Context Matters…It Is What Gives Meaning…To Everything

Read the following sentences, reflect for a minute, what did they mean to you?

If you were to relay the content to someone else, what would you say these sentences were all about? 

A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is a better place than a street. At first it is better to run than to walk. You may have to try several times.

It takes some skill, but it is easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it.

Once successful, complications are minimal. Birds seldom get too close.

Rain, however, soaks in very fast.

Too many people doing the same thing can also cause problems. One needs lots of room.

If there are no complications it can be very peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor.

If things break loose from it, however, you will not get a second chance.

It may help to read the sentences out loud. Read them to a colleague even. What meaning can you extract from these sentences?

Now you may conclude that they don’t make much sense. If you shared them with colleagues you may find that there are as many interpretations of their meaning as there are colleagues…some may even completely dismiss the whole thing as nonsense.

A lot of corporate communications has the same impact…we can’t make sense of it; there are lots of interpretations about what it means, and some may even ignore or dismiss them completely.

Now, add the word KITE as a heading for the list, and reread the list.

It makes sense now…yes? By simply adding one word what made no sense before is now completely clear. Without context content makes no sense!

What’s more, now that the context is clear, everyone can independently add content and the content they add will make sense.

Purpose, mission and values is THE most important context for an organization. A clearly articulated, and shared, context makes it easy for people to use their best intelligence to forward the organization…they will intuitively know what is wanted and needed, whatever the circumstance.

Perret Roche Partners help leaders, and members of the organization, express all that they do…their actions and communications…as expressions of the purpose, mission and values of the organization. That’s what makes purpose-driven organizations possible.

A Simple Idea… A Shared Purpose Matters

When we, individually and collectively, recognize why we do the work we do, when we are connected to the meaning our work, then a whole host of other possibilities emerge.

Perret Roche Partners is dedicated to the possibility that work…when the context is a purpose we are passionate about…is nurturing, invigorating and satisfying. Work is more than tasks to perform against some deadline to meet others’ expectations, so as to earn a living and provide for the needs of a family.

True, work can often be tiring, and frustrating…to say nothing about the constant juggling of competing personalities, interests, and priorities. For far too many the first thought that comes to mind in being part of an organization is not that it is nurturing, exciting and the reason we get up in the morning.

No, for most of us work simply provides us with an income to provide for the life we live outside of work.

We at Perret Roche Partners frequently ask people in organizations, “Who’d care if your organization disappeared? Who’d care if you simple packed up and closed the business?”

Most people immediately respond, “Well  we would for one, that would mean our jobs and income would go…so we’d care”

We usually press our first question, “Well apart from everyone inside the company who would loose jobs and incomes, who else would care?”

What follows is usually a realization that what they do day-by-day really matters, and in ways they mostly don’t fully appreciate, and therefore don’t fully express.

When the context for work is clear, when it is shared by everyone, when it is the source of meaning and direction…people flourish and the organization thrives as never before. 

Context matters!

Perret Roche Partners works with owners, senior executives and members of mostly privately owned mid-sized organizations to help them reframe all that they do so that it is an expression of their purpose, mission and values.