How to develop a team purpose that will support company vision
We hear more and more that organisations must have a clear vision and a compelling purpose… but what about your team?
Many people assume the team’s purpose is the same as the company’s, but this isn’t necessarily true.
Yes, they should be aligned and closely linked but the main difference is that the team’s purpose should sum up how they are actively working towards the company's purpose. The general purpose of the team is that they are there to live out the values and beliefs of the organisation so that it can thrive.
So how exactly can you develop a team purpose that will help you do this? Here’s a few places to start…
1. Start with your why
There’s often confusion surrounding the difference between vision, mission and purpose, and they frequently get interchanged. However, when it comes to purpose it’s all about the ‘why’.
Summed up best by Simon Sinek, ‘why’ is part three of his Golden Circle framework, a model built of 3 concentric layers:
What - Most people can articulate what they, their team and their company are there to do.
How - Most can also explain how they do what they do and how they want to go about it (these are your values)
Why - Very few people can articulate the why behind what they do: Why does the team exist? What is the reason behind them? What do they actually do? How do they support the overall why of the company?
Answer these questions and you have the foundations you need to build a strong team purpose that will support the company’s own.
2. Get your team involved!
It’s all in the name: ‘team’ purpose.
This isn’t just about you and your thoughts, it should be a result of collective opinions, values and beliefs. It is your team after all who will be living out the purpose day in and day out, so get them involved in the process.
You can learn a lot from your teams by hearing their perspective on things. Plus it hugely increases their connection and alignment with the purpose, making it easier for them to live and breathe it.
One powerful way to get your team thinking about the topic is for them to bring an object or photograph to the session, something which represents their personal purpose. This gets the juices flowing and can lead to great personal alignment for your team members on the team purpose.
3. Do your homework
You’re not the first team to develop their purpose, so do your homework and see what other people have chosen.
For example if you’re the HR team, it could be something like ‘Our team exists to provide effective human resource management by developing and implementing policies, programs and services that contribute to the attainment of corporate and employee goals’.
If you’re meeting with your team, display these examples on the wall. If not, share them virtually and ask your people to reflect on them. What do they like? What don’t they like? Are there any keywords or themes that resonate?
Once you have heard feedback from all your team, you can identify any similarities that emerge. This is a great prompt for getting the ball rolling and collecting ideas for the final version of your purpose statement.
4. Identify the performance goals you need to work toward your purpose
For your team to be able to visualise their purpose, it should support and be relevant to your organisational goals. Goals are what make the purpose come to life through your actions.
Without this alignment, your purpose will be a nice statement, but it won’t come to life. Your team won’t be able to see and live the impact of this purpose or get on board with the purpose they worked so hard to develop.
Next steps
Once you have your team purpose statement done and dusted, it’s time to move on to the next step - communicating that purpose effectively so that it gets embraced and embodied by your people.
After all, what’s the point in doing all the work for something you’re just going to forget about? For a team purpose to actually work and support the company to thrive, you have to be living it each and every day.