As you read in my last post, the process of significant change can be guided by the 7 principle P’s of evolutionary or transformational change. The process of creating a different future can be driven by these principles. The first was Purpose, with the brief description:
Purpose: Create a compelling future outlook that is aligned with your broader organization, reflects the current situation and required change, and address the emotional and analytical needs of your audience.
This post will dive into the basics of what a purpose is (it’s not as cut and dried as you’d think), why a purpose is important for a team within an organization, and some basic ideas on how to create one for your team.
As we all know, there are a ton – probably too many – types of strategic devices for leadership to create to define their organization. I won’t debate the merits of the different concepts or pick winners or losers here: I just want to outline what a purpose actually is for this context. For me, there are 3 different devices for three time horizons:
- Vision: A long term statement used to define the organizational long term and high level aspirations…think of this as a desired destination
- Mission: A more medium term and more tangible description of where the organization would like to head…think of this like the broad directions to reach the destination
- Purpose: A shorter term statement that really focuses in on what is most imminently accomplishable…think of it like the next leg of the journey following those directions
Typically, there are 3 different types of purpose statements. Culture purposes are focused on the way the group acts and interacts involving norms and patterns – truly focused on who the team wants to be. Cause purpose statements are for teams who identify largely with a specific problem to solve, issue to hyperfocus on, or something similar. Competence purposes focus on explain why your team matters and why it’s meaningful for the broader organization. Competence statements are seemingly most applicable to team-level purposes and thus will be my focus going forward, as your broader organization culture and cause have already been defined.
With that basic understand of what a purpose statement is, let’s talk about why it can be beneficial for team. Id list 4 key reasons:
- Confirm and enhance a team’s strategic alignment to the broader organization: A good competence-based purpose statement will align to the corporate vision, align with a broader sub-organizational vision, be in accordance with organizational values and culture, and be aligned with brand expectations. For example, if you are in an organization focused on a high end product offering, your customer care department probably shouldn’t have a purpose focused on low cost service – it’s misaligned with your brand at a minimum.
- Increase the perceived value of the service provided by the team: A strong purpose will not only send a message to your customers that you are aligned, but it will drive actions that improve the perception of your function. When others see you and your team laser focused on a purpose that is aligned with theirs, they will immediately perceive you differently as we all tend to favor those we we feel are swimming with us vs. those swimming against us. It will also position you as a forward thinking leader to have a team purpose when so many others do not.
- Deepen the connection of individual work with the team and organization: In many organizations, large subsets of employees don’t have clear line of sight as to how their role actually aids the broader team and overall organization. If you are a junior accountant in a manufacturing organization, you may think “my role isn’t core to the business”. But, if you know the purpose of your specific team within Accounting is to “analyze and optimize our operational efficiency to inform reinvestment in our organization and employees” then you very well understand how your role is aiding the overall organization.
- Guide your team’s actions and metrics: An informative purpose statement will help remove ambiguity around priorities (guiding the work you do) and will define the most important measures and metrics of success. If you look at the statement from the last point, it clearly outlines where to prioritize your time and energy as a team member, and gives you the broad metrics of import (efficiency, reinvestment).
If those reasons feel compelling to you and it makes you think “I need a purpose for my team!”, then you are in luck…I have some questions to help you start to define your purpose.
- What are the key characteristics you’d expect from from your function?
- What would/do “customers” of your function value the most from your work?
- How is your function imperative from an organizational perspective?
- How would the company be worse off if your team didn’t exist?
The last 2 questions will define your team’s impact in your purpose statement, while the first two will help describe the teams contributions driving that impact. There isn’t a right or wrong nor a simple formula to build a purpose that resonates. To that end, Ill share a few insights on the process.
First, make sure to understand the current situation and perception of purpose both internally and externally to the team. You want to understand if and how the team feels about their “charter” so that you can either create or amplify any positive feelings.
Second, don’t build it alone…work with your team so you have a shared agreement on the purpose. It may not be exactly as you’d have done it…but the power in having consensus on this most foundational concept far outweighs any loss of elegance.
Third, make sure that the purpose appeals both analytically and emotionally to the audience (internal an external). That doesn’t mean it needs to be overly emotive, but you would like it to create an emotional bond between the people, the effort, and the impact – so everyone feels the value in the role.
Finally, make sure to create a change management plan to reinforce the purpose within the team. You can’t just share it once and hope it sticks, no matter how fantastic the statement is. Repeat it. Intertwine it with your work. Be overt in making connections between the purpose and the day to day. If you are transforming an organization, you’ll definitely want to be overt and potentially over the top! If it’s more of a subtle evolution, then you’ll have a little more laid back approach. Regardless, you want everyone to know it is important to you and thus you’d like it to be important to them and repetition is one of the key ways to drive that home.
I was going to close by sharing a story or two about the purpose statements Ive created over the years, but as I looked back I realized how unique to each situation each one was and that lead me to close without an example because there is no right or wrong, there is no winning or losing template. The most important thing you can do is craft a purpose that fulfills as many of the above points as possible and engenders acceptance and/or excitement from your team. Do that, and your team will rally together to accomplish more!
View from the Middle 