3 Must-Have’s For Building A Purpose-Driven Culture

Many companies try to build a purpose-culture. Without much success. Here are three things to make a purpose-culture stick.

We like speaking about the Big Pink Elephant in the room. It’s not comfortable for many, but after things are finally out in the open, most people say: “We run around all day long. Speaking about this is like an oasis where all the BS stops.”

Purpose is the new thing! Every one of our clients signs when it comes to creating a more purpose-driven, fulfilling way to do business. And for their organizations, to find a proven way for changing their corporate culture.

Problem is that — despite the best efforts — most culture-change efforts don’t stick. Why? Because changing a culture means to change people’s mindsets. And that’s not easy to accomplish.

Here are 3 things that we’ve found essential for creating a purpose-driven culture:

1. A Purpose-Culture consists of 2 components: a purpose and a culture (that was hard to take in, wasn’t it?). Simple as it sounds, many execs don’t seem to understand that both are necessary components. To make a purpose-culture powerful, the purpose must go beyond the goals of the self or the organization.
   To create that emotional engagement, a purpose must be about something higher than ourselves: to serve humanity, the environment, or the community.
   The culture, on the other hand, describes a) the game a team decides to play, and b) the “Rules of the Game”. We often see teams starting to work together without being clear whether they play soccer or basketball. Some individuals on the team just want to get rich, others want to make a difference. Those are fundamentally different games. Secondly, the Rules of the Game: it is common that organizations define those rules in their set of values, laminate them on a poster board, but do not play by them. “We communicate with openness and transparency”, the plaque in the lobby spells out, and when you take the elevator to the top, you feel the senior leaders withholding information, politicizing, or even backstabbing each other.
   Building a culture is like a soccer game: you can’t take the ball into your hands and run for the goal. You can’t play the game that way. But in organizations, many leaders get away with doing exactly that. How credible is the culture for employees if their boss gets away with breaking the rules?
2. A Purpose-Culture starts with yourself. We recently spoke to a global corporation that initiated a culture change project across the entire organization. Did it work: nope. Why? Because the top leaders didn’t change. Before you spend much time on developing a culture (and you will need to spend MUCH time until it’s done), think about whether you’re ready for it, or whether it’s just a nice thing you want to have. Can you actually “live and breathe” the culture and purpose you want to integrate into the organization, even when stuff hits the fan? Are you still able to stick to the defined “Rules of the Game” and the “Higher Purpose” when one of your biggest clients breaks away, or do you fall back into pushing people to deliver results?
   If you are not ready, don’t expect your people to do it for you. The buck stops with you. Building a culture requires “leadership”, not “management”.
3. Let your people define your Purpose-Culture. A VP at a global organization didn’t pay attention to this one. He was so fired up about building a culture that he proclaimed the new purpose, the values, and how the new culture will look like in an all-hands meeting to his team. A truly inspiring presentation. However, after the presentation, people crossed their arms, sat back, and said: “Let’s see what he’ll do. Let’s wait a bit to see whether we can believe him.”
   He established his culture, not their culture. If you want your people to take ownership, they need to create the culture. As a leader, you become a servant for your people and the culture of your team: you become a Servant Leader.

Check in with yourself: would you be willing to become a servant leader? Would you let your people define the culture? Would you abandon much of the goal setting as the primary incentive and subordinate your work to a higher purpose?

If you aren’t ready to do so, my recommendation is this: don’t waste your time trying to build a Purpose-Culture.

However, if you are ready, you will find that you can create a work environment that’s unlike anything else. Where not only your people flourish, but you yourself will access a completely different level of fulfillment and satisfaction. With a purpose-culture, you’ll find that your organization will be able to expand to a level of success your team didn’t think to be possible.

Want to learn more about Building A Purpose-Driven Culture? Join our upcoming free webinar or Conscious Business Ambassador Program.