We all know companies that have a purpose statement that seems laughably remote from what that organisation actually does, or how it truly impacts employees, customers, communities and stakeholders. These companies, unfortunately, give purpose a bad name and this can breed purpose cynicism.
There are also many organisations that want to be fully aligned to a purpose but haven’t quite got the complete alignment sown up. They may not appear to have the integrity and commitment to purpose, but they have a true intention and desire to become more aligned to their purpose.
Unfortunately, both types of organisations are often lumped together and may be seen as lacking integrity, and commitment, to their purpose.
Here, I am going to lay out four ways to test your purpose for integrity and commitment, and three common purpose mistakes to avoid.
Four ways to test your purpose for integrity and commitment:
1. Does it make sense?
Is it obvious that this would be your organisation’s purpose?
Can you draw a line between your purpose and the activities you do (now or in the planned future?).
A purpose can be lofty, but it doesn’t need to be, in fact the loftier it is the harder it is to gauge any progress towards it. But if lofty works for your organisation then that’s fine, as long as you can clearly map a line between purpose, strategy and business activities.
I know of 2 organisations with similar purpose statements about “elevating the world’s consciousness”. One was an organisation that trained people in meditation, the other hired out office space (WeWork). One of these makes sense and can clearly measure how the day-to-day business activities could increase client’s level of consciousness, the other does not and cannot (you can see why, and how, in the documentary WeCrashed).
2. Is it embedded?
Is everything in alignment to your purpose either now, or planned to be?
Purpose needs to cut right through every activity of your business. If it doesn’t, if there are things you do that are in tension to your purpose then you either need to re-think those activities or re-think your purpose.
3. Are you holding yourselves accountable to your purpose?
Can people call out actions that are not aligned to purpose?
There needs to be mechanisms in place where people can easily and safety call out actions, behaviours and decisions that are not aligned to purpose (or strategy, values and culture). Often this is your first early warning indicator that something is adrift.
Additionally, there needs to be clear, real and transparent measurements of your purpose. Consider how to incorporate these metrics into your annual report, or take a look at B-Corporation certification (https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/certification ) for ideas on how to measure impact and purpose.
4. Are you getting feedback on how to be even more purpose driven?
Lastly there needs to be mechanisms in place for everyone in the organisation, and all your external stakeholders, to be able to constructively help you in this very important purpose.
If you have communicated your purpose well then many of your stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers etc) will want to help you be even more purpose driven.
Whilst this can be an overwhelming deluge of suggestions coming in, remember the intention here: your stakeholders are saying “we see what you are trying to do, we honour it, and we have some ideas for you”. That’s a fantastic place to be, and you need to have the mechanisms in place to receive, triage and respond to all those suggestions.
Unfortunately, many companies find themselves at the receiving end of purpose cynicism, a hard place to recover from, and better that you take a few steps to avoid getting there in the first place.
3 common purpose mistakes to avoid, and some solutions if you find yourself here:
Purpose-washing: having a purpose for the sake of it, but actually doing lots of things that are not aligned.
Solution: drop the purpose statement before full cynicism takes hold and find one that is true to what you plan on doing as an organisation.
A disconnected purpose: you have a purpose but there is really no line of sight between your purpose and what the organisation actually does.
Solution: take the purpose statement down a few notches to make it clear how the daily activities of employees and customers drive towards the purpose. If you can’t articulate this then you have either engaged in purpose-washing, you simply have the wrong purpose, or you are very early in your purpose-in-progress journey and need to communicate that.
Purpose-in-progress: you have a purpose, but you are not fully aligned to it…yet.
Solution: be honest about this in all your communications and be clear on the steps that will be taken to enable your organisation to evolve towards its purpose. It’s Ok to be working on this, if you make mistakes own up, apologise, make them right and find a way to avoid them in future.
By following these steps and callouts you can make your journey to a fully purpose-aligned organisation a bit smoother and avoid purpose cynicism along the way.
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