The power of connecting your people to your company’s purpose and to one another

4 min read

Life’s all about the power of the little moments – the ones that make us feel good and add up to be something much larger and truly significant. The same is true for your organization. Sometimes building a purpose-driven company can seem intimidating, but when you take a step back, it’s really all about those little gestures.

Take some time today to look around and observe your employees and peers taking these “small” actions. Recognize others for their contributions and help them see how they influence your company’s purpose, mission and values. 

Learn how to create a purpose-driven organization, while improving employee connections to help you stand out as a top employer in your industry.

Highlighting individual contributions

We know that employees crave three things at work to feel motivated and engaged:

Let’s focus on the purpose element – demonstrating how employees’ individual contributions are making a difference that’s relevant to the organization and impacting a bigger purpose.

Each and every job within our organizations is important and we want our employees to feel that. Unfortunately, many employees don’t understand how their individual contributions — whether that’s data input, field work, client support or other tasks – fit in with their company’s overall purpose or strategic direction.

When a company’s purpose is accurately defined, employees from entry-level to C-level clearly understand their greater mission, are empowered to appropriately articulate that purpose and continue to live out the company values and behaviors. This helps break down silos and improves employee collaboration. 

Communicating the company’s purpose is a great first step, but empowering managers and anyone in a leadership role to know how to share this message with employees is the next step that truly makes it stick.

The question now becomes: How do you put this into action to impact employees’ day-to-day lives?

Strengthening employee connections

It all starts with connection: If employees don’t feel connected to one another with open and honest communication, how can we expect them to feel engaged every day and connected to our company’s unique purpose? By practicing transparency, we can empower our employees and establish trust as leaders.

Companies need to not only define their larger purpose, but communicate it to employees and clearly outline their strategic direction.

It’s our job to improve these connections (and our approach to motivation and engagement) so that our people wake up each day knowing how their contributions are making a difference to the business.

One surefire way to make sure your people consistently feel connected to your purpose, mission and values is through frequent, tailored company messages and communication. An employee communications tool can help you reach your people no matter where they are and improve connections.

Working for a purpose-driven company

In a competitive landscape, it’s getting harder and harder to attract and retain top talent and stand out as a desirable employer. Purpose-driven companies stand out from their competition and improve their Employee Value Proposition because people believe in where the organization is heading.

Put simply, people want to work for purpose-driven companies. A key way to amplify a person’s individual contributions is through meaningful recognition. Understand the business impact of employee recognition and how it motivates employees to live the company’s values and add to the mission and purpose of the business.

Help your workforce understand not only the company’s 'why,' but also their own.

Keep your people informed about your company’s direction and know how to talk about it. But remember, for it to cross the gap from conceptualization to implementation, it really comes down to daily interactions and how you communicate to your employees.
Empower individuals to understand the impact they have in their roles and on those around them. It’s in these interactions – peer-to-peer, manager-to-team, employee-to-client – where the true purpose of a company takes shape.

Regardless of how regular certain actions or behaviors may seem, they all add up and shape the company and the teams within. It’s key to recognize these behaviors and clearly communicate your company’s strategic goals or direction to connect employees to the larger purpose. So, what next step will you take towards creating a purpose-driven organization?