I co-host a podcast called Show Up! which focuses on conscious leadership. We ask, what does it take to show up as a conscious leader in today’s world? Show Up! is now in its 3rd season and we continue to find interesting people to join us and new lenses to look through.
In a recent episode we discussed the importance of purpose. Organisational purpose, individual purpose, and whether the two can - or need to - align.
How does organisational purpose show up?
In our meandering, exploratory way, we looked at this question from a few different angles. My takeaway? Purpose can be easily misappropriated. Often, elements of what an organisation says it stands for are externally imposed.
Purpose mutated into marketing.
This happens when founders, and the leaders who come after them, can’t, won’t, or simply haven’t authentically communicated the real purpose of their organisation.
It’s unpalatable to say,
AcmeCo exists to make the founders rich and keep the shareholder’s happy, so we exploit cheap labour and pay as little tax as possible
…even if that’s authentically true.
So instead, AcmeCo says,
Our mission is to serve our customers, our colleagues, and our communities for the good of all
…or various flavours of that.
A few years ago, a well-known healthy drinks start-up sold to a big, global corporate. The deal was structured in two parts - an initial investment, followed by an earn-out over 3 years. The earn-out was dependent on hitting certain profit targets.
How did the founders deal with that?
They sat the team down and honestly told them what their purpose was during that earn-out period: to hit the profit targets and get the full earn-out payment so they could share it with the team. Purely financial, but a purpose none-the-less. And, authentically shared, it motivated the team. The Office Manager was bulk-buying tea bags in year 1 so he could spend less in year 3 and maximise profit.
That sort of thing can work for a time, and for certain types of people.
But to really unlock the value of purpose, in my opinion, it takes more.
Aligning organisational and individual purpose
For an individual, purpose and motivation are intrinsically linked. Together they create meaning and a way to achieve it. If organisations are able to define their purpose in a way that helps their team members understand how they fit in, they will benefit from a motivational tailwind.
The drivers of personal motivation are addressed in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) - a model that has been widely used in the fields of psychology, education, and business. At the heart of SDT is the idea that people have three basic psychological needs for well-being and motivation: Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness.
In the context of purpose, we should consider Autonomy and Relatedness as key. For an individual to be motivated, according to SDT, they must be able to make autonomous choices about the work that they do and how they do it. They must also feel a level of relation to their co-workers and feel a shared direction of travel. The workplace culture can have a profound impact on this:
(An individual’s) experience can be influenced by the social context in which they are operating. For example, a workplace that emphasizes competition and individual performance may undermine relatedness and autonomy, while a workplace that emphasizes collaboration and teamwork may support these needs.1
What does that all mean?
For me, the key is to enable and encourage alignment between the organisational purpose and the purpose that each individual has for themselves. That means that leaders must take responsibility for setting the guardrails. They must define the boundaries within which the organisation’s purpose (and the second order effect of that - commercial strategy) will be deemed to be achieved.
The link between purpose and strategy is a critical step. If leaders can’t articulate the purpose of their business and how the strategy helps achieve that, then it’s a fair bet that the ‘purpose’ is more marketing than mission. An no individual can align themselves to an insubstantial marketing statement.
With purpose authentically defined and strategy clearly articulated, an individual can ask: “So, where do I fit in?”. And forward-thinking organisations will say “Anywhere you like, within this system”.
This approach enables Autonomy. Freedom of choice on a path that is aligned with the organisation and what it’s trying to achieve. It also engenders Relatedness, a shared direction of travel. And that results in Motivation.
As a leader the practical steps here are clear:
Ensure your strategy is clearly linked to your organisational purpose, and understood by your team,
Be clear about the set of capabilities that your strategy demands,
Within those boundaries, help your team explore the focus areas and career path that most motivates them,
If people aren’t aligned, then wish them well when they move on.
Above all, strive to be authentic about the real purpose of the business. People can’t align to something you’re hiding from them. And alignment is the key if you want to unlock motivation.
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Self-Determination Theory of Motivation - Center for Community Health & Prevention - University of Rochester Medical Center