The Power of Purpose in a pandemic

People need purpose, a North Star, a reason to get going in the morning. Many believe purpose needs to be some high-minded moral compass pointed at solving one of the world’s ills, and for some, it is that. But for many, it is making enough money to put their son, daughter, nephew, or niece through school or helping their ailing mom or dad. Others want to earn enough to avoid their children going through what they did when they were young. And others are waiting for the “right thing to come along” or have set a number in their mind at which point they would leave their job and go on to do “what they were meant to do.” They have always been those who are biding their time, but the calculation for when to leave has changed drastically for many millions during the pandemic, and that math will be the new norm. There is no going back.

In the US, more people have left their jobs than at any other time in history, and in China, many are “lying flat” (choosing to pursue more meaningful things for themselves). This is challenging companies to think differently, and one area they need to think differently about is purpose because their staff is.

Years ago, I watched a TED talk in which Nigel Marsh talked about work-life balance. He paraphrased a quote that can be traced back to at least the 1920s: “there are thousands and thousands of people out there living quiet lives of screaming desperation where they work long hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.“ Nigel goes on to add his punchline to great applause: “It is my contention that going to work on a Friday in jeans and a tee shirt isn’t really getting to the nub of the issue.” Quite right!

To be sure, companies are doing a lot to try and affect the equation: offering more money, better perks, more flexible schedules, better paternity coverage… but they often miss the mark when it comes to one of the most important variables: corporate purpose.

What is Corporate Purpose?

Pre-pandemic, I was at a conference, and a seasoned nonprofit leader claimed that the purpose of one of the world’s largest banks was diversity and inclusion (D&I). Rubbish, I thought. The bank may well have excellent D&I programs, but that’s not its purpose. Its purpose is what it seeks to achieve more than anything else; it is why it exists. The bank’s purpose might be healthy functioning capital markets or safeguarding capital; it might even have a component of that purpose that includes ensuring fair access to banking. But the reason the bank exists and has existed for more than 100 years is not diversity and inclusion. D&I is part of their laudable commitment to ESG.

Making purpose and ESG synonyms is a mistake. ESG programs can promote and support the company’s core purpose and often supplement in ways the core function does not (yet). But to make equate purpose and ESG lessens what purpose can and should do — present a North Star to guide and judge all the company’s decisions against.

Defining Purpose

One-way I work with company executives is to help them define their purpose and then activate against it is by talking with them about books/ concepts they already know. I often refer to Jim Collins’ book, ‘Good to Great.’ In it, Collins offered three questions to define the one big thing a company should focus on:

· What are you passionate about?

· What can you be the best in the world at?

· What drives your economic engine?

It sounds simple, but Collins believed (and my experience confirms) that this is hard work. Yet, if company leaders do the hard work and find the answer that comes at the crossroads of those three questions, they have discovered the foundation upon which to move from “good to great”- their purpose.”

Activating Your Purpose

Equally challenging, maybe harder, is bringing that purpose to life. Using the company purpose not as a corporate bumper sticker but as a vision of why the company exists, why your work here matters, and what we hope to achieve is not easy as it often means making tough decisions. But as they say: “that’s the job.” Not every decision will be perfectly congruent with that purpose, but most need to be. But, by using purpose as a means of guiding decisions, underpinning strategy and operations, communicating and engaging stakeholders, especially employees, companies enter into a different social contract that transcends an exchange of money for time (employees) or product/service for money (clients/customers).

Want to engage your staff amid the great resignation? Define and live a purpose at the crossroads of Collin’s three questions. It needs to be authentic to the company and its culture, reinforced in the strategy and day-to-day activities, and reported on transparently and with humility to be authentic and felt by the average employee, client, or customer. But if you get it right, you animate your stakeholders in powerful ways, and no one wants to lie flat when they can be part of that.

Jeff Senne is Founder & CEO of Sandbar Solutions, LLC. Based in Buenos Aires, he’s an expert who advises companies and executives on ESG, Purpose, Corporate Responsibility, DEI, and more. Learn more HERE or Connect with him HERE