A purpose-driven organization instills the purpose of the organization throughout the entire org – its strategic planning, hiring, promotions, donations, training, communication, decision making, etc.
The purpose of the organization goes far being what it makes or provides. It includes the vision and mission: what kind of organization do we dream of being, and what societal needs we meet.
Your purpose is the driver for major decisions made at a high strategic level as well as daily decisions. Your purpose is your reason for going to work, it’s what excites you about what you do. It creates a sense of meaning for employees – inspiring them and unlocking creativity.
Purpose keeps your staff focused in the same direction which unleashes productivity and increases performance.
Organizations with a strong sense of purpose are more than twice as likely to have above-average shareholder returns. A recent BCG survey found that purpose correlates strongly with a ten-year total shareholder return.
This sounds wonderful – but it takes work to achieve.
First, use an amibitious strategic management process that includes input from key internal and external stakeholders. Spend the time to have deep discussions on what you aspire to be and the reason why your organizations exists in the world.
Define your organization’s desired culture and your values. These will be integrated throughout the organization.
Second, be creative about measuring your journey towards your vision, mission and values. Look at the quadruple bottom-line: internal (employees & operations), customers, stakeholders and outward (community &society). Don’t rely on historical financial information only.
Get feedback from your staff and other stakeholders about the draft strategic plan. Is it enough of a stretch? What help do we need to reach our goals?
Third, conduct a realistic and extensive current state assessment. What are our current issues, numbers and feedback?
Address the gaps between aspiration and reality. Be specific and bold. Integrate purpose throughout your strategic plan and cascade that down to each employee’s daily activities.
Fourth, communicate far and wide. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
People remember best through stories so combine facts with feelings. Give people a reason to buy-into the organization.
Fifth, build your organization to fit your purpose. Design and update your processes, policies and org structures so that it is easy to follow purpose. Remove barriers in the way of people achieving the goals we set. Review your strategic plan often. Help employees realize they are moving the strategic plan forward through their regular activities. Actions are more important than words - translate the purpose into actions that staff at all levels participate in. Tackle the hard problems. Allow people to make mistakes. Ask employees for ideas on how to live our purpose.
Sixth, execute your purpose-based strategic plan and check on it often. Make sure the plan does what you thought it was going to do – or else make changes to it. Scan the external future environment for possible changes that you should do something about. Reward staff at all levels for following the plan. Communicate successes and learnings from failures. Innovate. Check that staff are living our values. Check in with customers. Update your plan often.
Creating a purpose-driven organization requires dedicated leadership throughout the organization. You can create a purpose-driven organization by following the Haines Centre for Strategic Management approach.
If you’d like to talk more about creating a purpose-driven organization contact me at Valerie.MacLeod@HainesCentre.com
For training on The Systems Thinking Approach to Strategic Management inside your organization visit https://valeriemacleod.com/workshops
To read more about Strategic Management https://valeriemacleod.com/strategic-management-is-more-than-strategic-planning