Unlocking Organizational Performance With Purpose

By Jordan P. Kelley, Content Director, BrandStorytelling

For the better part of the existence of modern major corporations, declaring brand purpose was something of a footnote – an idea that took a backseat to the pure pursuit of capital and market ownership. However, today’s corporate landscape looks very different. It is one where companies must speak and appeal to the most discerning consumer base that has ever walked this earth. It is one where people work at more jobs and change careers more often than any time prior. It is one where people rely less on leadership and news organizations and more on the organizations, they trust to help them understand and communicate their own values. And all of that is connected to purpose in a major way.

The experience of prioritizing purpose may be new to some, but it’s nothing new to expert Ranjay Gulati. Professor Gulati is the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration, the former Unit Head of the Organizational Behavior Unit, and the former Chair of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. He’s also the author of Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies. In his book, Professor Gulati posits that not only is corporate purpose appealing to consumers, but that embedding purpose into corporate operations has the potential to radically impact companies and society alike.

In a conversation between Professor Gulati and visionary purpose-driven advisor and strategist Sarah Colamarino, the two discuss some of the major tenets of corporate purpose and how positioning purpose at the center of high-performance companies has an outward ripple effect that has the capacity to impact corporate culture, customers, and communities.

The core principle of Gulati’s research and message are simple: Deep purpose unlocks value, growth, innovation, and change.

For example, when Professor Gulati spoke to Satya Nadella at Microsoft, he shared that his first order of business was implementing strategy. Nadella identified that articulating a purpose was essential to implementation of that new strategy – a strategy with a central goal to realize the company’s mission statement: to empower ever y person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Purpose allowed leadership at Microsoft to translate a mission to empower others into the company’s core actions, principles, metrics, and results.

Leading with purpose and getting others onboard isn’t necessarily an easy task at the start. It takes more than a mission statement and simple words to convince and convert those necessary to achieve organizational purpose. Beyond a mission statement, it can be approached in a simple way that conveys its total benefits for a company or organization by breaking it down. Here are the four functional benefits of purpose according to Professor Gulati:

1. MOTIVATION: Purpose is motivational. When companies lead with deep purpose that is integrated into every aspect of a company’s operations, especially outcomes, people show up to work differently. They are inspired and even fulfilled by showing up to work and motivated to give it their all, knowing that there is meaning and purpose behind that effort.
2. CUSTOMER RETENTION: If your organization really stands for something, it doesn’t take convincing to unlock customer retention. Companies who are clear in the communication of their purpose not just in words but in actions earn customer trust, which translates to customer loyalty and retention.
3. RATIONAL PURPOSE: This also contributes to general trustworthiness. When an organization is committed to its purpose and demonstrates that purpose in leading by example without wavering, consistency is demonstrated. Consistency ultimately translates to trustworthiness and reliability, which has the capacity to impact everyone from employees to customers and beyond.
4. DIRECTIONAL PURPOSE: Despite the unexpected and what may come, directional purpose provides organizations with a north star. No matter what happens in the markets or in the world, in turbulent times, purpose can serve as a guiding light that empowers organizations to act.

Defining purpose from the position of looking for a problem that needs solving and committing to solve that problem, then using every level of an organization, from operations to corporate culture to marketing to meet that purpose, will redefine how each of those aspects of a functioning organization operates. And therein lies the true fundamental power that deep purpose unlocks.

And while many of the companies that are written about and well revered for their invocation of purpose as central to their existence adhere to these principals, we’ve not yet reached operational purpose as the norm, says Gulati. The good news is that there’s every incentive for every organization to operate with purpose, starting with the individual and rippling outward.

For those in leadership positions that have the power to make this positive and impactful change, it begins with creating an environment where the individuals who work at an organization feel that their work is aligned with their purpose. Doing so not only boosts productivity, loyalty, and morale, but it has the capacity to be infectious, spreading outward and impacting everything and everyone down the line all the way to the customer and their community.

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