Purpose as a tool for clarity

Corporate purpose is being increasingly embraced by businesses world-wide. Our recent CEO Purpose Report showed that 89% of CEOs now claim to have a purpose. Critically, 75% agreed that its importance would continue to grow over the next five years. Purpose is clearly here to stay.

However, our report also showed that purpose is failing to reach its full potential, with CEOs citing that ‘making it relevant and actionable’ is their number one challenge to embedding purpose throughout the organization.

A key reason for this is that purpose is often seen as a disconnected exercise, or additional programme of work, rather than being utilized as a strategic tool for clarity.

Purpose, when strategically deployed, is uniquely placed to build clarity of direction, unleash innovation, build pride and connection to an organization, and lead others on a journey of change.

We know clarity matters. There has been much written over the past 20 years about ‘cognitive overload’ and the impact that it has on productivity in the workplace. Something that has increased significantly in our digital, always on, distracted, and scrolling society.

Clarity is an antidote to cognitive overload – bringing focus, prioritization and stress reduction in the workplace.

Create clarity through purpose

Rather than thinking of purpose as an add-on, view it as a secret weapon to building clarity. Here is how to put your purpose to work:

1. Clarity of direction starts with a great purpose statement

The most powerful purpose statements are clear, succinct, and most importantly, they connect what the world needs with what you as an organization are uniquely placed to solve. If it sounds like a tagline, its unlikely to be working hard enough as a purpose!

By placing your organization squarely in the frame for the challenges you are uniquely placed to solve, you connect every single employee of the organization to something that not only matters but that they are empowered to solve.

One of my favourites is Syngenta’s purpose, “To feed a growing world by bringing plant potential to life”. It clearly connects what the world needs to the unique skills, scale and capabilities that Syngenta can bring. It’s also enduring – setting the tone for continuous innovation and boundary pushing.

We recently undertook a study in conjunction with our academic partner, Griffith University, to analyse the purpose statements of the biggest Australian and UK businesses. Less than half of the ASX100 and FTSE350 combined connected what they do to what the world needs.

Having reviewed all 450 of these statements in detail, it’s quite clear that:

• When a purpose focuses solely on the business, it reads like a features and benefits list. It becomes transactional and constrains thinking and innovation by struggling to provide employees with a sense of a bigger picture and opportunity.
• And when a purpose focuses solely on what the world needs, it reads like a wish, a hope, or plain purpose wash with no active involvement in changing the status quo.
• But together is where the magic happens: giving the business and those that work there greater meaning and the licence to be bolder, more innovative and more progressive in the solutions they create.

Therefore, a good purpose statement will give staff a deep understanding of why the businesses exists in the first place and encourage them to head toward the same goal together.

2. Connect your great purpose statement to your other strategic levers – ambition and strategy

A great purpose can do a lot of heavy lifting – but it’s supercharged when aligned with your other strategic levers.

• Your purpose is your why
• Your ambition is your where
• Your strategy is your how

Together, they provide a strategic blueprint for your organization. Too often, we see businesses that have developed these in isolation, where one doesn’t feed into the other.

The power lies in using your purpose to unlock what’s possible, your ambition to visualize a better future state, and your strategy as the route to getting there.

The clarity of drawing a line in the sand and stating exactly what you are here to do and how you’re going to get there aligns your leadership and people, and working toward a unified goal defines your culture. People join because they want to be part of something more important.

3. Make it relevant and actionable by putting your strategic framework down on ONE page

This one page is the blueprint for your business.

Yes, there may be more detail that you need to share but to maximize the benefits, you should be able to tell your strategic story succinctly. People need to be able to see it, absorb it and be inspired to action it. In our experience, that rarely happens from a 90-page PowerPoint deck!

If you have done the work above, bringing this into a compelling and actionable framework and visual will be more straightforward than you expect.

In a world where there is so much going on that we often don’t know where to look, organizations must provide clarity and cut through the noise to encourage growth, realign staff, and weather the change.

Clarity is critical to communicating the direction and vision of an organization and purpose is the tool that can help you get there. Applying these three steps is the start of bringing your organization along on the journey and creating clarity around why you exist and the role staff play in helping you get there.