Do you have a purpose driven culture?

Perhaps you’re familiar with the work of Simon Sinek and his book, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. All too often, businesses chase the next best opportunity, without considering their purpose, or their “why”, which tends to lead to confusion for their

• Employees
• Customers
• Investors
• And other Stakeholders

Having a Clear Purpose

When a company is grounded in their purpose, or their “why”, it’s easier to make meaningful choices and decisions. And, it’s usually easier for those working for the company to also have more clarity around their purpose in their role.

To have a purpose driven culture, you need to communicate a clear purpose or “why” for the company. As Sinek points out, a lot of companies struggle to clarify their “why”. I’ve worked with small business owners who are stuck on believing their purpose or their “why” is to make money. How inspiring or motivating is that to most employees? Even when I was a sales executive, I needed to believe I was representing a business that solved an important problem, or made a significant difference or impact. In fact, that was an important ingredient to my success selling for the company.

Helping to intentionally clarify the purpose and values each of your employees offers for the company helps them to feel connected, motivated, engaged and committed. In fact, when I work with leaders who struggle with how to effectively recognize their direct reports, we often identify that the recognition is somewhat meaningless as it’s not connected to the difference the individual makes. It’s much more impactful to say something along the lines of, “Thank you for x. By doing that you helped your team (or the organization) accomplish y” – In other words, connect the appreciation to why they made a difference! With the ongoing challenges of engaging and retaining talent, not focusing on a purpose driven culture is unnecessarily costing many companies.

Where do you see a lack of clarity around purpose in your role or your organization. Looking to learn more or make some positive changes? I support individuals, teams and organizations to increase their effectiveness and drive optimal business results. Curious to learn more? Let’s connect.

“To have purpose means the things we do are of real value to others. Words may inspire, but only ACTION creates change.” – Simon Sinek