Purposeful Organizations Win More

Purpose walks hand in hand with profit. Without a sense of purpose, companies are less likely to succeed and, hence, fall short on generating profits. Many key steps go into generating purpose; without these core ingredients, organizations will have a harder time succeeding. 

Let’s first dig into what it actually means to have a purpose.

Understanding Purpose

Purpose is a powerful thing; it can guide your decisions, motivate you to be better, define your goals, and instill a sense of worth and meaning into your life. This applies to business ventures, too; without purpose, a company is bound to have trouble standing on its own two feet.

All businesses strive to create a sustainable inflow of cash as profit while covering all expenses. Some companies, however, expand their horizons beyond cash flow to define a greater purpose. Some may suggest that their organization’s purpose is to help people achieve a goal, to provide essential means to underprivileged people, or to improve community life for all. This is true for NGOs as well as for-profit businesses. In order to truly succeed, your organization must have a goal and purpose that transcends cash flow and the material world. 

This means that while aiming to be a profitable company is great. It is also important that your company has other goals, like helping to improve humanity and life on this planet.

Goals like this bring in a broader sense of purpose and will allow your employees to better connect with their everyday work and feel that their input matters. When profit is given less importance, and things like contributing to community development, helping other people, or providing a solution to those in need are prioritized, your company will gain a greater sense of purpose.

In turn, you will attract people who truly care and share the same goals as your company; they will come for more than just the salary and are more likely to make an effort to achieve the company’s vision.

Purpose and Success

According to a survey conducted by PwC, 79% of business leaders firmly believe that a business can only be successful if it has a well-defined purpose. 

This is because having a purpose makes work more meaningful, especially for employees. Employees who feel like their contributions matter are more likely to make an effort and commit to the demands put forth by the company.

Purpose generates a sense of worth; without worth, motivation will not exist, and without motivation, execution is impossible. As a result, companies lacking in purpose are more likely to fail in their endeavors simply because their employees do not have anything to connect with, and are only attending the office each day because it guarantees them a paycheck.

How Organizations Attain Purpose

Every business is launched for a reason. However, if that reason does not expand beyond making money, one can confidently say that the business lacks purpose.

While we should value making money and make an effort to make sure that the company is profitable, our vision, especially as leaders, should be greater than this. 

For example, companies that are launched in order to provide a solution to a problem that’s prevalent in society have the opportunity to recruit like-minded employees. They believe in working towards a said solution. These employees then take the company’s purpose and convert it into actions; in other words, they take purpose and turn it into momentum and productivity.

As a result, the company is both profitable and in a position to benefit the community. It’s a win-win situation for all parties involved, including consumers and employees.

Organizations attain purpose by understanding the reason behind their launch. Once a company has identified its goals, it can begin to define its sense of purpose and hire people who agree with the purpose.

Those companies which have no purpose other than profit will attract investors who care about the same thing; such companies are inauthentic and have a tendency to abuse their employees, leading to lowered levels of employee happiness, which ultimately takes a toll on their productivity.

This is a massive problem in today’s society. There are far too many companies that attempt to maximize profits at the cost of their employees’ mental and physical health, their happiness, and the satisfaction of their customers.

Instead, corporations should aim to develop a sense of purpose that stretches beyond profit margins and gives employees the chance to create a strong bond with their jobs and the company. Remember, happy and engaged employees work better.

Purpose is essential, and the majority of leaders agree with this fact. Purpose leads to well-defined goals, focus and motivated employees. It makes the entire working experience more rewarding; knowing that your company is solving one of society's many problems can encourage leaders to continue leading and employees to put their hearts and souls into their jobs.

Purpose makes everything better; for leaders to employees to consumers, having a purpose can change the entire dynamic between individuals and help companies succeed.