Purpose in an organisation does not just happen, nor can it be imposed and expected to be universally embraced. A December 2020 article by McKinsey & Company (read it here) acknowledges the special role CEO’s pay in the purpose journey. It notes that CEO’s need the help of the entire organization to ensure the purpose fits and is owned by everyone. The authors propose a series of dialogues about purpose:
Dialogue in the top Team:
- The team members must feel empowered and comfortable to challenge the status quo and/or new ideas.
- Compare your purpose with that of your competitors, but in particular evaluate how your organisation lives and manifests these compared to your rivals.
Dialogue with your Employees:
- The article points out that what is meaningful for the top team may not be similarly meaningful for employees, wand is thus misaligned.
- Find out your employees’ source of meaning so you can make purpose real for them
- The McKinsey survey found that “72% of top leaders said they involved employees in the process of developing the organisations’ purpose, yet only 56% of frontline employees agreed (and 29% disagreed).”
- This highlights that frontline employees are less likely to say the company’s purpose matters to them.
- Leaders need to move away from informing people to inspiring peoples.
- This also means letting employees make decisions.
Dialogue with Yourself:
- Check how the company purpose implicates you – do you and it align?
- What do you need to start doing – and stop doing – to live your purpose?
Dialogue with the Future:
- Anticipate “predictable dilemmas” and work out how to address these in line with your purpose.
- Remember employees are more likely to see and face these dilemmas then managers.
Dialogue with the World:
- “Take your purpose to the world, commit to it publicly, get measured, and show results transparently, and be judged on the success of your efforts.”
Remember that dialogue involves being obliged to listen! As the article notes, “the best leaders use the scrutiny to challenge themselves and the company’s purpose with an aim of improving both.” The challenge for leaders is toe “create an environment where purpose is continually tested, discussed, improved – and ultimately, lived”.