Every company and every organisation needs a purpose. It would be wonderful if every person also lived according to their own purpose, a higher goal in life. Why do you live? What do you get up for every morning? An organisation needs such a higher goal too. What do you actually exist for? Thanks to this higher, never-finished goal, something special happens in an organisation. We talked about it with Berd Warmelts.
What actually is a purpose?
"A purpose is the ultimate goal of your organisation. What is the organisation on earth for? What do you exist for? What role do you fulfil?"
"People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it." Simon Sinek
Source: TED.
How do you start?
"We often start with two prompts: 'We see a world in which…' and 'Our role in it is…'. They give the organisation and its employees the chance to think about the higher goal. The answer is the organisation's purpose, or moonshot."
"People want to believe that what they do contributes to something bigger than themselves. They need to be able to think: whatever happens today, I am contributing to that higher goal. When the purpose is clear and people commit to it, that gives an enormous boost. Employees' vigor, dedication and absorption grow. In other words: work engagement rises, and with it the results."
Do you have a good example?
"Look at Dove, a Unilever brand. Dove took a clear position: big and small, white and black, beauty comes from within." In 2004, the brand launched the Campaign for Real Beauty, featuring real women instead of models. Wikipedia "Brands with a story sell better. The campaign was a great success, and the company's own employees were enthusiastic about the new direction too."
When should you not adopt a purpose?
"If you only want to use it as a marketing tool. A purpose without meaning or soul makes no sense at all. In fact, it backfires. A purpose without a soul is a hot-air balloon that can burst at any moment."
Alan Jope, then CEO of Unilever, saw that too. At a conference in Cannes in 2019, he warned against 'woke-washing': brands that show off with fine social goals but don't act on them. According to him, such brands undermine consumer trust. The Guardian
"The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for." After Fyodor Dostoevsky
Do you have tips for entrepreneurs who want to formulate a purpose?
"Certainly, three."
- Go back to your reason for existing. Sit down with the story of your company. Why was it founded? What problem did the founder want to solve and how has that developed? Try to get to the core and the DNA of the company, and see whether that DNA is still there. All the choices you have made have determined where you are now. To know where you are going, it helps to know where you come from.
- Do it together. Don't develop the purpose as management from an ivory tower, but together with the employees. Only then will it really land and start working for you. You can't impose a purpose. It is not dreamed up by a marketing agency or over the management lunch. Either you stand for something together, or you don't.
- Put energy into it. A purpose doesn't emerge overnight. It has to grow, come to life and become tangible and recognisable. Give it time to land and be embraced by all employees.
Research by Kantar shows that it pays off. Brands seen by consumers as having a strong positive impact grew their brand value by 175% over twelve years. The average was 86%, and brands with a weak purpose grew by 70%. Marketing Dive So more than twice as fast. Kantar All the more reason to get to work on your purpose!
Also read purpose gives your work value and create your own myth.
