One of the most powerful tools for creating strategic awareness in our governance, is purpose.
A purpose statement to some is an expression of what your organisation would like to see as a possibility and a future for the community and stakeholders you serve.
So then, having created the purpose statement, all decisions, projects and services can be filtered through the purpose to assess whether they are truly “purpose-driven” and hence creating real possibility that the strategic goals will be achieve along with organisational desires.
A purpose statement has traditionally stated what an organisation’s core aims and objectives are, maybe with some values thrown in for good measure. This is essentially inward looking and often only concerned with the organisation.
This is why most purpose statements work against strategic awareness and fail to engage the people within your organisation. They are too often about the vehicle of delivery.
What if your purpose statement was more about the future your organisation wishes to create for the community and stakeholders you wish to impact.
Focusing on making governance more human, more connected, more accountable and reliable by valuing community and your people for both their betterment and for the whole of humankind.
Purpose, according to The Templeton Foundation should contain three elements:
It should be goal directed
It should be meaningful beyond profit, and
It should look beyond itself.
If we able to work steadily and honestly towards our purpose then we have a chance of making the world better, and this through better governance.
As Malcolm Gladwell said:
"The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world."
What does your purpose statement say about your organisation and its contribution to the world?
Acknowledgements
This blog was written with the support and insight of one of our contributors. Thank you, Divya. As an MBA student specifically interested in marketing and culture, she is a contributor to the Perrin Carey blog. If you would like to contribute to moving governance forwards towards a more ethical and human centric framework, please contact Perrin.