“Purpose driven companies make more money, have more engaged employeees, have more loyal customers and are better at innovation and delivering on transformational change”
(HBR – The Business Case for Purpose)
Goals are logical, tangible. Purpose, why we do what we do, is less tangible, more emotional. This difference might be the reason we tend to spend a lot more time on setting our goals than thinking about our purpose. And yet, did you know that companies with a clearly articulated purpose, that is understood and connects with the rest of the organisation report a wide range of tangible benefits: higher levels of employee satisfaction and engagement, higher levels of customer loyalty, but most importantly research by the Harvard Business School in a global survey of 474 executives found that they also enjoy a significant improvement in performance and this has a direct impact on the bottom line.
Organisations might think about their purpose as part of a strategy exercise, or when developing their vision/mission. Identifying your business purpose is just the start. So many purpose statements are meaningless because actions don’t follow the words: As Michael Beer, the Emeritus Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School states: “You can’t just adopt it…. it has to be driven, operationally and in depth, by the CEO and the top leadership team. That takes a lot of skill and understanding to do well, which is why so few companies really can pull it off”.
The power of purpose is also true for individuals, and teams. Individuals and teams perform better if they are clear about why they are doing what they do. There’s the apocryphal story of the cleaner, sweeping the floor at NASA who was asked what he was doing. “I’m helping put a man on the moon” was the answer. I was talking to a H&S leader the other week. They were lamenting the fact that people often see H&S as a set of rules and regulations that get in the way. When I asked why they do what they do, they told me “it’s my job to make sure everyone gets home safely, every night, to their families”. Their motivation to do a good job increased significantly when they were able to express that. It’s interesting to see how much more impact purpose has on performance than financial reward.
Finding your corporate ‘why’ can unlock the potential of your organisation. Finding your own personal ‘why’ can unlock your own potential. Helping your team find their ‘why’ can unlock theirs. So, if you want to drive performance, why don’t you start thinking about ‘why’ you do what you do?
