Articles we love (2): Create a Purpose Beyond Corporate BS to Do More and Do Better

Your organization has a mission statement and a goal and you know how to create economic value. You use training, incentives and enhanced managerial oversight to boost your employees’ performance that might lead to higher earnings. But is that enough?

Do you know that creating an authentic purpose for your company and weaving it through all aspects of company life will boost not only the performance and commitment of your employees, but your financial performance as well?

If you have an authentic purpose, the personal and the common good become one, your employees’ engagement levels soar, and your organization will shift smoothly into real transformation: you will do more and you will do it better.

Aligning your organization with an authentic higher purpose that converges with your business interests and pervades all your decisions and strategy will not guarantee bigger profits. But research – particularly the Gartenberg study, which included 500,000 people across 429 firms and involved 917 firm-year observations from 2006 to 2011 – suggests a positive impact on financial performance. DTE Energy embarked on a journey to transform the company into a purpose-driven organization after the financial collapse in 2008, and its stock price more than tripled from the end of 2008 to the end of 2017.

But how do you do it?

First of all, envision an inspired workforce, discover the purpose and recognize the need for authenticity. Then turn the authentic message into a constant message while stimulating individual learning and turning mid-level managers into purpose-driven leaders. A leader’s most important job is to connect their employees to their purpose, so connect the people to the purpose and unleash the positive energizers at your organization. If you want to know the detailed steps to creating a purpose-driven organization, click here.