Working Out Loud Week is a chance to step into a degree of freedom, a chance to enable change in the way you and your community works.  From 5-11 June 2017, a global community of working out loud practitioners will come together to connect, to share and to learn.  This year’s theme is ‘Contribute and Create Value‘, reflecting that generous contribution is the heart of working out loud.

Purpose

We start Working Out Loud week with a reflection on the purpose of work because we want to ensure working out loud adds value for you and your community.  Working out loud is sharing your work with a relevant community so that others can learn and help. Purpose will guide the choice of both the work to be shared and the community to which is shared.

Focusing on the higher goal of purpose is an opportunity to earn yourself a degree of freedom to act differently. Often our work is shaped only with consideration of the current deliverable or the current set of performance measures.  Bringing back into the consideration the fundamental reason for our work gives us a new latitude to consider that work and how we might choose to act differently. Purpose is an opportunity to bring people together. Clarity of purpose is important to engage the support and help of others.

Here are some questions to get you started on reflecting on the purpose of your work.  Share the reflections and ideas that they generate in your communities as a start to your WOLWeek:

• Why do I chose to do the work I do where I do it?
• When I and my organization are at our best what are we doing?
• What outcomes are we looking to achieve for others with our work? How will my work make things better for others?
• If we didn’t do this work, what would be missing?
• What about this work gives me energy?

Share the purpose of your work with others. Start a new conversation today about why you do your work. See what you can learn and what new connections are created for you and others.

Resources to help you and your organisation make the most of Working Out Loud Week are available.