HOW DOES PURPOSE DRIVE INNOVATION?
Purpose helps foster an innovation culture in a company. The essence of purpose is far more than passion and profit. Purpose not only provides fuel for driving missions but also helps create a safe environment of clarity for teams to generate more ideas to lead to the overall improvement of a business.
The key business goals and the decision-making throughout the entire organization must align with its purpose in order to innovate. All the workforce including employees, managers, and high-level executives must truly understand the purpose and work towards it with the same actionable energy to be on the same page towards positive outcomes. As per Harvard business review (HBR), the organizations with purpose-driven goals as a core business value and driver are fundamentally more successful in innovation. Companies have the capacity to create more value for their shareholders and society in the long haul by working to pursue their purpose as compared to purely financial goals or a narrowly defined self-interest.
In this article, we have summarized some key takeaway strategies in order to create innovative opportunities capable of creating new business models and transforming culture. EY found in the Business Case for Purpose, that companies with a strong sense of purpose and urge to implement purpose in the core of their business are not only able to transform and innovate better but are also able to yield greater revenue growth in comparison to those who don’t. The key factor behind it is that more employees take interest in jobs that have some meaning, and connecting meaning with their work acts as a motivation booster for them to creatively solve analytical problems for their customers. A groundbreaking thought by Simon Sinek in his viral 2009 TED talk: people do not buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it. Putting it simply, people are drawn to the purpose behind the products.
1. For driving innovation, customer focus is critical
Co-creation is the core of any innovative idea or initiative, therefore, it must be at the heart of a successful innovation program to tackle complex problems. Followed by the required collaboration, organizations must come into action to leverage the purpose-driven innovation by catalyzing new ways of collaboration, which not only helps organizations in bringing up diverse perspectives but also provides them with the fuel to drive their innovation programs.
2. Time is the Key: Innovation takes time
In order to get fruitful results, you have to have patience. A lot of companies are only based on the delivery-driven incentive structure where the concept of purpose is usually neglected and many organizations come to the verge of failure as they are unable to realize the value of their investment in innovation. Transformation doesn’t happen overnight; it requires continuous efforts involving a key element of time that requires a shift to foster a culture of learning and experimentation above delivery to increase the business value of innovation.
3. Infuse purpose into your recruiting strategy
For the success of the innovative approach, the workforce needs to have the same goals aside from skill sets. Employees having a strong connection with the employer’s purpose and shared values tend to stay longer as compared to other employees. Shared values doesn’t mean shared culture. Do look out for diversity in background and experiences while hiring. Organizations should articulate their purpose and values beforehand so that the Human Resources (HR) department knows what the organization is specifically looking for.
4. Focus on suggestions of every member of your workforce
Innovation could come from any area of the organization, not just the innovation team. Focus on creating an environment that helps current and potential employees to align their purpose with your organization’s purpose. Help your employees to find meaning in their work which does not require changing the nature of the work, but rather challenging and influencing their thinking abilities. In order to achieve this, you definitely need to put purpose at the center of your business strategy.
5. Innovation needs space
There must be dedicated spaces like innovation centers, studios, or labs as incubators for the ideas in purpose-driven organizations for driving success followed by the nurturing process of these innovation hubs. The Return on Investments (ROI) primarily depends on clear definition of the vision and strategy including the leadership infrastructure in place to drive the agenda. Additionally, there is a need for physical or even virtual barriers for thriving purposes which enables the innovation centers to create a micro-culture, with a lean startup approach and the backing of the larger organization to support it.
6. Allow employees some flexibility in crafting their work
Allow your employees to treat their job as a craft that they love working on rather than something they’ll just do in exchange for money, that is what will drive their passion and give them a higher sense of purpose and engagement. While keeping a check on the resources and time, encouraging job crafting at workplaces invites creativity and innovations and gives employees the flexibility to own the aspects of their job, they love most which are highly beneficial to the organization.
7. Connect work to service through customer and employee stories
Employees being the representatives of the organization need to perceive how their association makes an impact on the lives of others. Utilizing client and partner testimonials can assist with improving this individual association, as it acquires the human component to work. Luckily, most organizations have incredible stories; they simply should be told, ideally face to face. Ask your managers to consistently share client feedback and contextual investigations based on case studies or welcome a couple of customers in for an easygoing lunch to have them converse with your workers. Highlight great employee contributions and have them actually share their work encounters with their associates. Also, as the head of the organization, make sure to spend some quality time with the group sharing the thoughts, regardless of whether that is face to face or through a telephone call/recorded video if your group is huge or working in a remote location.
Over the course of the past few years, continuously growing corporate leaders and experts have spoken out about how a strong shared sense of purpose can help companies meet these new challenges and transform their organizations. On a concluding note, innovation might not be a silver bullet, however, it not only enables companies to play a key role in projects but also drives them to take action on the important social impact initiatives that need our attention and involvement. In organizations where purpose had become a driver of strategy and decision-making, executives reported a greater ability to deliver revenue growth and drive successful innovation and ongoing transformation.
