Becoming purpose-led is high on the radar for businesses that want to survive and thrive in an increasingly complex world. Why? Because smart people in business know that sustainable business growth, talent retention and achievement of strategic goals relies on having purpose, meaning, and enduring motivation. At the end of the day, bottom line results depend on how engaged your people and customers are.
Salary alone is not the top driver for ambitious, talented people who want to have a positive impact in the world. Eventually, top performers seek out other opportunities if there is a disconnect between the organization’s purpose, values and goals and their own. I’ve seen this happen time and time again as a consultant and executive coach.
In a rapidly changing world and constantly changing business landscape, being purpose-led is becoming more and more essential. It’s what makes everyone prepared to go over and beyond in order to achieve meaningful and compelling visions and goals. It’s an inner and shared-collective-group orientation that breeds certainty and confidence, rather than constantly looking over your shoulder to see what the competition is doing.
Purpose driven, constructive cultures lead to the attainment of an organisation’s mission and positively correlate with desirable organisational outcomes, such as, high staff and customer satisfaction, sales growth, profitability and shareholder value (Cooke and Szumal 2000).
So if organisations are beginning to realize that having a shared purpose is what powerfully guides and positively impacts the achievement of its goals and success, why is it that people often don’t have a clear purpose in their own lives?
Exactly the same purpose-led principles can be applied to achieve your own goals, and have fulfilment and success in the areas of life that matter the most to you.
I’ve seen clients over the years who appeared successful and together on the outside, yet inwardly doubted themselves and under-valued what they were doing in the world. Because they weren’t clear on their purpose and were still questioning why they were here, and what they were meant to be doing with their life. Helping them figure out their purpose gave them the self confidence to go for bigger goals and accelerated their success across a whole range of areas.
Living with purpose, knowing you’re on the right path in your life and work, is not a new trend or phenomenon at all. It’s something that’s been seen as essential to living a meaningful and well-lived life by philosophers and spiritual traditions since ancient times. It’s been central to my work over the last 16 years. Now businesses are increasingly seeing the value of being purpose-led, particularly with the success of brands like Virgin. It’s having a shared collective purpose that inspires everyone to go beyond what’s required to achieve meaningful goals. The improvement in people engagement and staff satisfaction levels, business results and organizational culture show that it works.
On a personal level, having a clear purpose is energizing and inspiring. It encourages you to be more creative and resourceful and it’s good for your wellbeing. You’re able to stop doing the things that waste your time and take you off track. Being purpose-led gives you a more zen-like focus and brings you more inner peace and cohesion.
Image by Joschko Hammermann
Knowing your purpose gives you a roadmap, a strategy and a meaningful plan in life and in business.
Title image by Kalen Emsley
