Running a successful business doesn’t have to just be about hitting production targets, supplying customers with your products and services or making a profit.
It can (and should) also be about having a real, living and breathing sense of purpose, a deeper meaning that connects with all the people that come into contact with you or any member of your team.
A clear purpose is your business’s life blood, its reason for being, and it should run through the culture of the business. It should be the key motivator for an engaged and enthusiastic team all working towards the same goal.
How can you go wrong when you build a deeper connection with your team and your customers because you lead with purpose?
And don’t be surprised if you feel more motivated and more passionate about your business when you capture your crystal-clear purpose.
Here is your ‘make it happen’ checklist to get you started:
1. Stop seeing profits as the primary reason for your business’s existence.
Yes, your business needs to make money, but that does not have to be why it exists.
Profits come as a consequence of a loyal and passionate team and loyal and passionate customers, who support your purpose, not your profits.
2. Work out what you and your business stand for and how your business can make a difference.
Ask yourself and your team purpose-driven questions such as ‘Why does our business need to exist?’ and ‘Why is what we do important to the people we serve?’
3. Make the purpose real in your business, so it does not become a marketing tagline.
It’s easier to create a marketing tagline than it is to create a higher purpose that truly means something to everyone in your business. If it was easy, everyone would do it, so don’t take the easy option.
4. Share it. Live it. Campaign it.
Work out how to have your purpose show up every day or every week (at least) across your business. Don’t let your purpose be a plaque on the wall – it needs to be part of the fabric of your business and the very reason you and your team come to work every day!
