Defining Purpose: Strategy’s Cornerstone

Purpose is the new competitive advantage

In a world where business goals are ever-evolving, defining purpose has become a strategic necessity. When you focus on defining purpose effectively, it transforms from a nice-to-have into the guiding light that propels your business towards success.

This article follows up on our previous discussion on purpose-led strategy. In that article, we explored how a clear purpose acts as your strategic compass.

But how exactly do you go about defining that purpose?

As we progress to the next chapter in this narrative, we invite you into our Strategy Sprint workshop. A collaborative process designed to help you craft purpose-led strategy. And it all begins with defining your company's purpose.

This practical guide outlines the steps we take to help you in defining purpose and crafting a purpose statement. The first step in building a thriving purpose-led strategy.

What is a Purpose Statement?

Professor Colin Mayer, co-chair of the Enacting Purpose Initiative, proposes a compelling purpose for business. He emphasises that companies should solve problems facing people and the planet, achieving profitability as a consequence.

This philosophy directly informs the key components of a well-crafted purpose statement. Therefore, a purpose statement should clearly articulate:

▶︎ Whose problems it seeks to solve: Who are your ideal customers or beneficiaries? (Target Audience) This identifies the specific groups who benefit from your solutions.

▶︎ How it will solve those problems: What unique value proposition sets you apart? (Solution Approach) This highlights how your offerings address the identified problems in a way that differentiates you from competitors.

▶︎ Why it is well-suited to solve them: What special skills or resources do you possess? (Competitive Advantage) This emphasises the unique expertise, experience, or resources that make your business particularly qualified to tackle these challenges.

By answering these questions, you create a powerful statement that defines your core identity and inspires stakeholders.

Unveiling Your Purpose: A Step-by-Step Guide to Defining Purpose

Our Strategy Sprint workshop employs a structured approach to help you in defining purpose for your company. This is the first step in crafting purpose-led strategy.

While we offer a range of workshop formats, we've found that remote workshops foster a unique level of focused participation. This is perfect for the process of defining purpose and crafting a powerful purpose statement. Additionally, this guide outlines the steps involved in our remote Strategy Sprint workshop, all facilitated through our preferred online collaboration tool, Mural.

Mural is a virtual whiteboard platform that allows for real-time brainstorming, discussion, and visualisation. Throughout this workshop, we leverage Mural's features to ensure a dynamic and inclusive experience for all participants.

Pre-Workshop Preparation

Before diving into our collaborative workshop, we want to ensure everyone arrives with a strong foundation for defining purpose. To achieve this, we send you a pre-workshop exercise that sparks individual reflection through thought-provoking questions.

This allows participants to explore your company's potential purpose. Consequently, by coming to the workshop with initial ideas, everyone is better prepared to contribute and collaborate. This leads to a richer exploration of your company's purpose as a team.

Following this pre-workshop exercise, we move into the core steps of our Strategy Sprint workshop:

1. Individual Brainstorming & Discussion (4 Rounds):

What happens: We answer and discuss the questions that define your company's purpose, one question at a time.

Process: We give participants dedicated time to individually answer each of the four questions in turn. Participants do this on Mural's virtual sticky notes without discussion. This work happens in Mural's Private Mode feature to ensure a safe space for all voices to be heard.

This allows participants to contribute their ideas anonymously, fostering open and honest reflection on each question. Following the brainstorming session, we facilitate a group discussion to explore the various ideas captured. This ensures everyone is on the same page and allows for deeper exploration of each point.

Moreover, a facilitated voting process then takes place using Mural's built-in voting functionality. While everyone participates in the discussion and voting, the designated Decider has the final say, ensuring efficient progress towards a consensus. We repeat this iterative process—brainstorm, discuss, vote—for each of the four questions.

2. Crafting the Purpose Statement:

What happens: Participants use the collective insights to craft a cohesive purpose statement that reflects the company's core identity.

Process: Following the discussion and voting for all four questions, we give participants dedicated time to craft a purpose statement from the finalised responses to each question.

We provide a curated selection of real-life company purpose statements on the Mural board. These examples, chosen from a variety of industries, serve as a source of inspiration to spark further ideas and ignite creative thinking.

Empowered by the collective insights and inspired by the real-world examples, participants then work individually in Private Mode to craft a cohesive purpose statement.

3. Refinement & Finalisation:

What happens: We discuss the individual purpose statement drafts and develop a final purpose statement.

Process: Similar to the previous step, all individual purpose statement drafts appear on the Mural board. Participants engage in a discussion to consider the various options, then vote anonymously to select their preferred purpose statement drafts.

The Decider, after considering the discussion and voting results, has the final say in selecting the draft that best captures the company's essence. Furthermore, we can refine the wording of the chosen statement based on the collective feedback.

The objective is to arrive at a concise and impactful purpose statement that resonates with everyone and truly captures the essence of your company's purpose. Through this iterative process of discussion, voting, and revision, we arrive at a final purpose statement that represents the heart and soul of your business.

The Outcome: A Powerful Foundation for Your Strategy

By following these steps, you'll arrive at a concise, impactful, and inspiring purpose statement that resonates with your entire team. This purpose statement forms the cornerstone of your company's strategy. As a result, we can now craft the rest of the strategy from this starting point.

Ready to unlock the power of purpose for your business.

Our Strategy Sprint workshop equips you with the tools to define a purpose that drives results. Schedule a free consultation with us to discuss your specific needs and see how we can help you craft a powerful purpose statement that ignites innovation, fosters customer loyalty, and positions you for sustainable growth.

The journey of defining purpose begins with a single step. Let's take that step together.

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