Purpose: Not the same as mission & how it drives your business model.
Did you miss Part 1 of Making Work Meaningful? In a nutshell, I estimated that for a company of 1000 people, the minimum cost associated with employee attrition due to lack of meaning, is $1.195 million per annum! Read how I calculated it here.
So maybe your company already has a mission, vision and values, and you don’t believe you need a purpose? Or maybe you wonder if a new purpose should replace your mission? Or maybe you have a company purpose but it seems no different to your mission or vision? Here’s how I explain the difference between purpose, vision, mission and values and how they fit together.
Watch here (It’s just 2.24 minutes)
Purpose is at the heart of the organisation. It’s the glue, the anchor and the guiding light. It’s what gets people up every morning to come to work. It’s inspirational, practical and can be applied every single day. Purpose and values are what every employee should know and act on, whereas vision and mission can rest with leadership.
Purpose is the pivot point for innovation and transformation and it drives the future business model. A wise CEO and client shared this pearl of wisdom with me just yesterday: “Our business model has never been more under threat. Now is the time to be certain that our new purpose drives the business model and that maintaining our business model doesn’t simply become our purpose.” (I can’t wait to see the outcomes from our purpose co-creation workshop in two weeks. Stay tuned!)
Lululemon is a company with a clear purpose “to elevate the world by unleashing the full potential within every one of us”. Here’s how CEO Calvin McDonald drives purpose forward Read more
Purpose is the very thing that turns yoga-wear companies into personal development companies. It turns mining companies into renewable energy companies. It turns bookstore chains into learning centres. It turns recruitment companies into human empowerment companies. It turns IT companies into digital-divide eliminators. You get the picture.
If you’re wondering how purpose fits into your business model. It doesn’t just ‘fit in’. If it’s done really well, it will drive it. It will turn hearts and minds outwards towards something far greater than you may ever have envisioned. It will become the foundation for a sustainable future – for your company and the world at large.
In today’s uncertain world, purpose has never been more important or urgent. If not now, when? If not you, who?
Stay tuned for part 3 of Making Work Meaningful: Purpose and Employee Retention: How purpose helps engage and retain your best people and future leaders.
Yours on purpose
