Is your purpose lectured, or lived?

Today, companies are facing disruption by new technologies, business models and changing global geo-political landscape, affecting their stakeholders, operations and legacy. The digital transformation has not only drawn attention to new players and their businesses, but to the organizational aspects they share with overperforming companies as well. Amongst these aspects, purpose has increasingly gained importance. Purposeful organizations are more likely to attract younger generations, customers and investors alike.

The EY Beacon Institute and Oxford University Said Business school jointly set out to understand how purpose driven organizations turn their ambition into action. Here are some of the interesting themes emerging form the research: 

For these organizations’ leadership buy-in for purpose is only the starting point. Top management drives purpose in every aspect of their business. With a clear communications plan and using purpose as a decision-making filter, C-suite executives demonstrate to their employees that purpose is a priority for the company and gain buy-in from every employee. Consequently, purpose does not end as a top-down approach, but it translates into the company´s day-to-day operations and success.

Purpose is embedded at the core of how these companies do business and plan their strategic long-term growth. In this context Purpose is how employees think, how executives measure and establish KPIs, and how they develop business plans.

Purpose-driven businesses define their reason for existing broadly as a goal or North Star so that it can connect to all employees and their specific responsibilities. Consequently, these organizations do not lecture their employees on how they should live or experience their defined purpose, but they encourage employees to live and experience purpose through their work at an individual level, allowing them to see how their work translates, connects and contributes to the company´s overall goal.

The journey to become a purposeful organization is not an easy one. A legacy based on the mindset of short-term, profit-first goals can be difficult to shift to a long-term perspective. Business leaders need to recognize these short-comings and obstacles along the way and communicate honestly with their employees, building trust and authenticity. By acknowledging that every company may be in a different place along this journey, and that there is not only one existing pathway, organizations can truly define and live their own purpose.

This challenging and exciting journey has resonated among people and organizations and this is why The B team and Virgin Unite launched the 100% Human at Work Initiative in 2014. The purpose of this initiative is to connect a collective of organizations and leaders that can shape, test and scale actions to create a better future for work for people as human beings and not as resources, based on the fundamentals of the UN Principles for Business and Human Rights.

At the 100% Human at Work gathering today entrepreneurs, leaders and executives are engaged in a collaborative discussion on key blocks for the future of work. Inspired by the keynotes and conversations of Charlotte Goodman, Anna Kahn, Halla Tomasdottir, Jean Oelwang, Leena Nair and Sir Richard Branson.