Seven Lessons from Purpose-Led Organisations
The past six weeks has seen us immerse ourselves in a lot of discussion with a lot of people about a lot of things. It hasn’t taken long to see a pattern of conversation emerge.
Most of those ‘things’ have fallen into two camps. Coffee and purpose.
Coffee is the common ground for most Australians, regardless of geography. It’s the universal language that, for the most part, is big on linguistic complexity and short on substance and process.
You can see where I’m going with this.
Corporate purpose follows a similar path. Through our discussions, we’ve seen a palpable push across corporate Australia to recalibrate and articulate organisational purpose - a slow-burn recognition that profit and purpose are not just mutually compatible, but mutually dependent. That’s a good thing.
But where many businesses appear to be coming unstuck is how to stretch their purpose statement beyond the initial flurry of linguistic gymnastics and make it meaningful; to make the substance and process as important as the language.
Here is a summary of the seven things we’ve seen and heard from leadership teams that have successfully teased their purpose narrative out of marketing and HR departments, and begun to make it an enterprise-wide reference point for decision-making.
Anticipation
Purpose definition and enterprise-wide adoption may well be one of the most difficult things an organisation does. Accept that it could result in a complete re-think of your product and service offer. Anticipate that it could reshuffle your talent model. It needs to have that potential and you can’t allow the fear of diminished short-term continuity corrupt that potential. Organisational purpose definition is not a brand campaign.
Motivation
Purpose definition can become the default motivation. It’s a common issue. And it’s a big problem. Organisations become so entrenched in the pursuit of their purpose narrative and the exploration of the ‘corporate self’, that they fail to ask the most obvious question. What is our commercial motivation for purpose definition and how will a better understanding of our reason for being have a meaningful impact on our business and our place in the world? Always make the motivation question the first. Good things will follow.
Ownership
Purpose has to belong to everyone. Every member of the leadership team needs to understand the urgency of its definition, be explicit about the tangible consequences it might have on their function or area of responsibility and develop metrics against which performance improvement can be measured. It is not someone else’s responsibility.
Symbiosis
Organisational purpose is not something that is applied to a business. It is something that is lived by it. It must become the spinal cord of the organisation’s culture and, as such, it must be something that employees embrace rather than align with. What quickly emerges from such initiatives is where a natural symbiosis between employees and the organisation exists. A marriage of personal and corporate purpose, if you will. As such, expect a few separations along the way.
Innovation
Purpose should not be defined to drive an uptick in employee engagement metrics. That may be a happy consequence, but it is only one of many. And it can prove to be a dangerous outcome. There’s not an organisation out there that doesn’t understand the significance of talent attraction, development and retention. Get good people and you have the foundations for a good business. The problem with putting too much attention on engagement scores is that it is a known innovation killer. Organisations become scared of change. They don’t want to ruffle feathers. They don’t want to lose great talent. That’s where organisational purpose is so important. It fosters and forces compromise designed to drive long-term value rather than short-term need. For some, it’s the question they’d really not ask at all
Tools
It’s the question asked by most employees most of the time. How are you going to help me make this work? Few organisations seem equipped to answer it. Some have even failed to think about it. Too many purpose-led cultural transformation journeys begin with a mindset shift and accelerate towards a culture shift without thinking about the bit in the middle. The bit where organisations provide systems and platforms and tools and active learning initiatives through which talent can embrace their employer’s stated commitments. Try asking a pilot to land a plane without a thrust lever and see what happens.
Alchemy
All that enthusiasm and purpose clarity and sophisticated performance measurement system development can be a potent combination. For some, it can be positively hormonal. So be sure to channel it in the right direction. And be specific too. Focusing purpose-led initiatives on a multitude of things, however well meant, can become overwhelming for the organisation. Despite the very best of intents, it will lead to capacity and productivity overload, failed projects and cultural recrimination. All of which is opposite to the desired effect. Get the purpose balance right at the outset and build on it. Carefully.