Are you clear on your organisation’s purpose? And can you articulate it? Research by KPMG showed that purpose is fundamental to a great employee experience, and builds the crucial connections between people, their work, and the organisation.
Yet many leaders don’t take the opportunity to regularly reinforce organisational purpose with their team members, either collectively or individually. Understanding what the organisation is trying to achieve and being clear about how an individual’s role contributes to that purpose should be a top and ongoing priority for every leader.
Our latest insights paper, Revolving Doors, examines expectations at the beginning and the end of workers’ employment journey. We found that the sense of alignment between the worker’s personal purpose and the organisation’s fell by 15 per cent between hiring and exiting.
When a team member feels aligned, magic can happen. It paves the way for deeper commitment and connection, stronger engagement, discretionary effort, better performance, and greater retention.
The first opportunity to learn about organisational purpose is during recruitment. Onboarding should expand on the narrative, and from there it should be an ongoing part of BAU. Every touchpoint should reinforce purpose. The messaging should be clear and consistent, no matter who the messenger is. Organisational purpose should filter down from the vision/mission, into values and behaviours, then into strategy, structures, and the way things work.
Communication from leaders is absolutely critical. KPMG’s findings on team engagement and morale didn’t relate to organisations that had purpose, it related to organisations where leaders communicated purpose.
When a team member feels aligned, magic can happen. It paves the way for deeper commitment and connection, stronger engagement, discretionary effort, better performance, and greater retention.
Misalignment on the other hand, can be highly destructive. KPMG found that people are three times more likely to consider leaving a company when leaders don’t discuss purpose, with double the turnover rate.
The key takeout from Revolving Doors, on this subject, is for leaders to be clear on value and purpose and to communicate it, often. If things are at the developmental stage, that’s ok. Do it from the bottom up if it can’t be done from the top down. Know that people want to see the “golden thread” connecting them and their work to the organisation’s purpose, and how their contribution makes a difference.
Whatever you do, be purposeful about it.
If you’d like to read our Revolving Doors insights paper in full, you can download a copy here.
