11 Essential Tips for Leaders to Build a Purpose-Driven Business
What’s it really take to build a purpose-driven business? 11 thought leaders give you their 1 essential tip.
What is one essential tip for leaders to build a purpose-driven business?
To help leaders with building a purpose-driven business, we asked purpose-driven leaders and business owners this question for their best tips. From researching mission statements to identifying your “why", there are several tips and examples that may help you build a more purpose-driven business.
Here are 11 tips to build a purpose-driven business:
● Research Mission Statements
● Provide Valuable Content Through Your Blog
● Build from Your Values
● Give Employees a Define Sense of Purpose
● Make Your Purpose Part of Your Daily Culture
● Make It Real for the Team, Get Better Outcomes
● Annual Impact Goals: Keep Your Mission the Main Thing
● Cultivate the Joy of Learning
● Foster an Inclusive Network
● Hire Passionate, Driven Employees
● Identify Your "Why"
Research Mission Statements
Make sure that any companies you’re involved with agree with your mission statement, and aren’t supporting contradictory causes. It’s easy to pick the cheapest, most convenient supplier, but if they’re donating or supporting a cause that you don’t agree with, it’s not a good look for your business. Be sure to do your research before signing contracts or working with any other companies.
Tom Mumford, Undergrads
Provide Valuable Content Through Your Blog
Blogging is an important way a purpose-driven business can continually provide valuable information while also communicating why their purpose matters. Customers are increasingly seeking companies that operate with more of a purpose than simply generating revenue. Using your blog to showcase how your company is giving back or furthering a cause can create brand loyalty while also drawing in new customers.
-Maegan Griffin, Skin Pharm
Build from Your Values
To build a truly purpose-driven business, leaders need to first firmly identify the values that will guide the business. By doing that, they will always have those pillars to refer back to and make sure that any actions, decisions, and partnerships align with their values. It also gives them a core structure for how they want to communicate with their audience. Consumers are very interested in understanding the impact of the purchases they make. Content should always reflect those values so that the brand’s story is crystal clear, and readers can quickly digest what it means to support this brand.
-Lisa Odenweller, Kroma Wellness
Give Employees a Define Sense of Purpose
Leaders can build a purpose-driven business and empower their employees by giving them a defined sense of purpose within the company. Setting clear goals and expectations can make it easier for employees to know how they matter in furthering the overall mission of the company. Communicating how their specific role and work is important to the function of what the company does will help them feel like their success or failure really does matter to the success of the company as a whole.
-Rachel Roff, Urban Skin Rx
Make Your Purpose Part of Your Daily Culture
One issue that a lot of purpose driven businesses face is that as they grow, the purpose behind the company starts to take a backseat to everyday operations and financial goals. People leave, new employees join the team, and the mission behind your company can start to fade. Institutional knowledge and values simply start to degrade. One way to avoid this is to make your purpose part of your everyday corporate culture. Let your mission seep into everyday business happenings. That way, employees, including yourself as the leader, will never forget why the business was started. When the purpose is ingrained into the culture and outlook of employees, your company will never lose its sense of self. So stay true to yourself by making your value system a living breathing part of your company through the culture.
-John Ross, Test Prep Insight
Make It Real for the Team, Get Better Outcomes
Make it real for employees: explore what they should work towards as an ideal outcome by the end of the day or week. Otherwise, the excitement of new hires working for a purpose-driven company may wear off, which can erode productivity, progress, and longevity so it’s important to make sure this honeymoon feeling doesn’t end.
A purpose-driven business can help the team by communicating how they might create efficient routines, mindful use of office resources, positive conversations with colleagues, and speaking well of the brand while out and about. This extra step early on for those working in the proverbial trenches helps move the business in the direction of exponential outcomes.
-Benjamin Meskin, Cabrella
Identify Annual Impact Goals
Most leaders are taught to identify their annual revenue goals. However, it just as important, if not more, to identity your impact goals. Benefit corporations want to plan and create an implementation strategy to achieve their social impact goals as well as their profit goals. This might include the number of company or team volunteer hours, donations made by your company, strategic partnerships with other small businesses, or some other form of contribution to economic sustainability.
Ultimately, your annual impact goals will allow you to keep your mission the main thing. I'll close by sharing a few best practices: 1) consider one annual impact goal and break that into quarterly milestones and monthly benchmarks, 2) revise the goals to ensure they align with the current and desired future state of your business, and 3) remember, your impact goals are often correlated to your revenue goals. Continue making an impact.
-A. Margot Blair, AMB Consulting & Co.
Cultivate the Joy of Learning
To build a purpose driven business you need to align your personal purpose with your professional purpose. For those who don’t know their purpose, the key is learning; your purpose will be found in a place you don’t know yet. Therefore, it is important to learn as much as you can, wherever and whenever you can.
Think about it this way - if purpose is what drives happiness and your purpose is about being in service to others, then you are now in the habit of projecting value by helping others. So, what would you likely get in return for value? Money. Solve problems, improve lives and the more purpose-driven you become the easier it will be to make money, but you have to find that purpose. My tip? Go where joy takes you. Cultivate the joy of learning – about whatever you’re most interested in – and you will find your purpose.
-Jeff Lerner, ENTRE
Foster an Inclusive Network
A personal and business purpose can affect many people, communities and the environment. Depending upon the goals and values, purpose can be a game-changer.
In my work and life, I have two guiding beacons for building my purpose driven business: The first is what I call "Reach to for the margins early and often." This means when I am attending an event, hiring a contractor, or purchasing something, I look locally and seek those who have marginalized identities first. This has broadened my community and world view while creating an inclusive network.
The second guiding beacon is: "What's in it for the planet?" Working from home has shown me that everything is connected in how we work and how we live. I've made commitments with 1% for the Planet, intentional purchases etc. And at home have changed many products to be plastic free and my yard is now a Certified Backyard Habitat Gold! I can work and live and help pollinators and many creatures with a good habitat.
-Kim Allchurch Flick, Mighty Epiphyte Consulting LLC
Hire Passionate, Driven Employees
Hire employees who are driven to your particular cause. In interviews, ask questions about what an applicant is passionate about, and seek to staff your business with like-minded, driven individuals who are looking to make a difference.
While you can educate a workforce and teach them about the significance of a particular cause, nothing is more effective than having employees who are already passionate, who are looking for a good avenue to direct their enthusiasm. In my experience, driven individuals tend to inspire their coworkers to be even more driven–which makes for a wonderful, impactful workplace.
-John Jacob, Hoist
Identify Your "Why"
For leaders that want to build a purpose driven business, the most important step in positioning yourself as a leader is understanding your "Why". The "Why" behind your business digs deep into your core values and beliefs that are woven into your businesses processes, structure and products. Understanding your "Why" can help you gain a competitive advantage by positioning your business in a unique way, allowing you to standout among the crowd of competitors.
Customers are drawn to businesses and products where they feel a connection. Having a strong understanding of the "Why" behind your offerings, processes and values, will allow prospects, customers, and employees an opportunity to self identify the correlation of their own values to the businesses; enabling the opportunity for trust, authority and connection to form between the business and it's market.
- Oshen Davidson, Oshen Davidson Photo
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