4 Strategies for Transforming Your Company’s Culture Through Purpose

4 Strategies for Transforming Your Company’s Culture Through Purpose

In 2015, 23% of people reported that they would leave their jobs for a 10% pay raise. Researchers asked the same question in 2019 and found that the number had nearly doubled to 43%. The reason for this rapid decline in loyalty? The study pointed to a poor work culture.

We are in a new era, where employees are seeking more and have higher expectations for their work experience—one that is more focused on meaning and personal fulfillment, and that fosters growth and generosity. A new report titled “Building a Fulfilling Employee Experience,” the result of a collaborative effort by CECP, Imperative, and PwC, explores the implications of these evolving expectations for business leaders and how a better understanding of neuroscience can help shape a more human work experience, with relationships, impact, and growth at its core.

Connecting Culture to Experience

Culture plays a critical role in supporting an organization’s strategy and purpose, as well as in shaping people’s experiences. Developing an organization’s culture—defined as “the way we do things here”—can provide ongoing reinforcement and support for employees seeking greater meaning in their work.

Although culture is more about doing than saying, organizations that want to evolve their culture to be more purpose-driven must focus on a few key elements:

1. Focus on specific behaviors that foster relationships, impact, and growth (RIC)

Formal programs or initiatives for employees—such as mobility opportunities, innovation labs, challenging projects, reverse mentoring, and meaningful experiences—help employees build deeper and more diverse relationships while fostering growth. For employees to make an impact that is meaningful to them, there must be room for them to interpret the impact they can create. Some employees perform at their best when they see how their work is affecting another person; others may need to scale up the impact to a broader level.When introducing new opportunities, it’s important to be clear about the desired outcomes and to leave room for people to internalize the kind of impact that is most meaningful to them. For personalization to be scalable, there must be a clear enough framework within which employees can design work that is meaningful to them.

2. Encourage leaders to live out the company’s purpose

Leaders play a crucial role in identifying and modeling the behaviors that foster a fulfilling work experience. Senior leaders, as well as authentic and informal leaders, can be powerful allies in influencing these behaviors and providing concrete examples of what fulfillment looks like. If leaders fail to recognize and acknowledge the importance of leading with a purpose-driven mindset, they become a barrier to making the workplace a place where employees can find fulfillment.

3. Measure performance and use it to guide talent development

Peter Drucker, the founder of modern management, said, “What gets measured gets managed.” As we move forward in this new economy and focus on harnessing employees’ sense of purpose, new metrics for measuring employee sentiment will surely emerge.Although the methods for capturing a satisfying work experience will vary by organization, they should aim to assess how well employees feel their work provides the three fundamental elements of fulfillment: a sense of belonging, the creation of value beyond oneself, and personal growth. Considering how well your current survey addresses these elements is the first crucial step toward collecting data that will enable your organization to take steps toward a more meaningful employee experience.

As engagement surveys evolve—shifting from annual questionnaires to more frequent pulse surveys—tracking employee engagement will be more effective if done frequently to capture and manage the natural fluctuations in these sentiments. Fortunately, technology makes this easier than ever, enabling short, intuitive surveys that are even accessible from mobile devices.

The standard set of engagement questions addresses certain aspects of meaning and fulfillment, either directly or indirectly, so you may already be gathering useful information. Recognizing that a comprehensive review of engagement surveys across the entire company is unlikely in the short term, consider starting your organization’s journey toward a culture of Purpose by including three simple questions—or reinforcing existing ones—in your next employee survey:

Do you have meaningful relationships at work?

Do you have meaningful relationships at work?

Are you growing personally and professionally at work?

Are you growing personally and professionally at work?

Is your job having a significant impact on you?

Is your job having a significant impact on you?

4. Create Shared Experiences

Individuals recognize their responsibility for self-management and for finding fulfilling experiences at work, but bringing employees together to create and facilitate ongoing shared experiences can accelerate this process while building stronger teams. Shared experiences can be formative and rewarding when they bring employees together in ways that build meaningful connections, create a collective impact, and provide opportunities to learn something new. Experiences that are new or challenging can encourage employees to show moments of vulnerability that build trust and foster an emotional connection with those around them.

A Process of Continuous Improvement

Just as with products, services, and customer experiences, organizations must continue to innovate to improve the employee experience. Understanding how to create meaning in the workplace and foster a culture where such opportunities abound not only helps attract and retain top talent, but will also bring out the best in your team.