More so than in generations past, workers today are asking consequential questions about our work, beyond what the next step on the career ladder looks like. The questions we’re asking ourselves now are more expansive: What kind of an impact do I want to have? What is the “why” in my work? What legacy do I want to leave behind? We’re looking for purpose.
Companies that know and understand – beyond the pursuit of profit – what their purpose is, their raison d'être, have the advantage going forward. They’ve asked and answered foundational questions: What problem do we exist to solve? What contribution do we seek to make? What value do we add to the world through our work? What cause or belief drives everything we do?
Companies that know the answers and have a clear communication strategy to convey them will do well and attract top talent in our rapidly shifting work environment. And while attracting top talent with a clear message is great, the companies that will retain and engage that top talent over the long run and really thrive in this moment are the ones that communicate their purpose intentionally both internally and externally, reinforcing it at every opportunity and building it into the way they work.
AEC firms have an advantage here and are uniquely suited to clearly communicating purpose because our industry has been “purpose-driven” for decades. Engineers, scientists, analysts, planners, designers, etc. are literally making the world a better, cleaner, safer, more sustainable place through their work. The challenge is in moving from broad proclamations to more specific statements of purpose that resonate with and motivate employees and drive decision-making and action.
The key to positioning company purpose is being intentional and consistent, keeping it alive across the entire company, leading with it at every turn and integrating it into the way teams work together.
A few thoughts on communicating purpose:
Seize the opportunity.
If there’s an opportunity to communicate, there’s an opportunity to communicate purpose. Are you announcing an organizational strategy shift? Tie the shift back to how it advances company purpose. Are you bringing on a new member of the team? Tie the announcement back to how that person will contribute to the company's purpose. Have you landed a key client? Have the team tell the story and tie it back to how the win reinforces company purpose. Creating a direct connection to purpose at every opportunity orients the team to view their daily contributions through a higher-level lens and promotes an elevated understanding that each individual is part of something larger than themselves.
Make it personal.
Each team member plays a role in advancing and fulfilling a company’s collective purpose. Teams are stronger and employees feel more valued when each member can track their contribution directly to purpose and articulate that connection clearly. Making it easy for each individual team member to see how their work contributes to the greater good cultivates a sense of individual belonging and builds tighter and more resilient teams.
Drive decision-making.
Empower managers and others across the organization to make critical decisions based on how those decisions align with company purpose. Using purpose as a true north in decision-making reinforces the importance of aligning daily work with foundational questions like, does it advance our purpose and get us closer to our goals?
Stick with it.
Communicating company purpose at every opportunity is an intentional act and one that can seem, at times, overly repetitive. Stick with it. This isn’t a one-shot communications campaign, but an ongoing disciplined approach to building foundational understanding of the “why” in your work. Involve the entire leadership team and other key influencers within the company. Ultimately, communicating purpose and integrating it into way teams work together every day can help to attract and retain top talent and build strong, energized, high performing teams.
Comments