How to Define the ‘Purpose’ of Your Organization?
Organizations have to craft, design and embed a clear ‘purpose statement’ that answers these questions: What is our reason for existence? What’s the value we are giving to our customers? What is the driving force of our organization?
The word ‘Purpose’ has caught everyone’s attention post Simon Sinek’s movement. The reason for doing or existing has helped people and organizations remove clutter and get laser focus vision in bringing organization excellence. This is more important for taming the new entrants in our workforce — Generation Z or Millennials who look for instant gratification and for value-driven philosophy in everything they do. The new entrants want the organization to stimulate them both intellectually and emotionally, and the only way is to infuse them with the Purpose- “The why” in whatever they think and do. By all means, organizations cannot miss this ingredient of culture. The purpose is the fabric of the new age culture.
The most important piece here is when great organizations drive the philosophy of “purpose — The why” they don’t speak to what the firm does or who its customers are or vague statements of aspirations. So how does it look?
Listed below are the few vital checks to be carried out before you draft your daring statement -“The purpose.”
1. Why does your organization exist? The Reason: The why! The lever which will set the mind to action, the gear which will bring clarity to minds to create momentum and do great and not good!
2. How does your organization operate, your ‘Value Philosophy’: The boundary which you use to operate your organization. The principles that guide your actions and decisions. The Value System [Content & Intensity].
3. Where will my organization be in coming years: The purpose and the unknown future. The future built around scale & impact
What defines a company’s purpose — its core reason for being and its impact on the world?
The whole purpose philosophy answers here, too, fail to answer the questions. What is your reason for existing? What value are you giving to your customers? Why is your firm uniquely capable of providing it?
A truly powerful and compelling ‘purpose’ only has two strategic aims, clearly articulating “what organization stands for (strategic intent) and ‘compelling driving force.’ When employees understand your organization’s purpose, they’re inspired to do work that not only is great but which is compelling to them.
Indeed, it’s hard to imagine how your employees can contribute & deliver if they don’t understand your company’s purpose or what you stand for. How can they come to work every day, ready to further the business, if they don’t know what your organization is trying to accomplish and how their jobs support those goals? A lack of direction saps motivation, and people begin backing away from the challenges required to achieve the firm’s articulated strategic goals. The so defined purpose forms the strategic glue that holds great potential to inspire.
Companies must put a high-end effort in crafting & re [crafting] jobs [relational job design] that attracts the right talent in the right roles. This powers and facilitates cross-collaboration & pollination of organization purpose through continuous learning through questioning. Think & Re [Think] and reinforce organization DNA — The purpose which it stands for on a routine basis and make sure organization leaders live the organization’s purpose through their words, actions and thoughts. The organizations of the future would be those that live, breathe, and sustain the organizations’ DNA –“The purpose.”
Is your purpose a cheque that your customers can bang on?
Every organization has to create, communicate, and live a purpose firmly grounded around its stakeholders. Businesses survive because they uniquely meet some set of stakeholders’ needs. They succeed and grow when their purpose remains unique, fresh and when they connect it to everyone’s values. Leaders need to clearly communicate why the company exists (what value it creates) in a way that is easy for all stakeholders to understand and which forms a common reference theme. In order to ensure the purpose creates ‘strategic clarity’ and ‘sets momentum’ in its employees, every leader, while crafting and designing the organization’s “reason for being,” has to invest time in finding answers for the below on a timely basis.
- Is our stated purpose relevant to our stakeholders or our future we create? Is it clear whose lives will get impacted by our purpose?
- Is our purpose unique? What is the “differentiation” it brings in terms of competition?
- Will everyone in our organization and outside believe what we own and stand for?
- Is the organization capable of sustaining the purpose through its capabilities?
- Does the so-defined ‘Purpose’ convey your unique value?
- Does your ‘Purpose’ set a shared mindset to set a common focus with the same momentum?
- Does it give clarity of thought on what the organization stands for?
- Does it have an alignment engine?
- If we were to put our purpose statement alongside a competitor’s, would our employees identify the one that’s ours?
- If we surveyed our stakeholder [employees], how many could state what we stand for? What our purpose is?
- Do our employees have the capabilities to deliver on our customer promises?
Articulating your crafted / designed “purpose” is only the means to the end and not the end by itself. A well-crafted purpose statement will backfire or will turn counter-productive if the organization cannot execute it on the ground. Your employees who see a powerful purpose statement but face organizational obstructions created by your culture, systems, and organization philosophy, will not only achieve the defined purpose priorities but will also generate vexation and skepticism towards the organization and its so defined purpose. This would also ensure that you have a low engagement and satisfaction rate among your workforce.
If you have crafted the message, ‘The Purpose,’ the leader’s job is to build practices to ensure that it’s executed on the ground through,
The Need to Measure Your Purpose — The Purpose Value Index
Every Leader needs to measure his performance using this tool. This would be a mirror to test your conviction towards the purpose and your own belief in strengthening the organization’s DNA, aka its purpose. Take a look at the parameters given below by which one can measure their purpose value index.
An organization’s long-term sustenance rests on a firm understanding of the purpose and how you craft, design, and provide unique value to your stakeholders. Crafting, communicating, and executing/delivering that purpose is the job of an organization’s leader. As much as you may try to motivate employees with slogans or extrinsic rewards, you won’t achieve organizational excellence if your people don’t know the reason for your existence and why they are coming to work every day at your organization. The clearer you can be about what value proposition your organization creates and for whom, the greater your ability to inspire your workers. The more you align the right talent, operating model, and financial resources to support your purpose, the better employees will be at feeling and delivering on it.
Your DNA — The Purpose is the key to do great things, it’s the blood of inspiration and the seed that drives your organization towards the path of excellence. We need to get this intent and the alignment right for the organization to do great!
By,
Aravind Warrier, Director — Human Resources, RapidValue