Five guiding principles to purpose-driven leadership

In my article, “Why it is essential to have a purpose in life (May 21)”, I shared my thoughts on what a life of purpose is and why it is essential to pursue one. I strongly believe one must first define their purpose in life before they can lead with purpose. In this article I move on to share my guiding principles on how to Lead with Purpose!

Have you ever felt overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated by your boss? Or if you are the boss, have you ever felt frustrated and annoyed by the lack of engagement, commitment, and enthusiasm of your team members? If the answer is yes – do not worry, unfortunately, you are not alone!

In a perfect world, people would go to work with a sense of purpose and at the end of a long workday go home with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.  In a perfect world, leaders would want their people self-motivated, driven and empowered to execute the organization’s agenda.  I would also dare to argue that most employees and leaders actually want the same thing: people who are inspired and who take the responsibility to make meaningful decisions that contribute towards achieving their organization’s goals. But in the real world, this is not what usually happens!

This gap in ‘expectations’ is created because purpose is either missing or is not clearly communicated nor understood by the key stakeholders.  It could also mean that the purpose is not aligned with the organization’s vision, mission, values and culture.  Having a sense of purpose at work makes you feel that you are part of something bigger than yourself beyond just earning a paycheck at the end of the month. Purpose links leaders and employees together and enables them to work toward the same goal.

Many of you reading this article are in leadership positions and have great authority and responsibility; do you recognize however that these positions give you the opportunity to become a purposeful leader as well as the potential to identify and train future purposeful leaders?

How does one lead with purpose? 

As leaders we need to find effective ways to enable our organizations achieve their objectives and inspire our employees to have a purpose and flourish in their roles at work. Drawing from my own experiences and struggles, I share below my five guiding principles to purpose-driven leadership:

1. Clarify / Simplify/ Customize your organization’s purpose

First, if not defined, you need to craft your organization’s unique and inspiring purpose. This is the starting point. Purpose is the organization’s reason for being and the difference it makes in the world. It is closely linked with, and it combines the vision, mission, and values, which together underscore the culture of an organization. Thus, to define your organization’s purpose you need to first clarify succinctly, the organization’s:

• Vision – what do we want to become.
• Mission – what we do now.
• Values – what are the principles we expect of ourselves and chose to abide by.

In addition to the vision, mission and values, the organizational culture frames the organization’s purpose which must be clear, concise, and expressed in simple language so that your employees can understand and identify with. Here are some good examples of organizational purpose:

• Tesla: “To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy”
• LinkedIn: “To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful”
• Abdul Latif Jameel: “We help people advance their quality of life by unlocking new potential”

2. Have clarity on ‘your own’ purpose

Despite their background and culture, successful leaders must go to great lengths to contemplate and define their leadership purpose. You need to have clarity on your own purpose, and make sure you understand how this is aligned / interweaved with the organization’s overarching purpose. You need to be a purpose driven leader first before you can take others with you. 

My professional purpose is to empower my team to achieve their potential and be happy. The way I do this is by investing time in my people – explaining, developing, mentoring – stretching and pushing my team to think out of the box. I encourage them to take initiatives and calculated risks, fail, succeed, and learn along the way. I get them involved in cross functional assignments, in new projects, new industries and new business models to expand their boundaries. It is important to understand not only how each project/task creates shareholder value, but also how it improves the world we live in. In this way, I aim to align my team’s and my professional purpose with our company’s purpose stated above, that is “…help people advance their quality of life by unlocking new potential”. 

Purposeful organizations need leaders who know themselves and know what ticks them. Only when a leader is convinced of and is connected to their own meaningful purpose can they effectively be able to inspire and influence purpose-driven employees. So, it is very important to consider what your own purpose is before you try to . . . instill purpose in others!

3. Instill purpose in others

Leading with purpose means that not only do you have a purpose, but you inspire others to have this sense of purpose within them as well. Thus, once you have aligned your personal professional purpose to the company’s, you need to start sharing and promoting it with your people. It is important for employees to have a sense of not only what the organization does and how, but WHY, and the role they play in that.  

Purpose must be cascaded down, it must be communicated and discussed regularly in staff meetings.  The more conversations you have about the purpose, the more engagement you will achieve. You will need to convey to the employees how their distinct function affects the overall delivery of the company’s purpose.   By showing how everyday tasks link to the overall organizational purpose and how people contribute towards its delivery, they will feel a co-ownership and commitment towards that purpose.  

When my team members are evaluating the financial due diligence report of a potential transaction, I make sure they are focused on the end result, and how this will support the strategy and the purpose of our company in “…unlocking new potential”.  I make sure they are encouraged to start imagining how this new transaction will be integrated with our existing businesses and what this expansion means to the company and to their own roles, responsibilities, and careers. Or when they are analyzing the periodic actual financial results of a given business, they are examining how this performance is affecting the targets of that specific 'business-silo' and how this impacts the overall financial algorithm of the entire company.  I encourage them to craft a ‘story line’ to explain this performance so the senior stakeholders can make informed decisions/choices.

By doing so, I try to give my team a reason to believe, I try to give them a purpose. People start finding meaning in their own work which makes them excited and motivated. Once a team has purpose, its members will collaborate and work together to make things happen. I am very proud to have such a purposeful team at Abdul Latif Jameel.

4. Create a fearless, safe working environment

Once there is clarity on the people and organizational purpose, purposeful organizations, need a fearless, safe, and trusted working environment to thrive and flourish. An environment where people can freely express ideas and are not afraid to make mistakes and be creative. This creativity will spark innovation, but it is clarity of purpose that will turn the innovative ideas into practical concepts. Thus, as a purposeful leader, one of your primary duties is to work constantly in creating such environment. 

This is not an easy task, and as I explained in my article “How to create a psychologically safe working environment (May 21)”, this is a challenging journey. However, it is a prerequisite to purpose-driven leadership as collaboration, coordination and teamwork require a psychologically safe working environment and a culture of trust to come alive and provide any organization with a powerful competitive edge. You can hire the best talent out there, you can have the most compelling and clear purpose but, if the working environment is ‘toxic’, all is wasted. 

5. Develop purposeful leaders to drive results and prepare for the future

Very few of you will be in your current position five to ten years from now. It is therefore imperative that you develop your people to become purposeful leaders to drive results, create value for your shareholders but also to carry the torch for the next generation. 

It is important to remember that purpose is an intention so it is the people who will determine what and how it is implemented. Results depend on capable execution by the employees.  There is no purpose-driven leadership framework without an emphasis on employee development.

As said many times before . . . “you don’t build a business, you build people and then people build the business”.  A purposeful leader’s legacy lies within the next generation of leaders that will succeed them. “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others; your legacy is that which you teach” so says Pericles!  Succession development is about identifying high potential leaders, offering professional development, and providing coaching and mentoring.  Stretch your people, by giving them higher levels of responsibility to build the right kind of skills for the next level of leadership. Provide them with timely recognition, offer opportunities and promote from within. 

It is important for people to, not only know what is expected of them, but to see that you care about their well-being and advancement. Remember, ‘Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care’ (Theodore Roosevelt).

These are my five guiding principles to a purpose-driven leadership.  

Undoubtedly purpose-driven organizations are set up for success, to outperform rivals and thrive.  Creating a purpose-driven workplace is essential for employee engagement.  And it is important to remember, that beyond salary, benefits and titles, employee happiness increasingly relies on their ability to find meaning in their work.

Purpose powers performance! Purpose is one of the enabling factors, the link that bridges the expectations’ gap between the organization’s leaders and its employees.  When purpose is channeled in ways that enable people to see what the company’s vision is, and what is expected of them in achieving that vision, purpose can be a very powerful catalyst to performance, well-being, and happiness!