Purpose just as important as profit
In 2019, the Business Roundtable Statement essentially raised stakeholder interests to the same level as shareholder interests, indicating a realignment of impact with profit. This means that the purpose of business can no longer be solely revenue-focused, as investors are increasingly attracted to ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) funds, while consumers are starting to boycott products from companies whose values do not align with their own. There has also been an increase in the number of corporate workers who feel disengaged and âlostâ without a real sense of meaningful purpose to their jobs, gravitating toward companies having a clear and positive impact on the world.
Change isnât slowing down
The more advanced digital technology becomes, the easier it becomes for businesses to imitate what others are doing. The rate of change will become exponential. Driven by technology, most companies will find themselves in a position where their business is purely transactional, because their offering is undifferentiated. Those businesses that find a way to put purpose at the heart of the way they create value for their customers, will depend on their ability to connect people to purpose.
What is organisational purpose?
An organisationâs purpose is not a vision or a mission statement, but it should inspire and motivate its employees. Itâs not achievable by setting difficult business goals and targets, nor by personal development, but by defining and communicating the organisationâs contribution to society at large. Accordingly, the purpose of an organisation is the answer to the question: âWhy is the work we do important?â which defines our contribution to society through work.
Connecting people to purpose
However, merely defining this purpose isnât going to magically make people more productive. So, what does it take? That purpose only really starts to work if all the people in the organisation start to act with that purpose on a day-to-day basis. This is where managers with the right leadership training can guide people to align their purpose with that of the company, helping to engage each person on an individual, purpose-driven level. However, it may be the case that an organisationâs managers require renewed strategic guidance themselves. In this regard, it is therefore vital for a reputable training partner to step in to provide the management team with the necessary leadership training. This will in turn help guide employees and colleagues when aligning staff with the organisational purpose.
This is going to require a mindset shift in all human resource aspects of the organisation including employee culture. Here, companies can engage with specialist training facilities who are equipped to help guide the business and its people on their journey to finding organisational purpose and aligning the two. What is the upshot for businesses that fail to articulate their purpose? Consumers will spend their money with other brands that demonstrate the same purpose as theirs, employees will become disengaged and seek opportunity elsewhere, profits will plummet and doors will close. Itâs as simple as that.
