Does your company have a stated purpose? Maybe you are thinking about crafting or finding your brand’s purpose aka North Star? If so, before you get started, there are two important questions to ask first:
- What is the intention behind your wish to find your brand or corporate purpose?
With a heightened degree of self-awareness, you need to make sure your intentions aren’t misplaced or superficial. The way I frame a genuine purpose is to answer the following question: How would the world around us be worse off if we didn’t exist? - Just how far do you intend to make it come alive?
Here the exercise is about the depth to which you are prepared to go in making your purpose exist. On the one hand, you will want to evaluate to what extent you will bake the purpose into the fabric of your organisation. Secondly, you’ll need to break down how the purpose resonates with your employees through to the external stakeholders. It will be useful to know the perimeters and boundaries beyond which you are not prepared to go as well (e.g. around profitability).
Whatever your industry or current culture, you will need to articulate your purpose and dedicate energies to making it come alive in line with your governance, which may provide limitations as to do what is needed and possible.
Making purpose come alive in your organization really comes down to the leadership’s conviction and example. If the intention is well communicated and understood and is backed up with bona fide initiatives and daily actions, there is a good chance that a de facto purpose generates extra energy and brings about above-average performance in your core business.
The Two Keys To Find Your Corporate Purpose! It is better to craft a realistic, more attainable #purpose, than to create an overly ambitious mission that procures endless eye-rolls. Click To TweetIt is better to craft a realistic, more attainable purpose, than to create an overly ambitious mission that procures endless eye-rolls.
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