Purpose Leaders for their organizations. The program began with a four day intensive workshop in a beautiful lodge near Seattle, Washington. In a cohort with 14 other individuals and my co-worker Calen Schultz, I explored purpose, it's relation to work, and what it means to me.
One of the most amazing aspects of this workshop was the group that was in the class. It was led by the talented Imperative crew. Aaron Hurst is a co-founder and is the author of the Purpose Economy, a wonderful book which paints a captivating case for an economic evolution led by the practice of bringing purpose into what that we do personally, in organizations, and in society. Arthur Woods is also a co-founder of Imperative, is ridiculously intelligent, and is the best speaker I've ever listened to. Maggie Shelton is the Head of Programs and led the class. She brings a wealth of knowledge from her past awesome and interesting experiences. She also creates a nurturing environment and well-designed guided experience for learning and reflection. There were 7 pairs of professionals in attendance as well who were all inspiring, passionate about people, and brought a wealth of experience that was great for colorful discussions and brainstorming sessions. Companies that participated in our training included LinkedIn, Tides, Kenneth Cole, Elder Care Alliance, FCB Global, Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP and, of course, Emerios. :)
Over the course of 4 days, we went through several exercises in small groups to explore what purpose means for us individually, for others, and how we can help contribute to the movement of infusing purpose into the work that we all do every day.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the training:
- We invest an incredible amount of time, energy, and ourselves into the work that we do every day. Finding purpose in what we do allows us to find more fulfillment in our lives.
- When you are aware of what your personal purpose drivers are (what makes you feel fulfilled), you can design your time and the use of your energy to encourage more of those meaningful moments.
- 3 Purpose Myths
- Purpose is Not a Cause - Purpose is not associated with a cause. Purpose is an approach to work and serving others in anything that you do.
- Purpose is Not a Revelation - Purpose is not an external calling that instantly hits us. We must discover this wisdom for ourselves by being aware and seeking new experiences.
- Purpose is Not a Luxury - Purpose is not only for those that have plenty to spare. The prioritization of purpose is often inversely correlated with wealth.
- Stats. There were a lot! Here are some standouts that highlight the performance of purpose-led organizations:
- The Company is More Likely to Grow
- Higher Revenue Growth – 202% more likely to report revenue growth.
- Positive Growth – 85% show positive growth in the last 3 years.
- The Employees are Happier
- Higher Fulfillment Rates – 64% more likely to find fulfillment in their jobs.
- Higher Retention Rates – 11% more likely to stay in organizations longer than their peers.
- The Customers are Happier
- Higher Levels of Service – 51% more likely to have stronger relationships between employees and customers.
- Higher Bottom Line Performance– Firms of Endearment companies have outperformed the S&P 500 by 14 times and Good to Great companies by 6 times over a period of 15 years.
- Imperative has created a purpose assessment that individuals can take. The assessment asks questions to uncover your purpose drivers. With this awareness, you can infuse these drives into the work that you do by hacking your job.
- We learned how to:
- Read individual assessments
- Hack job postings to attract purpose-oriented individuals
- Hack job descriptions to infuse specific purpose drives of an individual into the work they do daily to ensure maximum fulfillment
- Create team reports utilized to coach teams to work well together
- The goal of this work is to reach beyond employee satisfaction or engagement - to achieve fulfillment.
One of the best rewards from undergoing this training, was the return home. I feel like this program helped me to loosen up some of the limitations I had in my mind and it left me feeling deeply motivated and inspired about every aspect of my life. There was a "buzz" that came home with me and I enjoyed reflecting on my time with the class and integrating my new perspective into everything that's important to me.
We learned a lot in this small window of time. We'll continue to work together over the upcoming year to roll this out company-wide. This type of work is fairly new. It will be a lot of fun to be a pioneer of this change and work with the purpose community to bring it to our organization and build a movement! :)
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