Core values have been talked about for years in businesses and understanding these within your business is important to aid you in your products’ success and direction. Hence for many years business consultancy was all about aligning your employees’ values with the business’ core values and goals. Basically moulding them into following the same line and vision as the company historically.
But let us look at that now, with a bigger picture perspective and understanding of what we know of life and the people who live in it. We know that we are all different and thankfully now we are starting to understand that different is good… it enriches the world we live in. And people who do not conform to the normal stereotypes of a ‘typically good’ employee historically, who may have additional needs and skills, can offer huge benefits to companies. Such as those with Dyslexia or Autism to name but two, with their different ways they look at problems, their resilience to find new solutions to overcome challenges and using their specific ‘superpowers’ for certain job roles. In fact big companies are finally understanding that it is good to bring in people with different ways of thinking, views, and diverse skills to add something new and brilliant to their business.
The VIA Institute in America that looks at performance and success, highlighted that success in all areas of life, including employment, relationships and overall wellbeing, was down to the character of an individual. Hence if we nurture this character in employees in a positive way, then surely that helps everyone win and succeed.
Consequently, this challenges the old attitude and belief that employees should conform to the old values of the company. Instead would it be more prudent to utilise these new ideas, skills and perspectives to help the company to adapt, grow and flourish in the future?
Hence, maybe it is time to be open to embracing new values and beliefs gleaned from our employees and see how their uniqueness can be harnessed for the growth and success of your organisation? After all, as Einstein said, “The measure of intelligence is about the ability to change.”
Therefore, why not be a part of your organisation making a change to its ethos to succeed and instead focus on a bigger vision known as ‘Purpose’, as an organisation and then understand each individual’s purpose as well as their values, as purpose was found to be the biggest differentiation in leadership, more so than the traditional role of performance alone.
So what is Purpose?
Purpose gives meaning to a what we do. It is the why, behind our decisions that is innate within us.
The best companies help employees develop a sense of purpose by providing opportunities to fulfil their Purpose. This in turn is mutually beneficial for both employee and employer. As when employee sees their work as a calling, or has meaning in some way, even if it is being an important part of their tribe (company), they are more motivated and engaged to achieve those worthy goals regardless of numeration.”
Benefits of New Focus
As a result there is a bigger focus within leading organisations now on helping support each employee to fulfil their purpose in away that benefits their sense of wellbeing and personal success, which in turn heightens the company’s success. As evidence shows that companies who are purpose-orientated benefit from 30% higher levels of innovation, greater market share and 40% higher workforce retention compared to their rivals, according to Deloitte.
Additionally Deloitte found that companies that focus on Purpose grow three times faster on average than their competitors, as well as resulting in greater workforce and customer satisfaction.
Similarly, within the Global Leadership Forecast 2018 carried out by DDI, The Conference Board and EY, discovered that leaders who work with a defined purpose statement were twice as likely to positively draw meaning from their work and reported 60% greater energy levels than others.
Image courtesy of leaderonomincs.com 22.01.18
So why not use these key questions to start thinking about your own Purpose?
And if your company has a Purpose or may need one honing, try thinking in a bit more detail how it can grow its Purpose to retain and attract new talent, increase employee engagement, develop strong leaders and company financial and overall success.
So start with the why and build out form there to give purpose to your organisation and support each employees’ purpose too.
It was found that purpose however had to be authentic for true success within individuals, leaders, teams, and the organisation as a whole, and inauthentic purpose was found to even be detrimental to organisations and the workforce within. Therefore if you use Positive Leadership in your workplace then building Purpose in your staff will be so much easier with these skills and strategies.
According to the Global Leadership Forecast 2018, the most expansive leadership research done to date, within Europe the biggest challenges for organisations were firstly to develop top leaders (57%) and secondly was failure to retrain and attract new talent (51%). Hence by investing in your employees to help them feel satisfied with their work by embracing and supporting their purpose and values, this suggests this could be the game-changer you need to retain the talent within. Plus with adapting the organisation’s purpose authentically to allow it to grow alongside their employees, this has been shown to attract new talent with a similar vision who can grow within and add value in their unique way through their purpose and own values.
Image courtesy of Imperative, an organisation who uses Purpose at its core with great results.
Can you now see the value of using this model at the core of your organisation’s Purpose?
Can you see how valuable it is to develop and support employees with their purpose, to increase workforce satisfaction, develop strong leaders, increase performance, wellbeing and overall company success?
So what will you do next to change tactics and grow your organisation by being more Purpose-orientated?
The data also showed that organisations felt external coaching and training was the No.#1 in importance to retain and attract new talent and increase the success of their organisation, yet it was only ranked No.#6 in what they did provide.
Hence performance and wellness coaching and consultancy allows me to help employees grow personally and within an organisation, helping them develop their values and purpose into something strong and tangible for them to add their unique value and vision into the organisation for greater engagement and results. This in turn helps me when working with the senior leadership team to help the organisation and management team adapt and move forward with an adapted purpose that is authentic within the organisation’s core and adds value to the workforce, new talent, customers and organisation’s overall success.
Reference
Jennifer Barron, Deloitte Insights, 15th August 2019 “Purpose is everything. How brands that authentically lead with purpose are changing the nature of business today”.
Global Leadership Forecast 2018, DDI, The Conference Board, and EY
For a chat about how Nicky Anstey, The Performance Coach, can help you and supercharge your organisation, please get in touch nicky@performanceandwellnesscoach.co.uk.