing valuable talent costs even more.

Purpose isn’t a slogan. It’s a choice.
A shift in focus that can steady your voice, strengthen your presence, and bring others with you.

What’s yours?

This blog was written by Leadership Coach Karen O’Connor. Karen brings insight into navigating change and empowering teams, from 30 years of experience as a Senior Leader in the fast-changing media content and news industry. Her style is direct – with careful listening, empathy, and challenge.