Team Accountability – Workshop 2 (Discovering Team Purpose)
The Appleton Greene Corporate Training Program (CTP) for Team Accountability is provided by Mr. Teschner MBA BA Certified Learning Provider (CLP). Program Specifications: Monthly cost USD$2,500.00; Monthly Workshops 6 hours; Monthly Support 4 hours; Program Duration 12 months; Program orders subject to ongoing availability.
If you would like to view the Client Information Hub (CIH) for this program, please Click Here
Learning Provider Profile
Mr. Teschner is a transformational Leadership Coach and Trainer and Founder & CEO of VMax Group. VMax Group is a St Louis-based Leadership Development company specializing in teaching accountable leadership and high-performing teamwork to businesses across the globe. VMax Group has centered much of its signature training around the proper practice of Accountability. Real Accountability—positive, forward-focused Accountability centered around the process of taking Absolute Ownership for the outcomes the team achieves—is something Mr. Teschner and his team lived during their collective time as member of high-performance military teams. Now they’ve made it their mission to teach what they know to those who need to learn it.
A decorated graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Air University, and the National War College, Mr. Teschner is also both a Distinguished Graduate and former F-15 Instructor at the USAF Weapons School – the Air Force version of “TOP GUN”. It was there that he honed his craft of teaching accountable leadership to the top practitioners in the world. Additionally, Mr. Teschner was privileged to command an operational F-22 “Raptor” squadron, flying America’s most advanced air supremacy platform. Mr. Teschner was ultimately honored to be promoted to the rank of full Colonel but retired early as a result of a battle with colon-rectal cancer. Mr. Teschner has over 20 years of hands-on leadership experience in High-Performance, High-Reliability Organizations and brings all of that experience with him wherever he speaks, teaches or coaches.
Mr. Teschner has a special way of connecting with his audiences, blending high-impact stories of fighter aviation and personal humility to achieve the intended outcome. In addition, his story of his personal fight with cancer serves as the launch pad for talks about humility, growth, motivation, and constant improvement. Mr. Teschner is the author of the #1 bestselling book, Debrief to Win: How High-Performing Leaders Practice Accountable Leadership, and released his newest bestselling book Aiming Higher: A Journey Through Military Aviation Leadership, a book co-authored with 4 other former Air Force pilots, in May of 2022. His next book, Building Resilience, is due out in the Spring of 2023.
MOST Analysis
Mission Statement
This is the Vistage workshop – our current core product – delivered over the course of 6 hours. Outcome: understanding of where we’re going. Tools: VMG Pre-workshop assessment. Desired Learning Objectives: We understand what Accountability truly is and how it’s practiced. We know the definition of both a Team, and a High-Performance Team. We understand the basic outline of the “F-4 Debrief” methodology. We understand the High-Performance Team Lifecycle. We understand Mission Command and Commander’s Intent.
Objectives
01. Purpose Driven: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. Finding Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Bigger Picture: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Communicating Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Embed Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Engaged Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Shared Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. Individual Purpose: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. Role Clarity: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Goal Accountability: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
11. Purpose Overload: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
12. Purposeful Leadership
: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
Strategies
01. Purpose Driven: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02. Finding Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. Bigger Picture: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Communicating Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. Embed Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. Engaged Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Shared Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. Individual Purpose: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
09. Role Clarity: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
10. Goal Accountability: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
11. Purpose Overload: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
12. Purposeful Leadership: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
Tasks
01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Purpose Driven.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Finding Purpose.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Bigger Picture.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Communicating Purpose.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Embed Purpose.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Engaged Purpose.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Shared Purpose.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Individual Purpose.
09. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Role Clarity.
10. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Goal Accountability.
11. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Purpose Overload.
12. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Purposeful Leadership.
Introduction
Increasing The Sense Of Purpose In Your Team’s Work
It’s quite challenging to give other people a purpose. To spread purpose, more is required than inspirational speeches, high writings, or mission statements. In reality, if exaggerated or honest, those strategies may backfire and result in skeptical responses. Although purpose is a lofty concept, in…
Nobody wants to work a 9 to 5 job like a robot. People want motivation, significance, and awareness of the effects of their labor on others. And when they do, they work harder, smarter, and more effectively. That is neither a secret nor a discovery. It makes sense.
Giving individuals a feeling of purpose may be a great tool for leaders. Why then do so many leaders struggle to motivate their workforces?
The short answer is that it’s really challenging to inspire others with purpose. To spread purpose, more is required than inspirational speeches, high writings, or mission statements. In reality, if exaggerated or honest, those strategies may backfire and result in skeptical responses.
The Importance of Purpose
Whatever you do, there is a purpose for why you are employed. You’ve discovered the cause for your job when you are aware of it and completely comprehend how your actions improve the lives of others.
According to Dave and Wendy Ulrich’s 2010 book “The Why of Work,” there are numerous benefits to assisting others in finding meaning in their work.
People who comprehend the bigger picture of their work are generally happier, more engaged, and more creative. Additionally, from an organizational standpoint, staff turnover is reduced and productivity is increased when workers can see how their jobs connect with the objectives of the business. People put in more effort, show initiative, and choose their tasks carefully. As a result, the business can run more effectively. Everyone experiences the benefits, from the CEO to the clients.
Make It Personal
First and foremost, purpose must be personal and felt because it is supposed to evoke an emotional response. You cannot solely discuss intent.
Imagine that you are in charge of a college’s fundraising campaign to support the funding of scholarships for disadvantaged children. How do you plan to inspire your volunteers? According to a research by Adam Grant, no one’s performance would likely be improved if someone spoke in front of the group on the significance of their work. But it would be far more powerful if you asked a recent scholarship winner to talk about their own experience. In Grant’s study, volunteers actually raised about 400% more money than the norm after hearing from a scholarship recipient.
One of the top executives from F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, one of the biggest pharmaceutical firms in the world, brightened up when he heard about the fundraising study and said, “This just happened to us!”
She described the processes used by her team in the medical devices sector. People in the corporation who believed that chemistry was “more sexy” than engineering occasionally looked down on her group. The spirit of the team was quite poor, and many members of the division were not entirely committed. One day, the team’s leader set up a customer to share her life story with the group.
This client had diabetes, so she had to check her blood every day to make sure she was taking the proper amount of insulin. Unfortunately, this unfortunate woman miscalculated the amount of blood that was required and was pricking her finger more frequently than was necessary to obtain the blood. She was making a mess of her fingertips and it ached so much that she dreaded doing it every day. Before moving on to the next finger, she would work her way down one finger from the tip to the knuckle, causing it to become completely inflamed and occasionally infected. She claimed that the injury progressed to the point where she would sit on her hand to conceal it from others. She stopped going to fancy restaurants because she felt so ashamed.
The diabetic then explained to the group how creating a small finger-pricking gadget had made her life better. It is clicked after being placed on the tip of your finger. It barely draws any blood, causes any discomfort, and leaves hardly any scarring. She explained how this gadget had allowed her hands to recover and allowed her to go out to supper without feeling self-conscious. She said, “You people changed my life,” to the group.
The Roche team leader informed us that this patient testimonial had a significant impact on the medical device team. She reported that the meeting was really emotional. People had a greater sense of purpose for months.
It makes no difference what profession you are in. People will feel a sense of purpose if they can connect the dots between their contributions and the success of their team, comprehend the significance of a client receiving their product on time, or personally appreciate how important their work is to others.
Make It Genuine
But consider this: You must genuinely believe what you say and do. This is the deciding factor. Employees will regard your strategies as manipulative rather than inspirational if your attempts to create purpose are inconsistent with your other leadership practices.
For instance, as soon as the Roche woman finished sharing her motivational tale, a man on the opposite side of the room raised his hand and remarked, “Yeah, they tried that garbage on us too.”
He said, “I have this boss who has never talked about anything but quarterly profits and hitting shipping targets,” He must have heard you speak about this study at London Business School because one day he brings a patient into our monthly meeting and forces her to tell us how the medications saved her life. You know, attempting to play on our feelings in order to get us to work harder? Using a patient to our advantage!? That is quite low.
This conversation can teach us so much.
Your message will fail if you’re a leader trying to persuade people of your aim but your prior actions haven’t been in line with it. Humans are machines for detecting honesty; we are drawn to it and disgusted by deceit and lying.
So be careful. Go for it if you find genuine inspiration in hearing what customers have to say and truly believe what you’re expressing. In contrast, if you’re not, you could come across as more manipulative than inspiring.
Make It Permanent
You can’t just do purpose once, even if you make it true and personal. You should establish it as a routine instead.
Microsoft’s general manager for Austria, Dr. Dorothee Ritz, urges her staff to visit clients’ locations and learn about their difficulties firsthand. One small team spent a week working with police officers on the street to determine when and how remote data could be useful. In order to examine and comprehend what it would actually entail to assist a hospital in going paperless, another team spent two days there.
Ritz claimed that these immersion experiences helped people learn new things. She claimed that they returned enlightened, and that it was obvious to her that the employees’ individual experiences improved their sense of purpose since they were able to see the significance of their work. Ritz saw how after seeing the needs of the clients firsthand, staff sprang into their projects with additional vigor and excitement.
After tinkering with this idea for a year, Ritz finally implemented something more secure. She chose a group of important clients (whom she refers to as partners) from a variety of sectors, including hospitals, retailers, and the car industry. Then, a team of 15 Microsoft employees, including senior leaders and associates, visit each organization and interview numerous individuals at various levels to find out what their difficulties are. Of course, they spoke with IT professionals, but they also spoke with business decision-makers from other functions.
Ritz gave me an example of how Microsoft personnel at various levels were able to practice conversations with Tesla that began with Tesla’s needs as opposed to Microsoft’s goods. They concentrated on the process flaws that Tesla needed to fix. A Microsoft employee who was highly familiar with the Xbox asked some really sensible questions concerning problems with the system at a large retailer. Instead of high-level executive jargon, this resulted in a meaningful, practical discussion that helped steer the entire debate toward workable alternatives that the team could return to and work on. These Microsoft teams left with a few new contacts in their network. What’s more, according to Ritz, is that these teams were able to comprehend the goals of the projects by direct observation of the scenario and hearing about the problems facing the companies.
Ritz made significant investments in client experiences that gave employees the chance to personally experience the effects of their work, allowing them to develop strong emotional ties to the client and their work while also allowing Microsoft to experiment and grow as an organization.
For leaders who wish to motivate individuals to provide their best effort at work, purpose can be a potent motivator. But most business executives concur that their staff does not “understand” the objective of their companies. This is so because the objective is intimate and sentimental. Transactional leaders who give speeches about grandiose societal ideals rather than assisting in putting staff members in direct contact with the clients they serve frequently manage it badly. When leaders begin with a personal, genuine, and ongoing approach, purpose can do wonders for employee contributions.
How to Help Your Team Find Purpose in 5 Easy Steps
It could be simple to assist people in discovering the deeper purpose in their work if you work for a nonprofit or other type of service organization. However, what if you work for a bank, contact center, or software firm?
It is crucial to understand that every work serves someone else because it wouldn’t exist if it didn’t. As you work with your team members to help them find meaning in their work, keep this in mind.
Step 1: Construct a Valuable Mission Statement
The mission statement of your company is a fantastic place to start. You should be able to use it to determine the needs of the customers, how the business will answer those needs, and how success will be judged.
Although you might not be able to alter the mission statement for your firm, you can create a mission and vision statement for your team or department. This assertion ought to explain the higher goal driving your work.
Start this process off right by utilizing the 5 Whys Technique. When determining the deeper purpose of your team, start by asking the straightforward question, “Why does this team or department exist? ” and continuing asking “why” questions in the follow-up. As you proceed through the process, consider the corporate goals. What demands are being fulfilled?
The mission and vision statements for your team should then be written using this information. Put this on display so that everyone may see it.
Step 2: Connect Individual Motivations To Group Or Organizational Objectives
The next thing you should do is link the individual aspirations of your team members to the company’s.
Start by having one-on-one meetings with each member of your team and using McClelland’s Human Motivation Theory to assist them comprehend what truly motivates them.
Encourage everyone on the team to think about how they can link their motivations to the organization’s aims next. Keep in mind that your position in this process should be that of a facilitator; avoid imposing too many of your personal opinions or values on others.
Finally, employ the Management by Objectives strategy to connect the personal objectives of your team members to the company’s overall objectives.
Step 3: Discover Your Strengths
You enter a state of flow when you’re working on a task that plays to your abilities. You tend to lose track of time since you are so focused on your task. In this mode, you frequently produce your best work.
Members of your team are the same way. They’ll find more personal fulfillment in their work if you can help them identify their skills and the activities that make them feel in the zone.
Encourage team members to use the StrengthsFinder assessment to discover their top five strengths as they explore their strengths.
Additionally, you can work with them to use the MPS Process to identify the responsibilities and tasks that make them feel the happiest and most fulfilled.
Use job-crafting techniques to include more of the tasks that play to each team member’s strengths once you’ve identified them.
Step 4: Create a Positive Workplace
Everyone performs at their best in an environment that is healthy and encouraging. Therefore, be sure to provide your team the best opportunity to succeed.
For instance, encourage colleagues to socialize before meetings or outside of work to assist them develop good working relationships. Give workers more control over their job and offer possibilities for learning and professional advancement. Praise staff members who exhibit virtues like integrity, honesty, and humility in order to spread those values.
Your team members will find it simpler to stay connected to the greater purpose of their job if you foster an environment that is upbeat and encouraging.
Note:
Be sure to lead by example because your team members will turn to you for motivation. You may find the purpose in your own work by using the information in our post on working with purpose.
Step 5: Use Feedback to Increase Positivity
Positive reinforcement is a powerful motivator. It serves as a reminder that our efforts are valued and have an impact.
Share customer or client success stories to demonstrate the difference your team is making, and give regular feedback. This can be an effective strategy to motivate your team members and keep them feeling a sense of connection to the people they are working with.
Key Points
The majority of people desire to know that their work is meaningful, that it benefits others or improves the world. People are likely to be happier and more productive when they comprehend the greater meaning behind their work.
Take the following actions to assist your employees in discovering meaning in their work:
• Create a mission statement that is meaningful.
• Team up individual motivations with group or organization objectives.
• Learn your strengths.
• Create a productive workplace.
• Utilize criticism to increase positive.
It’s crucial that you, as a leader, often offer input from both your own and your customers’ or clients’ perspectives. This will make it easier for your employees to realize the impact of their labor.
Executive Summary
Chapter 1: Purpose -Driven
You’re not the only one who has noticed a recent increase in the use of the word “purpose” in corporate jargon. There are a lot of phrases like “purpose-driven organization” and “from profit to purpose.” Nowadays, every other company aspires to change into a purpose-driven organization because it is the management fad for the 2020s. As a quick response, numerous consulting firms and business institutions all over the world have established purpose practices and curricula that are overseen by self-described purpose pundits who demand astronomical fees for their counsel. On purpose publications are flying off the shelf like hotcakes. If you search “purpose-driven” online, you’ll discover just how influential this movement is.
A distinguishing characteristic that makes purpose-driven businesses distinctive from other kinds of enterprises is something that is inherent in their DNA.
You may determine whether a business is actually purpose-driven or whether it is merely utilizing this as a staged identity and marketing technique by carefully examining its objective, business model, governance and processes, and measures.
Intent
Do they have a sincere, useful, and motivating objective that will advance society?
To enable employees, investors, and customers, both existing and potential, understand what the company stands for and aid them in making wise decisions on whether they choose to invest, work for, or purchase from the business, it is essential that they articulate their purpose in some form.
1. How strong is their strategic dedication to their goal?
2. Is the organization’s strategy consistent with its mission, and is it dedicated to it through a long-term target or goal?
3. Does the organization’s goal provide long-term, enduring success?
4. Does the organization’s purpose have a good chance of having a positive social and environmental impact?
Business Model
Does the purpose represent the main commercial activity and influence profit distribution? How essential is the purpose to the basic business model?
Businesses with a purpose are set up to fulfill their purpose in a meaningful and tangible way. In other words, it is insufficient for a company to simply state its purpose. They must also have a well-defined plan for how they will really carry out their objective.
1. Is the goal a side-project, a product, or a service, or is it directly related to the organization’s economic engine or superpower?
2. Do investors’ interests coincide with those of the firm and are they supportive of the mission?
3. Does the company model depend on actions that harm people or the environment, to the point that it couldn’t function otherwise? If yes, is there a convincing plan in place to move away from this?
4. Does the company take aggressive steps to remedy the negative effects of its model and to take advantage of possibilities to have a bigger positive impact?
Chapter 2: Finding Purpose
According to John Doerr’s 2018 Ted Talk, “Truly transformational teams combine their ambitions to their passion and to their purpose,” He suggested that innovative businesses need to establish a strong sense of WHY they carry out the activities that they conduct.
What activity a corporation needs to prioritize as being most important becomes clear when identifying and committing to a “why.” It helps individuals get perspective so they can determine their true goals. It indicates a course to take, a North Star to follow. In addition, it motivates people.
The why of a corporation acts as the foundation for its OKRs. Doerr views OKRs as empty containers filled with the whats and hows of a team. What actually important, he continued, “What really matters is the why that we pour into those vessels.”
For instance, all of Google’s services and products, such as Search, Gmail, Earth, Android, etc., are in line with the company’s mission statement, which is to “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” according to co-founder Larry Page.
Another illustration is Allbirds, a company that creates simple yet incredibly comfy shoes. Their dedication to creating better things in better ways is their why. They achieve this by lowering their carbon footprint and producing their shoes from premium natural materials.
Additionally, Asana’s project management software was created to achieve their mission statement, which is to make it easier for all teams to collaborate.
All of these instances show how a clearly stated why can link team OKRs to an organization’s primary goal. Keep in mind that none of those reasons are “whats.” They are not goods, services, or marketing objectives. A company’s “why” can be thought of as a vision statement that outlines how it perceives itself and the job it does.
Whys are motivating, but they are not ambiguous. A excellent why should feel unique to a business. At the end of the day, it should make it possible for every employee to grasp precisely how their regular job contributes to the achievement of the company’s mission.
Finding your company’s why has indisputable advantages. But where do you look for it? Setting aside time for frank introspection is the first step. Make a list of your values. Consider your prior achievements and setbacks, and search for trends.
Chapter 3: Bigger Picture
Overwhelmed By Information Nowadays
How can I assist my staff in seeing the larger picture? We frequently hear from our clients about this.
In this age of information overload, we must sift through limitless “noise” in order to complete our “actual work.” This is especially common in larger organizations where information is everywhere—on noticeboards, intranets, in newsletters, and minutes produced by competing colleagues. Getting their messages heard above all the noise is a constant struggle for managers and leaders.
When dealing with information in a huge organization, employees often compare it to having a box full of jigsaw puzzle pieces without a lid. Although they are aware that each component should go together, they are overwhelmed and unable to put everything together in a way that makes sense. So maybe we should show them the box’s lid if making sense of all this data is like putting a jigsaw piece together.
A Period Of Visualization
The task of giving meaning to visual signals is said to take up half of the human brain, but organizations rarely take use of this. As employees struggle to make sense of the massive volumes of data they encounter every day and are unable to comprehend the wider picture, simple text is just insufficient.
However, think about when information is provided in a well-designed, visual manner; something where complex material combines metaphor and visuals, is vividly colored, widely shared, and easily understood, even by individuals who don’t speak your language. Even better if the pictures have a strong narrative.
Our time online serves as a concrete example of how we quickly assimilate information by using visual scanning and making connections. This appeals to how our brains are hardwired to process it. Research indicates that this familiarity is changing how we digest information and help us adjust to a more visually oriented society. It’s a chance that has largely been lost in organizational communications because the act of adding meaning to visual cues and signals occupies roughly 50% of the human brain.
Chapter 4: Communicating Purpose
A crucial component of leadership is communication.
Whether you are an extrovert or an introvert, the health of your workplace and your leadership will depend on how well you communicate with people.
The only way to express the vision, goal, and purpose of your company is to be able to communicate your message clearly. You must be able to communicate your strategy and how it ties to your vision in the day-to-day operations of your organization. Without effective communication, this is just not possible.
If you have staff, you will be enhancing the leadership abilities of your team members. Your ability to communicate effectively will be your most useful tool as you provide them encouragement, guidance, and even criticism. Their performance and level of involvement may suffer if you fall short in this department. You’ll be engaged in an unending uphill struggle.
Its understandable that not everyone is inherently good at communicating. Some of us need to make an effort to communicate our views more effectively. It’s feasible, which is fantastic news! We can all improve our communication abilities because it is a taught behavior and when it is done with intention, it is much simpler.
It’s vital to note that this is precisely what intentional communication is, a sort of awareness. We are all familiar with mindfulness and its significance in the workplace. When we communicate with a purpose, we are not only concerned with how the message will be received, but also with the message itself. It is a direct, frank, and empathic method of communication.
It is important to be conscious of how you behave with others; this requires self-observation. When communicating with others, are you genuine and open? Do they fully understand what you mean? Are they in agreement?
It is easy to tell if you are leading truly by paying attention to both yourself and other people. Your crew is aware of your sincerity and commitment to your words. Do they believe what you are telling them?
When communication is sincere, both words and deeds are heard. A purposeful communicator follows through on their words with deeds. None of us like working under a boss who speaks a good game before forgetting everything. Or, even worse, they say what comes to mind while acting in a way that tells an entirely different story.
It is important to communicate with purpose. It holds true for all types of communication, not only those involving team members. The way your ideas are communicated will have an impact on every relationship you have while running your firm. Your message will accomplish your desired goals if your communication has a purpose. You will be heard and comprehended.
Purposeful communication is a two-way path, like most things. Those speaking to you likewise desire to be heard and comprehended. It will greatly benefit the conversation and the ongoing relationship if you listen with awareness.
All of our businesses are based on connections, and how well you communicate with your colleagues will determine how successful you are. How effective and intentional is your communication?
Chapter 5: Embed Purpose
Integrate culture, purpose, and direction.
In the past few years, purpose has truly taken center stage in marketing. It’s also the point at which we begin to consider our company’s goal, vision, and values.
Take insurance as an illustration. What is the main reason for having insurance? In essence, insurance is a promise. It’s a pledge that you, as the insurer, will make things right if something goes wrong. Additionally, there has been a time when some businesses didn’t fully consider the overall goal of the sector, and this is still the case now. And for this reason, the insurance sector is one of the least reputable in the world. Banks and insurers are way down at the bottom of a consumer trust barometer, which is something you should look up online, whereas many internet enterprises and new startups are near the top. because they remain committed to their goal.
Remember Google’s initial directive: Be good. There is much discussion right now about whether or not they are still committed to that goal. The volume of data collection they are conducting, their transfer to Alphabet, and Alphabet’s failure to maintain that same goal.
You can further divide this into your mission, vision, and values. And occasionally, when we work in a business, we might believe that these are merely ambiguous claims. However, they’re essential to uniting everyone in a company so that everyone is working toward the same objective.
An organization’s traditional communications are:
• Mission
• Vision
• Values
To support it, they are all present. They are there to clarify to the customer what those three things are that your company is engaged in. The trick is to really incorporate your company’s purpose into the strategy, the business objectives, and the business plan once you have done so.
Chapter 6: Engaged purpose
Many HR professionals will emphasize the significance of employee engagement when you ask them what it takes to thrive. They speak to a company’s requirement for workers who are enthusiastic about their jobs, driven to succeed, and whose goals align with those of the business. Employee satisfaction, happiness, and many other factors are all related to employee engagement.
However, will employees’ enjoyment and interest in their work be enough to keep them at your company for the long run? Even while your team may have similar objectives, this does not necessarily mean that your staff members will have a connection to their work or see it as worthwhile. There may be something crucial lacking from your employees’ experience that would increase their loyalty to your business. The element in question is a sense of purpose.
How Engagement Differs from Purpose
While purpose and engagement have some similarities, such as a worker’s dedication to the business, they are not the same thing. Both are significant, but they have a greater impact when they coexist within an employee’s mind.
Employee engagement is “the level to which employees feel passionate about their professions, are committed to the organization, and invest discretionary effort into their work,” according to CustomInsight, a major provider of online HR evaluation and development solutions. As a result, employee engagement is a key factor in your company’s success because it is closely related to staff productivity and effectiveness.
According to Dale Carnegie Training, businesses with engaged staff perform up to 202 percent better than those without. According to a Dale Carnegie and MSW Research survey of more than 1,500 workers, motivated individuals display enthusiasm and confidence while also feeling empowered and inspired.
While employee involvement is good for businesses, it improves when those businesses clarify and share their purpose. Deeper than participation, purpose is the foundation of the business. It must include the work the company undertakes to meet needs and make a difference as well as merely making a profit. Having a positive impact on people—in most cases, the company’s clients and customers—and bringing them a sense of fulfillment or happiness that speaks well of the business and its personnel is what purpose is all about.
Understanding this goal will increase an employee’s likelihood of helping the business succeed. They are more inclined to work harder and with greater excitement to accomplish that objective if they believe they are a part of something good. In other words, if employees are aware of and committed to the mission of their organization, they are more likely to be engaged.
A survey by Deloitte indicated that 73 percent of workers who claim to work for a “purpose-driven” organization are engaged, according to Benefitting Through Purpose Inc. magazine. When they don’t describe their employer as “purpose-driven,” however, only 23% of workers say they are engaged. Furthermore, just around half of businesses without a clear purpose anticipate doing the same in the next ten years, compared to more than 90% of CEOs at purpose-driven businesses.
The Inc. article emphasizes the necessity for businesses to build processes that are in line with their goal in order to communicate that purpose to employees. Let’s use your company’s provision of financial services as an example. You state that assisting people improve their lives through financial security is your life’s work. You might host free financial workshops or engage marginalized areas to help further this goal. By putting mechanisms in place to support your mission, you engage staff by giving them a sense that their work matters and is worthwhile.
Engagement Is Driven by Purpose
Therefore, it is evident that purpose is crucial for increasing employee engagement. Though they are not synonymous, “purpose” and “engagement” do go hand in hand. Engagement is built upon a foundation of purpose. One is not superior to the other, though. Employee engagement may be transient without a sense of purpose, and without engagement, a company’s goal won’t be properly achieved.
Chapter 7: Shared Purpose
We move forward with purpose, both in our personal and professional endeavors. So why do so many businesses disregard its significance? Only a small number of organizations can tell you their beliefs; most spend money on branding and defining their goal and vision.
And this is the issue. How can they inspire and lead their staff if they are unable to accomplish that? Employees lose focus and perspective when they are unable to identify a reason for being in the overarching mission of a company’s plan. As a result, both the company’s performance and theirs are affected.
Businesses use “purpose” and “authenticity” in this situation to engage both their customers and staff. Even if it is simpler stated than done, the rewards are substantial if you succeed.
It can sometimes be as easy as having your values and mission in line: have your product or service represent who you are, let your beliefs inspire what you produce, and let your worth to the community boost your value to clients and shareholders.
All employees now have a sense of purpose and “feel” that their labor matters in the overall scheme of things.
Purpose is a potent motivator for daily action because it propels and directs us to complete the activities and objectives that we set for ourselves or that are assigned to us by superiors. But if we want our mission to be truly shared, how we arrive at it is crucial.
Nothing is more effective than a purpose to guide employee collaboration across many channels within a business. Ironically, most managers continue to place an unhealthy amount of emphasis on encouraging teamwork through technology and training.
Chapter 8: Individual Purpose
Employees who take ownership, having a culture of accountability, and having a high trust workplace all go hand in hand for high-performance firms. All three must be ingrained into an organization’s culture and principles.
Let’s begin by discussing what “take responsibility,” “accountability,” and “trust” in the workplace mean.
What Does It Entail To Assume Responsibility At Work?
Initiative is a key component of taking responsibility. When we think that taking action is our obligation and not someone else’s, we take ownership. Even while working with others, you, as an individual, are responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of a result. In the same manner as an organization’s owner would care, you are concerned with the outcome. It does not imply that you must take ownership of the project. It does not imply that you should exclude others. It does imply that you have a responsibility to the organization’s results and that you have a responsibility to take action on matters that have an impact on those results. It’s possible that you have a fantastic idea for how to cut costs for the company, but it falls beyond the purview of your job. Or maybe it would require more time than you have available. Or perhaps you lack the tools necessary to finish the job, or the solution is located elsewhere in the company. Taking responsibility in these circumstances entails presenting your proposal to someone who has the time or resources to carry it out.
Taking responsibility lets others know they can rely on you to act morally.
Taking Responsibility At Work
Being accountable means taking ownership of the outcome. Ownership involves taking the initiative, whereas responsibility entails carrying it out. Recognizing how your actions affect the ability of other team members to achieve their goals is important since it goes beyond simply the individual and their commitments or ambitions. Accountability indicates that you will deliver as promised, on schedule, within your allocated budget, etc. It also implies that you are honest about your shortcomings. Be open and direct with your communication if you can’t deliver on time or the results won’t be as powerful as you’d planned. You value the effect you have on colleagues by being open-minded. Being trustworthy requires being responsible.
Being responsible signals to others that “you can trust me to do what I say I’ll do.”
Chapter 9: Role Clarity
Why Having Defined Roles And Duties Is Essential To Producing Quality Content
The content that is presented is useless when there are too many viewpoints on the purpose. Accountability is lacking because it’s unclear who is in charge of each duty. Additionally, inefficient content processing result from this.
Process optimization can be aided by roles and responsibilities that are defined. The level of content is one result of this. According to Blaine Kyllo’s webinar on using RACI charts to enhance content operations:
The work of numerous individuals, each with a specialty in their own field, resulting in content that is impactful and successful.
Getting those people to cooperate can be difficult. I’ll discuss the dangers of unclear roles and responsibilities in this essay. I’ll also provide important factors to bear in mind while dividing up positions and duties.
Risks Associated With Ambiguous Jobs And Responsibilities
There are two basic problems that occur when those in charge of delivering content are unclear about their responsibilities:
• Responsibility gaps cause bottlenecks when certain duties go unfinished.
• Responsibility overlap, which causes work to be done twice and wastes time and energy
When bottlenecks occur, deadlines aren’t met, which can cause the content to be delayed. A bottleneck may indicate other problems, such as excessive workloads or a lack of necessary skills and resources.
Content is rushed or the most recent version is published as a solution to bottlenecks. Over time, quality and compliance are degraded (and budgets).
Different versions of the content may be produced if duties overlap. Publishing decisions might get contentious. Additionally, it can be annoying for someone to spend time on the stuff that isn’t necessary.
Role overlap is similarly dangerous. A difficulty arises if three of the six employees working on the content are given the “approval” task. Who among the three has final authority?
The Foundation Of Productivity Is Good Communication
For people to feel confident speaking up when problems develop, certain foundations must be in place. The same is true for delivering and receiving feedback as well as for any necessary awkward conversations. Even with well defined roles and responsibilities, effective communication is still necessary.
Roles That Are Unclear Lead To Confusion And Tension
Confusion is never enjoyable. When you’re unsure about what you need to accomplish, when you need to do it, and why, it can be irritating and demotivating. This connotes getting off to a bad start or lacking excitement. Again, nobody enjoys a stressed situation, which is what this creates.
A Crucial Component Of Meaningful Content Operations Are Clear Roles
Many people are frequently involved in creating content, including:
• advertising groups
• experts in their fields
• laws and regulations
• different stakeholders
• UX and design
When this is the situation, it is difficult to be effective and efficient. Adding to circumstances and scenarios, including silos, that are frequently already challenging.
While having distinct roles and duties won’t fix every problem, they can aid in producing material that is effective.
Advantages Of Defining Jobs And Tasks Clearly
I once spoke at HighEdWeb on bridging institutional silos for effective ContentOps and content. In that session, I outlined a few justifications for why it’s crucial for your content team to have clearly defined roles and responsibilities:
• When content is not someone’s primary responsibility, clear and defined duties are crucial (think an academic who is a subject matter expert)
• Role clarification is crucial when people are compartmentalized.
• People are more likely to complete their assigned responsibilities when roles are explicit.
Benefits as a result of the above include:
• fewer content modifications, and as a result,
• speedier content approval
• less time is wasted
• agreement regarding who should do what
The content, aim, and job remain in focus thanks to clearly defined roles and duties. It takes away the hassle of attempting to determine who is doing what and what status the content is at.
Chapter 10: Goal Accountability
Every organization recognizes the value of goal setting, yet simply defining goals is insufficient. It is crucial to match team goals with organizational goals and employee goals with team goals.
Aligning goals gets everyone on the same page and moving in the same direction, which is what everyone should be doing to realize the organization’s overarching plan.
Aligned objectives foster a family-like environment where everyone collaborates and is aware of their responsibilities. Simply said, your company is at a disadvantage if its aims aren’t aligned.
Why It’s Critical To Match Team, Corporate, And Employee Goals
A significant factor separating high-performing from low-performing businesses is organizational alignment. According to LSA Global research, highly aligned businesses actually grow revenue 58% faster than their unaligned peers, are 72% more profitable, and exceed them in terms of leadership, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction and retention.
Strategies For Motivating Staff To Care About Their Work And The Company
Contrary to what we’d all want to think, the issue is more widespread. Every industry and workplace is affected. It takes place anywhere in the world. We are all affected by this issue. It’s an issue for us. It’s an issue for you. Everyone owns it.
Here’s the unforgiving reality. People cannot be made to care. However, you can provide them all the necessary ingredients to be motivated to choose to care about your company, your team, and their job. Here are four strategies that can dramatically improve your results that we’ve learned via study and discussions with effective leaders.
1. Prioritize taking care of and talking about your staff. As obvious as it may seem, many leaders struggle to communicate their concern for their followers, even when they really care about them. If you don’t first care about your employees and their aspirations, they won’t care about your business or your objectives. Learn, practice, and master the art of praising others because, according to studies, it’s the single most effective thing managers can do to motivate staff to create outstanding work.
2. Encourage effort because it merits it. When we visit different companies and give presentations, we frequently discover that many managers are uncertain about the distinction between rewards and incentives. Incentives work like a transaction: if you complete ABC, you get XYZ. Incentives are frequently given out prior to a project or task. On the other hand, appreciation isn’t just concerned with the result. Instead, it’s a recognition of a person’s intention, labor, and accomplishment. According to research, when efforts and outcomes are acknowledged, employees report having greater confidence in their abilities, a better understanding of their manager’s expectations for them, and a better relationship with their boss.
3. Be quite clear about your values. Because they don’t know what it means to you, telling your staff that you demand the best from them actually has little impact on them. Employees are curious about your values and appreciation. For instance, London-based Virgin Trains intended to promote certain initiatives across the organization—unique actions that the business valued and backed up the brand’s appeal to customers. Probably all of us have seen business principles posted on boardroom walls. They are frequently pretty boring. Consider the raw strength of their statement, “Screw Average. Create Amazing,” rather than bland, forgettable ones. A detailed list of the qualities the corporation valued in its employees was provided below that. Giving a damn was at the top of our list, and it was followed by descriptions of what they valued in action: 1) Collaboration amongst strong individuals. 2) Sensitive and adaptable. 3. People, not (just) protocol In addition, 4) doing what is right and best for others.
4. Beg them to accomplish the goal for which they were hired. Most people expect that jobs will be at best mediocre and don’t apply for them. Not at all. They apply for positions and to businesses where they think their knowledge and experience will be useful—where their hard work and thought will have a significant influence. Nevertheless, we’ve talked to a lot of struggling supervisors who don’t understand why a particular employee isn’t happy just acting like a mirror image of a job description. In fact, studies reveal that 88% of projects that received awards got their start when an employee questioned themselves, “What difference can I make that someone will love?” Your people aspire to make a difference. Embrace your uniqueness and implore them to do the same.
Even if it may seem frustrating, we can motivate individuals to care about our organizations, our objectives, our clients, our teams, or even their own careers. And from our experience, when people care, they achieve above what we could have ever dreamed of.
Chapter 11: Purpose Overload
Overwhelmed workers are a widespread issue in many workplaces. It’s not always about putting in lengthy hours. Work overload can also refer to having a ton of unfinished tasks on your to-do list.
I’ve held jobs where I had to put in a lot of overtime to get everything done. I’ve also led teams when the amount of activity was so great that it was impossible to complete everything. In such situation, we just had to decide what would not be done.
So how can you tell whether you and your team are experiencing work overload? It’s usually not difficult to tell if you look for the proper indicators.
Typical Signs of Work Overload
1. Deadlines are routinely missed by people.
If deadlines are frequently missed, there’s a chance that your crew is overworked. Typically, this means you won’t be able to make every deadline since your team lacks the resources to complete the task.
Team members might be highly motivated by deadlines, but the contrary is also true. They can be quite demotivating if you’re not hitting them. Your team can eventually experience a sense of hopelessness where they believe there is no purpose in trying because they will fail.
2. A team that is overworked will make errors.
Errors occur when there is a job overload. People take shortcuts, which causes them to miss stuff. Everyone is preoccupied with worrying about the next task, so nobody is paying close attention to each one.
This can eventually cause your staff to become more concerned with completing tasks quickly than with doing them correctly.
Leading a team that consistently makes mistakes can eventually reflect poorly on you as well.
3. Team members start to lose interest or get “frazzled.”
When people start to feel overwhelmed and “frazzled,” that is sometimes the most serious sign of work overload.
The reason for this is typically that there are several conflicting priorities and people are unsure of one to prioritize. Additionally, it happens as a result of people’s feelings of guilt for disappointing others.
Members of the team could potentially give up and lose interest. They believe that they will fail, so why even bother trying?
Pay attention to folks who seem to be complaining, agitated, frustrated, or overwhelmed. These are warning indicators of overwork.
Chapter 12: Purposeful Leadership
Why Devoted Leaders And Businesses Succeed
Simply said, selling exceptional products or existing is insufficient to achieve profitability. Consumers and employees of today want to be associated with businesses that are improving society. They want to represent and be represented by companies whose values align with their own.
Having a purpose is beneficial for business. Internally, working for organizations with a purpose is inspiring and gratifying. This promotes general satisfaction, staff retention, and engagement. Having a purpose gives a firm a competitive advantage on the outside by increasing client loyalty and word-of-mouth recommendations.
Consumers of today are concerned about how businesses treat their workers, the environment, and communities, and they will avoid buying products from companies that fall short of their standards.
How To Lead With A Clear Purpose
To lead with purpose, you need to be self-aware as well as:
• Having the ability to pan out and observe the larger picture A leader who is overly preoccupied with the minutiae is likely to be hyper-focused on the present rather than working toward the more inspiring goal of how their actions affect the world.
• To help your team develop and be the best they can be, mentor and coach them.
• Encourage your staff to support and adhere to the organization’s purpose while assisting them in making the connection to their own personal purpose.
• Possess great interpersonal skills and the ability to establish trusting relationships with coworkers, members, clients, suppliers, and other parties.
• Be adaptable and aware that following a purposeful route isn’t always easy. Be ready to change course and adjust along the road.
• Be ready to consider the purpose when making every choice. As an illustration, this can entail spending more money on conference swag made by a sustainable company because one of your association’s goals is to improve the planet. Cheap knickknacks wouldn’t fit that brand’s mission.
Curriculum
Team Accountability – Workshop 2 – Discovering Team Purpose
- Purpose Driven
- Finding Purpose
- Bigger Picture
- Communicating Purpose
- Embed Purpose
- Engaged Purpose
- Shared Purpose
- Individual Purpose
- Role Clarity
- Goal Accountability
- Purpose Overload
- Purposeful Leadership
Distance Learning
Introduction
Welcome to Appleton Greene and thank you for enrolling on the Team Accountability corporate training program. You will be learning through our unique facilitation via distance-learning method, which will enable you to practically implement everything that you learn academically. The methods and materials used in your program have been designed and developed to ensure that you derive the maximum benefits and enjoyment possible. We hope that you find the program challenging and fun to do. However, if you have never been a distance-learner before, you may be experiencing some trepidation at the task before you. So we will get you started by giving you some basic information and guidance on how you can make the best use of the modules, how you should manage the materials and what you should be doing as you work through them. This guide is designed to point you in the right direction and help you to become an effective distance-learner. Take a few hours or so to study this guide and your guide to tutorial support for students, while making notes, before you start to study in earnest.
Study environment
You will need to locate a quiet and private place to study, preferably a room where you can easily be isolated from external disturbances or distractions. Make sure the room is well-lit and incorporates a relaxed, pleasant feel. If you can spoil yourself within your study environment, you will have much more of a chance to ensure that you are always in the right frame of mind when you do devote time to study. For example, a nice fire, the ability to play soft soothing background music, soft but effective lighting, perhaps a nice view if possible and a good size desk with a comfortable chair. Make sure that your family know when you are studying and understand your study rules. Your study environment is very important. The ideal situation, if at all possible, is to have a separate study, which can be devoted to you. If this is not possible then you will need to pay a lot more attention to developing and managing your study schedule, because it will affect other people as well as yourself. The better your study environment, the more productive you will be.
Study tools & rules
Try and make sure that your study tools are sufficient and in good working order. You will need to have access to a computer, scanner and printer, with access to the internet. You will need a very comfortable chair, which supports your lower back, and you will need a good filing system. It can be very frustrating if you are spending valuable study time trying to fix study tools that are unreliable, or unsuitable for the task. Make sure that your study tools are up to date. You will also need to consider some study rules. Some of these rules will apply to you and will be intended to help you to be more disciplined about when and how you study. This distance-learning guide will help you and after you have read it you can put some thought into what your study rules should be. You will also need to negotiate some study rules for your family, friends or anyone who lives with you. They too will need to be disciplined in order to ensure that they can support you while you study. It is important to ensure that your family and friends are an integral part of your study team. Having their support and encouragement can prove to be a crucial contribution to your successful completion of the program. Involve them in as much as you can.
Successful distance-learning
Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes or workshops, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. But unlike traditional internal training courses, it is the student’s responsibility, with a distance-learning program, to ensure that they manage their own study contribution. This requires strong self-discipline and self-motivation skills and there must be a clear will to succeed. Those students who are used to managing themselves, are good at managing others and who enjoy working in isolation, are more likely to be good distance-learners. It is also important to be aware of the main reasons why you are studying and of the main objectives that you are hoping to achieve as a result. You will need to remind yourself of these objectives at times when you need to motivate yourself. Never lose sight of your long-term goals and your short-term objectives. There is nobody available here to pamper you, or to look after you, or to spoon-feed you with information, so you will need to find ways to encourage and appreciate yourself while you are studying. Make sure that you chart your study progress, so that you can be sure of your achievements and re-evaluate your goals and objectives regularly.
Self-assessment
Appleton Greene training programs are in all cases post-graduate programs. Consequently, you should already have obtained a business-related degree and be an experienced learner. You should therefore already be aware of your study strengths and weaknesses. For example, which time of the day are you at your most productive? Are you a lark or an owl? What study methods do you respond to the most? Are you a consistent learner? How do you discipline yourself? How do you ensure that you enjoy yourself while studying? It is important to understand yourself as a learner and so some self-assessment early on will be necessary if you are to apply yourself correctly. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself as a student. List your internal strengths and weaknesses as a student and your external opportunities and threats. This will help you later on when you are creating a study plan. You can then incorporate features within your study plan that can ensure that you are playing to your strengths, while compensating for your weaknesses. You can also ensure that you make the most of your opportunities, while avoiding the potential threats to your success.
Accepting responsibility as a student
Training programs invariably require a significant investment, both in terms of what they cost and in the time that you need to contribute to study and the responsibility for successful completion of training programs rests entirely with the student. This is never more apparent than when a student is learning via distance-learning. Accepting responsibility as a student is an important step towards ensuring that you can successfully complete your training program. It is easy to instantly blame other people or factors when things go wrong. But the fact of the matter is that if a failure is your failure, then you have the power to do something about it, it is entirely in your own hands. If it is always someone else’s failure, then you are powerless to do anything about it. All students study in entirely different ways, this is because we are all individuals and what is right for one student, is not necessarily right for another. In order to succeed, you will have to accept personal responsibility for finding a way to plan, implement and manage a personal study plan that works for you. If you do not succeed, you only have yourself to blame.
Planning
By far the most critical contribution to stress, is the feeling of not being in control. In the absence of planning we tend to be reactive and can stumble from pillar to post in the hope that things will turn out fine in the end. Invariably they don’t! In order to be in control, we need to have firm ideas about how and when we want to do things. We also need to consider as many possible eventualities as we can, so that we are prepared for them when they happen. Prescriptive Change, is far easier to manage and control, than Emergent Change. The same is true with distance-learning. It is much easier and much more enjoyable, if you feel that you are in control and that things are going to plan. Even when things do go wrong, you are prepared for them and can act accordingly without any unnecessary stress. It is important therefore that you do take time to plan your studies properly.
Management
Once you have developed a clear study plan, it is of equal importance to ensure that you manage the implementation of it. Most of us usually enjoy planning, but it is usually during implementation when things go wrong. Targets are not met and we do not understand why. Sometimes we do not even know if targets are being met. It is not enough for us to conclude that the study plan just failed. If it is failing, you will need to understand what you can do about it. Similarly if your study plan is succeeding, it is still important to understand why, so that you can improve upon your success. You therefore need to have guidelines for self-assessment so that you can be consistent with performance improvement throughout the program. If you manage things correctly, then your performance should constantly improve throughout the program.
Study objectives & tasks
The first place to start is developing your program objectives. These should feature your reasons for undertaking the training program in order of priority. Keep them succinct and to the point in order to avoid confusion. Do not just write the first things that come into your head because they are likely to be too similar to each other. Make a list of possible departmental headings, such as: Customer Service; E-business; Finance; Globalization; Human Resources; Technology; Legal; Management; Marketing and Production. Then brainstorm for ideas by listing as many things that you want to achieve under each heading and later re-arrange these things in order of priority. Finally, select the top item from each department heading and choose these as your program objectives. Try and restrict yourself to five because it will enable you to focus clearly. It is likely that the other things that you listed will be achieved if each of the top objectives are achieved. If this does not prove to be the case, then simply work through the process again.
Study forecast
As a guide, the Appleton Greene Team Accountability corporate training program should take 12-18 months to complete, depending upon your availability and current commitments. The reason why there is such a variance in time estimates is because every student is an individual, with differing productivity levels and different commitments. These differentiations are then exaggerated by the fact that this is a distance-learning program, which incorporates the practical integration of academic theory as an as a part of the training program. Consequently all of the project studies are real, which means that important decisions and compromises need to be made. You will want to get things right and will need to be patient with your expectations in order to ensure that they are. We would always recommend that you are prudent with your own task and time forecasts, but you still need to develop them and have a clear indication of what are realistic expectations in your case. With reference to your time planning: consider the time that you can realistically dedicate towards study with the program every week; calculate how long it should take you to complete the program, using the guidelines featured here; then break the program down into logical modules and allocate a suitable proportion of time to each of them, these will be your milestones; you can create a time plan by using a spreadsheet on your computer, or a personal organizer such as MS Outlook, you could also use a financial forecasting software; break your time forecasts down into manageable chunks of time, the more specific you can be, the more productive and accurate your time management will be; finally, use formulas where possible to do your time calculations for you, because this will help later on when your forecasts need to change in line with actual performance. With reference to your task planning: refer to your list of tasks that need to be undertaken in order to achieve your program objectives; with reference to your time plan, calculate when each task should be implemented; remember that you are not estimating when your objectives will be achieved, but when you will need to focus upon implementing the corresponding tasks; you also need to ensure that each task is implemented in conjunction with the associated training modules which are relevant; then break each single task down into a list of specific to do’s, say approximately ten to do’s for each task and enter these into your study plan; once again you could use MS Outlook to incorporate both your time and task planning and this could constitute your study plan; you could also use a project management software like MS Project. You should now have a clear and realistic forecast detailing when you can expect to be able to do something about undertaking the tasks to achieve your program objectives.
Performance management
It is one thing to develop your study forecast, it is quite another to monitor your progress. Ultimately it is less important whether you achieve your original study forecast and more important that you update it so that it constantly remains realistic in line with your performance. As you begin to work through the program, you will begin to have more of an idea about your own personal performance and productivity levels as a distance-learner. Once you have completed your first study module, you should re-evaluate your study forecast for both time and tasks, so that they reflect your actual performance level achieved. In order to achieve this you must first time yourself while training by using an alarm clock. Set the alarm for hourly intervals and make a note of how far you have come within that time. You can then make a note of your actual performance on your study plan and then compare your performance against your forecast. Then consider the reasons that have contributed towards your performance level, whether they are positive or negative and make a considered adjustment to your future forecasts as a result. Given time, you should start achieving your forecasts regularly.
With reference to time management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual time taken in your study plan; consider your successes with time-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; consider your failures with time-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to time planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your time expectations. You need to be consistent with your time management, otherwise you will never complete your studies. This will either be because you are not contributing enough time to your studies, or you will become less efficient with the time that you do allocate to your studies. Remember, if you are not in control of your studies, they can just become yet another cause of stress for you.
With reference to your task management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual tasks that you have undertaken in your study plan; consider your successes with task-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case; take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; consider your failures with task-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to task planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your task expectations. You need to be consistent with your task management, otherwise you will never know whether you are achieving your program objectives or not.
Keeping in touch
You will have access to qualified and experienced professors and tutors who are responsible for providing tutorial support for your particular training program. So don’t be shy about letting them know how you are getting on. We keep electronic records of all tutorial support emails so that professors and tutors can review previous correspondence before considering an individual response. It also means that there is a record of all communications between you and your professors and tutors and this helps to avoid any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation. If you have a problem relating to the program, share it with them via email. It is likely that they have come across the same problem before and are usually able to make helpful suggestions and steer you in the right direction. To learn more about when and how to use tutorial support, please refer to the Tutorial Support section of this student information guide. This will help you to ensure that you are making the most of tutorial support that is available to you and will ultimately contribute towards your success and enjoyment with your training program.
Work colleagues and family
You should certainly discuss your program study progress with your colleagues, friends and your family. Appleton Greene training programs are very practical. They require you to seek information from other people, to plan, develop and implement processes with other people and to achieve feedback from other people in relation to viability and productivity. You will therefore have plenty of opportunities to test your ideas and enlist the views of others. People tend to be sympathetic towards distance-learners, so don’t bottle it all up in yourself. Get out there and share it! It is also likely that your family and colleagues are going to benefit from your labors with the program, so they are likely to be much more interested in being involved than you might think. Be bold about delegating work to those who might benefit themselves. This is a great way to achieve understanding and commitment from people who you may later rely upon for process implementation. Share your experiences with your friends and family.
Making it relevant
The key to successful learning is to make it relevant to your own individual circumstances. At all times you should be trying to make bridges between the content of the program and your own situation. Whether you achieve this through quiet reflection or through interactive discussion with your colleagues, client partners or your family, remember that it is the most important and rewarding aspect of translating your studies into real self-improvement. You should be clear about how you want the program to benefit you. This involves setting clear study objectives in relation to the content of the course in terms of understanding, concepts, completing research or reviewing activities and relating the content of the modules to your own situation. Your objectives may understandably change as you work through the program, in which case you should enter the revised objectives on your study plan so that you have a permanent reminder of what you are trying to achieve, when and why.
Distance-learning check-list
Prepare your study environment, your study tools and rules.
Undertake detailed self-assessment in terms of your ability as a learner.
Create a format for your study plan.
Consider your study objectives and tasks.
Create a study forecast.
Assess your study performance.
Re-evaluate your study forecast.
Be consistent when managing your study plan.
Use your Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) for tutorial support.
Make sure you keep in touch with those around you.
Tutorial Support
Programs
Appleton Greene uses standard and bespoke corporate training programs as vessels to transfer business process improvement knowledge into the heart of our clients’ organizations. Each individual program focuses upon the implementation of a specific business process, which enables clients to easily quantify their return on investment. There are hundreds of established Appleton Greene corporate training products now available to clients within customer services, e-business, finance, globalization, human resources, information technology, legal, management, marketing and production. It does not matter whether a client’s employees are located within one office, or an unlimited number of international offices, we can still bring them together to learn and implement specific business processes collectively. Our approach to global localization enables us to provide clients with a truly international service with that all important personal touch. Appleton Greene corporate training programs can be provided virtually or locally and they are all unique in that they individually focus upon a specific business function. They are implemented over a sustainable period of time and professional support is consistently provided by qualified learning providers and specialist consultants.
Support available
You will have a designated Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and an Accredited Consultant and we encourage you to communicate with them as much as possible. In all cases tutorial support is provided online because we can then keep a record of all communications to ensure that tutorial support remains consistent. You would also be forwarding your work to the tutorial support unit for evaluation and assessment. You will receive individual feedback on all of the work that you undertake on a one-to-one basis, together with specific recommendations for anything that may need to be changed in order to achieve a pass with merit or a pass with distinction and you then have as many opportunities as you may need to re-submit project studies until they meet with the required standard. Consequently the only reason that you should really fail (CLP) is if you do not do the work. It makes no difference to us whether a student takes 12 months or 18 months to complete the program, what matters is that in all cases the same quality standard will have been achieved.
Support Process
Please forward all of your future emails to the designated (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit email address that has been provided and please do not duplicate or copy your emails to other AGC email accounts as this will just cause unnecessary administration. Please note that emails are always answered as quickly as possible but you will need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general tutorial support emails during busy periods, because emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. You will also need to allow a period of up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Please therefore kindly allow for this within your time planning. All communications are managed online via email because it enables tutorial service support managers to review other communications which have been received before responding and it ensures that there is a copy of all communications retained on file for future reference. All communications will be stored within your personal (CLP) study file here at Appleton Greene throughout your designated study period. If you need any assistance or clarification at any time, please do not hesitate to contact us by forwarding an email and remember that we are here to help. If you have any questions, please list and number your questions succinctly and you can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each and every query.
Time Management
It takes approximately 1 Year to complete the Team Accountability corporate training program, incorporating 12 x 6-hour monthly workshops. Each student will also need to contribute approximately 4 hours per week over 1 Year of their personal time. Students can study from home or work at their own pace and are responsible for managing their own study plan. There are no formal examinations and students are evaluated and assessed based upon their project study submissions, together with the quality of their internal analysis and supporting documents. They can contribute more time towards study when they have the time to do so and can contribute less time when they are busy. All students tend to be in full time employment while studying and the Team Accountability program is purposely designed to accommodate this, so there is plenty of flexibility in terms of time management. It makes no difference to us at Appleton Greene, whether individuals take 12-18 months to complete this program. What matters is that in all cases the same standard of quality will have been achieved with the standard and bespoke programs that have been developed.
Distance Learning Guide
The distance learning guide should be your first port of call when starting your training program. It will help you when you are planning how and when to study, how to create the right environment and how to establish the right frame of mind. If you can lay the foundations properly during the planning stage, then it will contribute to your enjoyment and productivity while training later. The guide helps to change your lifestyle in order to accommodate time for study and to cultivate good study habits. It helps you to chart your progress so that you can measure your performance and achieve your goals. It explains the tools that you will need for study and how to make them work. It also explains how to translate academic theory into practical reality. Spend some time now working through your distance learning guide and make sure that you have firm foundations in place so that you can make the most of your distance learning program. There is no requirement for you to attend training workshops or classes at Appleton Greene offices. The entire program is undertaken online, program course manuals and project studies are administered via the Appleton Greene web site and via email, so you are able to study at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office as long as you have a computer and access to the internet.
How To Study
The how to study guide provides students with a clear understanding of the Appleton Greene facilitation via distance learning training methods and enables students to obtain a clear overview of the training program content. It enables students to understand the step-by-step training methods used by Appleton Greene and how course manuals are integrated with project studies. It explains the research and development that is required and the need to provide evidence and references to support your statements. It also enables students to understand precisely what will be required of them in order to achieve a pass with merit and a pass with distinction for individual project studies and provides useful guidance on how to be innovative and creative when developing your Unique Program Proposition (UPP).
Tutorial Support
Tutorial support for the Appleton Greene Team Accountability corporate training program is provided online either through the Appleton Greene Client Support Portal (CSP), or via email. All tutorial support requests are facilitated by a designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). They are responsible for deciding which professor or tutor is the most appropriate option relating to the support required and then the tutorial support request is forwarded onto them. Once the professor or tutor has completed the tutorial support request and answered any questions that have been asked, this communication is then returned to the student via email by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). This enables all tutorial support, between students, professors and tutors, to be facilitated by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM) efficiently and securely through the email account. You will therefore need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general support queries and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because all tutorial support requests are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Consequently you need to put some thought into the management of your tutorial support procedure in order to ensure that your study plan is feasible and to obtain the maximum possible benefit from tutorial support during your period of study. Please retain copies of your tutorial support emails for future reference. Please ensure that ALL of your tutorial support emails are set out using the format as suggested within your guide to tutorial support. Your tutorial support emails need to be referenced clearly to the specific part of the course manual or project study which you are working on at any given time. You also need to list and number any questions that you would like to ask, up to a maximum of five questions within each tutorial support email. Remember the more specific you can be with your questions the more specific your answers will be too and this will help you to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or duplication. The guide to tutorial support is intended to help you to understand how and when to use support in order to ensure that you get the most out of your training program. Appleton Greene training programs are designed to enable you to do things for yourself. They provide you with a structure or a framework and we use tutorial support to facilitate students while they practically implement what they learn. In other words, we are enabling students to do things for themselves. The benefits of distance learning via facilitation are considerable and are much more sustainable in the long-term than traditional short-term knowledge sharing programs. Consequently you should learn how and when to use tutorial support so that you can maximize the benefits from your learning experience with Appleton Greene. This guide describes the purpose of each training function and how to use them and how to use tutorial support in relation to each aspect of the training program. It also provides useful tips and guidance with regard to best practice.
Tutorial Support Tips
Students are often unsure about how and when to use tutorial support with Appleton Greene. This Tip List will help you to understand more about how to achieve the most from using tutorial support. Refer to it regularly to ensure that you are continuing to use the service properly. Tutorial support is critical to the success of your training experience, but it is important to understand when and how to use it in order to maximize the benefit that you receive. It is no coincidence that those students who succeed are those that learn how to be positive, proactive and productive when using tutorial support.
Be positive and friendly with your tutorial support emails
Remember that if you forward an email to the tutorial support unit, you are dealing with real people. “Do unto others as you would expect others to do unto you”. If you are positive, complimentary and generally friendly in your emails, you will generate a similar response in return. This will be more enjoyable, productive and rewarding for you in the long-term.
Think about the impression that you want to create
Every time that you communicate, you create an impression, which can be either positive or negative, so put some thought into the impression that you want to create. Remember that copies of all tutorial support emails are stored electronically and tutors will always refer to prior correspondence before responding to any current emails. Over a period of time, a general opinion will be arrived at in relation to your character, attitude and ability. Try to manage your own frustrations, mood swings and temperament professionally, without involving the tutorial support team. Demonstrating frustration or a lack of patience is a weakness and will be interpreted as such. The good thing about communicating in writing, is that you will have the time to consider your content carefully, you can review it and proof-read it before sending your email to Appleton Greene and this should help you to communicate more professionally, consistently and to avoid any unnecessary knee-jerk reactions to individual situations as and when they may arise. Please also remember that the CLP Tutorial Support Unit will not just be responsible for evaluating and assessing the quality of your work, they will also be responsible for providing recommendations to other learning providers and to client contacts within the Appleton Greene global client network, so do be in control of your own emotions and try to create a good impression.
Remember that quality is preferred to quantity
Please remember that when you send an email to the tutorial support team, you are not using Twitter or Text Messaging. Try not to forward an email every time that you have a thought. This will not prove to be productive either for you or for the tutorial support team. Take time to prepare your communications properly, as if you were writing a professional letter to a business colleague and make a list of queries that you are likely to have and then incorporate them within one email, say once every month, so that the tutorial support team can understand more about context, application and your methodology for study. Get yourself into a consistent routine with your tutorial support requests and use the tutorial support template provided with ALL of your emails. The (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit will not spoon-feed you with information. They need to be able to evaluate and assess your tutorial support requests carefully and professionally.
Be specific about your questions in order to receive specific answers
Try not to write essays by thinking as you are writing tutorial support emails. The tutorial support unit can be unclear about what in fact you are asking, or what you are looking to achieve. Be specific about asking questions that you want answers to. Number your questions. You will then receive specific answers to each and every question. This is the main purpose of tutorial support via email.
Keep a record of your tutorial support emails
It is important that you keep a record of all tutorial support emails that are forwarded to you. You can then refer to them when necessary and it avoids any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.
Individual training workshops or telephone support
Please be advised that Appleton Greene does not provide separate or individual tutorial support meetings, workshops, or provide telephone support for individual students. Appleton Greene is an equal opportunities learning and service provider and we are therefore understandably bound to treat all students equally. We cannot therefore broker special financial or study arrangements with individual students regardless of the circumstances. All tutorial support is provided online and this enables Appleton Greene to keep a record of all communications between students, professors and tutors on file for future reference, in accordance with our quality management procedure and your terms and conditions of enrolment. All tutorial support is provided online via email because it enables us to have time to consider support content carefully, it ensures that you receive a considered and detailed response to your queries. You can number questions that you would like to ask, which relate to things that you do not understand or where clarification may be required. You can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each individual query. You will also then have a record of these communications and of all tutorial support, which has been provided to you. This makes tutorial support administration more productive by avoiding any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.
Tutorial Support Email Format
You should use this tutorial support format if you need to request clarification or assistance while studying with your training program. Please note that ALL of your tutorial support request emails should use the same format. You should therefore set up a standard email template, which you can then use as and when you need to. Emails that are forwarded to Appleton Greene, which do not use the following format, may be rejected and returned to you by the (CLP) Program Administration Manager. A detailed response will then be forwarded to you via email usually within 20 business days of receipt for general support queries and 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Your tutorial support request, together with the corresponding TSU reply, will then be saved and stored within your electronic TSU file at Appleton Greene for future reference.
Subject line of your email
Please insert: Appleton Greene (CLP) Tutorial Support Request: (Your Full Name) (Date), within the subject line of your email.
Main body of your email
Please insert:
1. Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) Tutorial Support Request
2. Your Full Name
3. Date of TS request
4. Preferred email address
5. Backup email address
6. Course manual page name or number (reference)
7. Project study page name or number (reference)
Subject of enquiry
Please insert a maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Briefly outline the subject matter of your inquiry, or what your questions relate to.
Question 1
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 3
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 4
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 5
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Please note that a maximum of 5 questions is permitted with each individual tutorial support request email.
Procedure
* List the questions that you want to ask first, then re-arrange them in order of priority. Make sure that you reference them, where necessary, to the course manuals or project studies.
* Make sure that you are specific about your questions and number them. Try to plan the content within your emails to make sure that it is relevant.
* Make sure that your tutorial support emails are set out correctly, using the Tutorial Support Email Format provided here.
* Save a copy of your email and incorporate the date sent after the subject title. Keep your tutorial support emails within the same file and in date order for easy reference.
* Allow up to 20 business days for a response to general tutorial support emails and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because detailed individual responses will be made in all cases and tutorial support emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received.
* Emails can and do get lost. So if you have not received a reply within the appropriate time, forward another copy or a reminder to the tutorial support unit to be sure that it has been received but do not forward reminders unless the appropriate time has elapsed.
* When you receive a reply, save it immediately featuring the date of receipt after the subject heading for easy reference. In most cases the tutorial support unit replies to your questions individually, so you will have a record of the questions that you asked as well as the answers offered. With project studies however, separate emails are usually forwarded by the tutorial support unit, so do keep a record of your own original emails as well.
* Remember to be positive and friendly in your emails. You are dealing with real people who will respond to the same things that you respond to.
* Try not to repeat questions that have already been asked in previous emails. If this happens the tutorial support unit will probably just refer you to the appropriate answers that have already been provided within previous emails.
* If you lose your tutorial support email records you can write to Appleton Greene to receive a copy of your tutorial support file, but a separate administration charge may be levied for this service.
How To Study
Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can help you to plan a task list for getting started so that you can be clear about your direction and your priorities in relation to your training program. It is also a good way to introduce yourself to the tutorial support team.
Planning your study environment
Your study conditions are of great importance and will have a direct effect on how much you enjoy your training program. Consider how much space you will have, whether it is comfortable and private and whether you are likely to be disturbed. The study tools and facilities at your disposal are also important to the success of your distance-learning experience. Your tutorial support unit can help with useful tips and guidance, regardless of your starting position. It is important to get this right before you start working on your training program.
Planning your program objectives
It is important that you have a clear list of study objectives, in order of priority, before you start working on your training program. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance here to ensure that your study objectives have been afforded due consideration and priority.
Planning how and when to study
Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. This approach is designed to let you study efficiently away from the traditional classroom environment. It is important however, that you plan how and when to study, so that you are making the most of your natural attributes, strengths and opportunities. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance and useful tips to ensure that you are playing to your strengths.
Planning your study tasks
You should have a clear understanding of the study tasks that you should be undertaking and the priority associated with each task. These tasks should also be integrated with your program objectives. The distance learning guide and the guide to tutorial support for students should help you here, but if you need any clarification or assistance, please contact your tutorial support unit.
Planning your time
You will need to allocate specific times during your calendar when you intend to study if you are to have a realistic chance of completing your program on time. You are responsible for planning and managing your own study time, so it is important that you are successful with this. Your tutorial support unit can help you with this if your time plan is not working.
Keeping in touch
Consistency is the key here. If you communicate too frequently in short bursts, or too infrequently with no pattern, then your management ability with your studies will be questioned, both by you and by your tutorial support unit. It is obvious when a student is in control and when one is not and this will depend how able you are at sticking with your study plan. Inconsistency invariably leads to in-completion.
Charting your progress
Your tutorial support team can help you to chart your own study progress. Refer to your distance learning guide for further details.
Making it work
To succeed, all that you will need to do is apply yourself to undertaking your training program and interpreting it correctly. Success or failure lies in your hands and your hands alone, so be sure that you have a strategy for making it work. Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can guide you through the process of program planning, development and implementation.
Reading methods
Interpretation is often unique to the individual but it can be improved and even quantified by implementing consistent interpretation methods. Interpretation can be affected by outside interference such as family members, TV, or the Internet, or simply by other thoughts which are demanding priority in our minds. One thing that can improve our productivity is using recognized reading methods. This helps us to focus and to be more structured when reading information for reasons of importance, rather than relaxation.
Speed reading
When reading through course manuals for the first time, subconsciously set your reading speed to be just fast enough that you cannot dwell on individual words or tables. With practice, you should be able to read an A4 sheet of paper in one minute. You will not achieve much in the way of a detailed understanding, but your brain will retain a useful overview. This overview will be important later on and will enable you to keep individual issues in perspective with a more generic picture because speed reading appeals to the memory part of the brain. Do not worry about what you do or do not remember at this stage.
Content reading
Once you have speed read everything, you can then start work in earnest. You now need to read a particular section of your course manual thoroughly, by making detailed notes while you read. This process is called Content Reading and it will help to consolidate your understanding and interpretation of the information that has been provided.
Making structured notes on the course manuals
When you are content reading, you should be making detailed notes, which are both structured and informative. Make these notes in a MS Word document on your computer, because you can then amend and update these as and when you deem it to be necessary. List your notes under three headings: 1. Interpretation – 2. Questions – 3. Tasks. The purpose of the 1st section is to clarify your interpretation by writing it down. The purpose of the 2nd section is to list any questions that the issue raises for you. The purpose of the 3rd section is to list any tasks that you should undertake as a result. Anyone who has graduated with a business-related degree should already be familiar with this process.
Organizing structured notes separately
You should then transfer your notes to a separate study notebook, preferably one that enables easy referencing, such as a MS Word Document, a MS Excel Spreadsheet, a MS Access Database, or a personal organizer on your cell phone. Transferring your notes allows you to have the opportunity of cross-checking and verifying them, which assists considerably with understanding and interpretation. You will also find that the better you are at doing this, the more chance you will have of ensuring that you achieve your study objectives.
Question your understanding
Do challenge your understanding. Explain things to yourself in your own words by writing things down.
Clarifying your understanding
If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your understanding.
Question your interpretation
Do challenge your interpretation. Qualify your interpretation by writing it down.
Clarifying your interpretation
If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your interpretation.
Qualification Requirements
The student will need to successfully complete the project study and all of the exercises relating to the Team Accountability corporate training program, achieving a pass with merit or distinction in each case, in order to qualify as an Accredited Team Accountability Specialist (APTS). All monthly workshops need to be tried and tested within your company. These project studies can be completed in your own time and at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office. There are no formal examinations, assessment is based upon the successful completion of the project studies. They are called project studies because, unlike case studies, these projects are not theoretical, they incorporate real program processes that need to be properly researched and developed. The project studies assist us in measuring your understanding and interpretation of the training program and enable us to assess qualification merits. All of the project studies are based entirely upon the content within the training program and they enable you to integrate what you have learnt into your corporate training practice.
Team Accountability – Grading Contribution
Project Study – Grading Contribution
Customer Service – 10%
E-business – 05%
Finance – 10%
Globalization – 10%
Human Resources – 10%
Information Technology – 10%
Legal – 05%
Management – 10%
Marketing – 10%
Production – 10%
Education – 05%
Logistics – 05%
TOTAL GRADING – 100%
Qualification grades
A mark of 90% = Pass with Distinction.
A mark of 75% = Pass with Merit.
A mark of less than 75% = Fail.
If you fail to achieve a mark of 75% with a project study, you will receive detailed feedback from the Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and/or Accredited Consultant, together with a list of tasks which you will need to complete, in order to ensure that your project study meets with the minimum quality standard that is required by Appleton Greene. You can then re-submit your project study for further evaluation and assessment. Indeed you can re-submit as many drafts of your project studies as you need to, until such a time as they eventually meet with the required standard by Appleton Greene, so you need not worry about this, it is all part of the learning process.
When marking project studies, Appleton Greene is looking for sufficient evidence of the following:
Pass with merit
A satisfactory level of program understanding
A satisfactory level of program interpretation
A satisfactory level of project study content presentation
A satisfactory level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
A satisfactory level of the practical integration of academic theory
Pass with distinction
An exceptional level of program understanding
An exceptional level of program interpretation
An exceptional level of project study content presentation
An exceptional level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
An exceptional level of the practical integration of academic theory
Preliminary Analysis
Online Article
By Natalie R. Kosine, , Michael F. Steger & Sandra Duncan,
Sage Journals,
December, 2008.
“Purpose-Centered Career Development: A Strengths-Based Approach to Finding Meaning and Purpose in Careers
Abstract
Although having a sense of purpose and meaning in life has been found to play an important role in overall life and career satisfaction, this is not an area that is typically cultivated during career exploration activities. This article provides a model for aiding students in developing a sense of purpose in their career search through strengths-based practices. The authors present five key elements that reinforce the development of purpose, including identity, self-efficacy, metacognition, culture, and service. Each of these areas is used as a focal point to help identify ways for students to recognize and rely on their strengths in the development of meaningful careers. Each element is defined, relevant research is provided, and strategies for promoting each element are discussed. Additionally, the relationship between purpose-centered career development and the career standards of the ASCA National Model® is presented.
In some ways, “work” was an easier problem to solve in past centuries than in the present. For much of our history as a species, the tasks that once constituted the constant, daily activities of survival were our work. Assuring safety, food, water, and shelter for the members of our groups and societies took dedicated and tangible effort. As people specialized into niches, their work often became both further removed from survival and more closely linked to their identities. However, finding one’s career identity amid this complexity is difficult. Nevertheless, an exciting perspective is emerging that holds substantial promise for helping students link their academic and personal strengths in identifying satisfying career options. This perspective focuses on the role of purpose. Purpose refers to people’s identification of highly valued, overarching goals, the attainment of which is anticipated to move people closer to achieving their true potential and bring them deep fulfilment (Steger, in press). Extensive research has demonstrated that people with a strong sense of meaning and purpose in life experience greater happiness and fewer psychological problems (Ryff & Singer, 1998; Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler, 2006). People who feel their lives are full of meaning report less workaholism and better work adjustment (Bonebright, Clay, & Ankenmann, 2000), and college students high in meaning in life express greater certainty regarding their future occupation (Tryon & Rad-zin, 1972).”
If you would like to know more, Click Here
Online Article
By Siti Nur Syahirah Mohd Adnan & Raju Valliappan,
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management,
March 20, 2019.
“Communicating shared vision and leadership styles towards enhancing performance
Abstract
Purpose
Communicating vision of science and technology to inform and educate the nation is absolutely a way to expand science and technology literacy and promote industry growth. The scientific and progressive society has become one of the important agendas in realizing Malaysia to become a developed country. In line with the country’s agenda, this study focuses to discuss the concept of scientific and progressive society as stated in 2020 Vision and also to identify the gaps and challenges of the science and technology policies. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the relations between shared vision attributes and the effect of leadership styles of leaders within science and technology industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The study discuses about conceptual framework to analyze different leadership styles through the lenses of qualitative textual analysis and theoretically linked to shared-vision theory, leadership theories and performance theories.
Findings
The study identify gaps and challenges of the science and technology policies in Malaysia and proposed the conceptual framework with questioning the notion of shared vision as a principle theories, leadership styles and performance, significant to further assess the assumptions.
Originality/value
The study and its proposed framework is based on the literature reviews that may enhance knowledge and may help in identifying gaps in the policies of the science and technology industry in Malaysia.”
If you would like to know more, Click Here
Online Article
By Steven R. Bray & Lawrence R. Brawley,
Sage journals,
April 2002.
“Role Efficacy, Role Clarity, and Role Performance Effectiveness
Abstract
The main purpose of the study was to examine role clarity as a moderator of the role efficacy-role performance relationship. A secondary issue was to investigate the influence of role clarity on role efficacy and role performance. On the basis of Bandura’s theorizing, it was hypothesized that role efficacy should be a good predictor of role performance effectiveness only under conditions of high role clarity. Individuals reporting higher role clarity were expected to be more efficacious and perform better than those with lower role clarity. Consistent with hypotheses, role clarity moderated the prospective relationship between role efficacy and role performance effectiveness in the predicted direction for offensive role functions. Individuals who reported higher role clarity also reported higher role efficacy and performed better than those with lower role clarity. Results are discussed in the context of self-efficacy theory. Further prospective examinations, as well as experimental designs, are recommended.
The positive relationships between self-efficacy and effort persistence, and performance have been consistently documented across a wide variety of behavioral contexts including sport performance (Bandura, 1986, 1997; Feltz, 1988; Feltz & Chase, 1998;Schunk,1995). Although the study of self-efficacy and the relationship between self-efficacy and behaviors such as performance has been extensive (cf.Bandura,1997),it has been largely restricted to individuals’ beliefs regarding tasks that are performed independently. Thus, this research provides only a limited representation of the scope of behaviors in which people are often engaged.
For example, a great deal of human interaction takes place in the context of interdependent groups such as work groups(e.g., managerial teams) and sport teams (e.g., basketball, hockey, soccer) in which individuals seldom act independently but more frequently function interdependently with one or several teammates as dictated by specific and often assigned roles. It is the aspect of interdependence among individuals within a group that clearly distinguishes members’ role-related behaviors from those that can be carried out on one’s own. Thus, from a motivational and performance perspective, within an interdependent group, it can be assumed that members develop efficacy perceptions with regards to at least three types of behaviors: those carried out alone(i.e., independently), those carried out by the collective, and those carried out with one or more teammates in the performance of group-related roles.”
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Online Article
By Paul D. Bliese & Carl Andrew Castro,
An International Journal of Work, Health & Organisations,
2000.
“Role clarity, work overload and organizational support: Multilevel evidence of the importance of support
The present study extended the demands-control-support model used in occupational stress research in two ways. First, it hypothesized that role clarity (i.e. role ambiguity), like control, would moderate the relationship between demands and psychological strain. Second, the study assessed support (from leaders) as a macro characteristic of the work-group environment. Data were drawn from a large study of US army soldiers, the study sample consisting of 1786 lower enlisted male soldiers. The inclusion of support as a work-group characteristic lead to a multilevel test of the model. A three-way multilevel interaction among work demands, role clarity and support was observed. As predicted, the relationship between demands and psychological strain was moderated by role clarity; however, this moderating relationship was found only when work-group support was high.
Introduction
Karasek’s (1979) demand-control model (also known as the decision latitude model) has been highly in‚uential in occupational stress research, and has provided the theoretical framework for numerous studies. The model is based upon a two-by-two matrix of Demand and Control. Within this matrix, high levels of negative strain are expected to occur when job control is low and work demands are high. In cases where demand is low and}or where control is high, the model predicts either low levels of negative strain or varying degrees of motivation. Thus, it is the interactive combination of high work demands and low job control that leads to detriments in well-being.
While the demands-control model has been highly in‚uential, it has also been criticized for being too simplistic. That is, it potentially fails to include other factors that are presumably related to strain (Baker, 1985; Schaubroeck, and Merritt, 1997). One factor that is not considered in the demands-control model but which has repeatedly been shown to be related to strain is social support (Cassel, 1976; Cobb, 1976; Cohen, and Wills, 1985; George, Reed, Ballard, Colin, and Feilding, 1993; LaRocco, House, and French, 1980; Winnubst, and Schabracq, 1996). Thus, it is not surprising that the demands-control model has been modied to include social support. This modied model is typically referred to as the demands-control-support model (Johnson, 1989; Johnson, and Hall, 1988; Johnson, Hall, Stewart, Fredlund, and Thoerell, 1991).
The demands-control-support model is essentially a three-way interactive model. It proposes that the two-way interaction hypothesized by the demands-control model is further bounded by social support. Specically, the model proposes that the moderating eŠects of control on the demand-strain relationship will be found only when support is high. Tests of the demand-control-support model have found evidence to suggest that the inclusion of support is an important extension of the demand-control model (Johnson, and Hall, 1988; Winnubst, and Schabracq, 1996). Johnson, and Hall (1988) found, for example, that the predicted interactive relationship between work control and job demands was evident only when social support from co-workers was present.
The current study extends the demand-control literature in two ways. First, we examine role clarity in lieu of control. Role clarity (i.e. role ambiguity) has been explored in literally hundreds of occupational stress studies (see meta-analyses by Abramis (1994) and by Jackson, and Schuler (1985)). We propose that the relationship between demands and strain will vary as a function of role clarity. That is, in cases where demands are high and role clarity is high negative strain should be minimal—employees may have considerable work to do, but they know what to do, and so negative strain is low. In contrast, in cases where demands are high and role clarity is low, one would expect high strain because not only do employees have a high work load, but also they are unclear about what they should be doing. One can think of the expected relationship between role clarity and demands as a situation where role clarity ameliorates the demand-strain relationship.”
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Online Article
By Clive Wilson,
Emerald Insight,
January 3, 2017.
“Purposeful leadership – evolving from “me” to “we” in pursuit of our most important “why”
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the nature of “purpose” emphasizing how it works scientifically and why leaders should invest in bringing it to life as the primary means of inspiring all stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
The power of purpose makes sense psychologically, organizationally, biologically, energetically and mathematically. By tracking the views of thought leaders in these fields, a compelling case for attention is derived.
Findings
Corporate purpose is not as simple or as static as the author may at first think. Understanding the true nature of purpose empowers leaders to provide a service relevant to all stakeholders.
Originality/value
The paper draws on established thought leadership and assembles this at high level in a way that makes the total case for purpose compelling.
Purpose seems to be the topic of the moment, whether we are talking about personal purpose or purposeful organizations (Wilson, 2015). Unsurprisingly, several CEOs have recently spoken out passionately about purpose. Tesco Bank’s CEO Benny Higgins believes that all business functions should “try and understand what the purpose of the organization is; they should understand the vision and the narrative that they’re trying to create and achieve”. And Paul Polman, CEO of consumer goods multinational Unilever told The Guardian newspaper “I know we all have our jobs, but that has to come from a deeper sense of purpose. You have to be driven by something. Leadership is not just about giving energy but it’s unleashing other people’s energy, which comes from buying into that sense of purpose”.
What I would like to emphasize in this brief article is that leveraging the power of purpose makes sense psychologically, organizationally, biologically, energetically and mathematically. Even a high-level understanding of each of these concepts should convince us that purpose, especially shared purpose, is worth taking very seriously.
Psychologically
In Immunity to Change, Kegan et al. (2009) describes psychological development in human beings as a progression up a series of levels. The penultimate stage (Level 4) is described as the Self-authoring mind and is where the individual has a personal sense of direction (or purpose). With time and experience, they may progress to Level 5 which is described as the Self-transforming mind. At this stage, they see themselves as part of a bigger system, one where the purpose is bigger than just their own perspective. As a consequence, they will listen, share and act collaboratively.
Organizationally
In Shared Purpose the Golden Thread, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development studied the power of purpose in organizations and concluded that a shared sense of purpose is the true identity of the organization and should be the “golden thread” that connects all aspects of strategy. Going even further, highly evolved “teal” organizations are described as having a life and a sense of direction of their own (Laloux, 2014). Instead of trying to predict and control the future, members of the organization are invited to listen in and understand what the organization wants to become, what purpose it wants to serve. This hint that the organization is a living organism and that serving a purpose is what its life is all about is consistent with propositions in other scientific fields.”
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Online Article
ByBecker, Kunze and Vancea,
Journal of Cleaner Production,
March 20, 2017.
”Community energy and social entrepreneurship: Addressing purpose, organisation and embeddedness of renewable energy projects
Abstract
In many European countries, renewable energy has evolved through decentralised and small-scale forms of organisation. These different initiatives are often denominated as community energy in both research and practice. By examining community energy initiatives through a social entrepreneurship lens, we develop an integrated approach for the analysis of small-scale and bottom up energy initiatives. Our approach relies on three specific analytical dimensions: the purpose of the initiative, its form of organisation and ownership, and its embeddedness into local community or wider social movements. We apply this analytical framework to four case studies selected from a larger empirical study on newly emerged forms of organisation in the field of renewable energy across the European Union. Drawing on our findings, we characterise social enterprises in the energy sector as collectively owned organisations that combine renewable energy production with more overarching goals of environmental and social transformation, and a specific quest for civic participation. These initiatives show strong relationships with different social movements and even a potential to transcend the local scale. We conclude that given similarities in the two areas of research provide fertile ground for mutual advancement, both conceptually and empirically.
1. Introduction
As the Paris accords made clear, a central objective for rapidly curbing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting climate change is to bring about a transformation of the energy sector. Accordingly, there is a debate on how to break up the lock-in that keeps the sector bound with the fossil fuel-based mode of production (Bruckner et al., 2014, Unruh, 2000). Some scholars argue that the technological maturation of renewable sources will provide an apt and ready technological alternative to traditional fossil energy technologies (Krey and Clarke, 2011). Others highlight the intricacies of corporate law as a major restriction for change (Dangerman and Schellnhuber, 2013), or emphasise a transformation perspective based on new business models (Boons and Lüdeke-Freund, 2013, Burger and Weinmann, 2012, Wainstein and Bumpus, 2016). Studies of socio-technical transitions and niche innovations (Geels and Schot, 2007, Smith and Raven, 2012) here stress the interdependence of various factors such as technologies, policies, and economic models, as well as rules and practices. There is a strong emphasis not only on technological innovation, but also recently on the “enactment” of energy transitions by new actors challenging market structures through different new and innovative forms of organisation (Fuchs and Hinderer, 2016, Geels et al., 2016).
This article seeks to deepen the understanding of these new forms of organisation by putting forward a novel analytical perspective on community energy initiatives as forms of social entrepreneurship. In different European countries, newly set-up public utilities, cooperatives and similar forms of collective organisations promote the small-scale implementation of renewable energy technologies and other socio-ecological goals (for a discussion of distributed vs. sustainable energy see Peuka and Sjöholm, 2015). These initiatives conceive themselves as means to democratise the energy sector at the local level and beyond (Morris and Jungjohann, 2016, Scheer, 2012). A strong strand of research has indeed developed around “community energy projects” (Seyfang et al., 2013). Although these projects often emerge in nascent and small-scale niches, they nevertheless represent significant examples of social and economic innovation (Smith et al., 2014).”
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Course Manuals 1-12
Course Manual 1: Purpose Driven
What Characterizes a Purpose-Driven Organization?
Purpose is becoming more and more commonplace these days. It’s all over social media, making news at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and on your news feed. What constitutes a purpose-driven company is a crucial question being asked by executives at businesses, multinational brands, charitable organizations, and everything in between. What exactly is a business with a purpose? What does purpose actually look like in action?
A concise, universal statement of the mission and what it means for a firm to be purpose-driven is a good place to start. Beyond just making money, a company’s purpose is its idealistic reason for existing. It is the reason why people care about a company. According to Marc Benioff, co-CEO of Salesforce, “companies can do more than just make money; they can serve others.” “The business of business is improving the state of the world.”
A firm with a mission stands for something greater than its goods and services and acts accordingly. As the economy changes quickly, purpose can serve as both an organizational strategy and a road map for staying competitive. 79% of company leaders, according to PwC, feel that success depends on having a purpose. Despite this, fewer than half of employees are aware of the values and distinctive characteristics of their company.
So how do corporations successfully seek purpose? Establishing a long-term purpose that is true now and directs the business into the future is the first step in the process.
1. Purpose-Driven Businesses Include Their Mission in Their Business Strategies
In order to maximize positive impact, purpose can help determine organizational strategy and direct decision-making. At a time when businesses are being forced to make difficult decisions and corporate social responsibility is a major concern, this is becoming more and more significant.
Case Study
Consider CVS Health. What was formerly known as CVS Pharmacy became the first chain of American drugstores to quit selling tobacco products in 2014.
As a result of technology, medical research, and preventive and wellness programs, public perceptions of health are evolving quickly. When CVS considered its mission statement, “helping people on their path to better health,” it realized that tobacco didn’t fit. In addition to getting tobacco out of its stores, CVS has started a number of programs to assist smokers in giving up. As a result of the change, 95 million fewer packs of cigarettes were sold while the sale of nicotine patches increased by 4%.
In the first year of its new policy, CVS lost $2 billion in yearly cigarette sales, while their pharmacy sales increased. The removal of tobacco products from its shelves was a crucial step in CVS Health’s successful rebranding from CVS Pharmacy.
With the help of pharmacy benefits management growth—a business move that might not have been achievable without its newfound focus on purpose—these adjustments led to a 10% rise in revenue.
Additionally, fulfilling its mission helped CVS achieve a $69 billion deal with Aetna and substantial stock gains. CVS isn’t ideal, it’s true. The business continues to market items that may contain dubious chemicals, sweet foods, and alcohol. Although purpose is a journey. As a “north star,” CVS uses its purpose and a strong sense of its own CSR to direct its business strategy, which is brought to life through a cross-functional approach.
For instance, CVS put together a committee from finance, merchandising, marketing, corporate social responsibility, retail store operations, and inventory when it came time to decide how to remove cigarettes from stores. All company departments that would be immediately impacted were represented at the table, allowing purpose and strategy to be communicated to the staff members in the retail establishments.
“We need all our colleagues to connect with our purpose,” Boone explained on the Purpose 360 podcast. “Employees in our stores, in our mail rooms, and in finance — they should all be able to see how their work is helping people on their path to better health.”
2. Brands With Purpose Connect Daily Work to a Common Goal
In all areas of the business, Timberland also aims to connect organizational purpose with employee engagement. As one of America’s leading outdoor apparel companies, the business promotes employee earthkeeping, a concept that encapsulates Timberland’s three guiding principles: making ethical products, safeguarding the outdoors, and giving back to communities all over the world.
“Being an earthkeeper is a whole philosophy and approach to how we do business,” said Atlanta McllWraith, Senior Manager in Corporate Social Responsibility. “Employees don’t have to check their values at the door when they come to work. Their values and beliefs are a part of the work we do.”
Case Study: Timberland
The people who create, manufacture, and promote Timberland products are the first to practice earthkeeping. By launching its first truly sustainable product line, the earthkeeper’s boot, in 2007, the firm increased efforts to decrease waste and use fewer chemicals, establishing sustainable standards that have now been applied to the whole Timberland footwear range. Today, every of their footwear contains at least one environmentally friendly component, such rubber or recycled polyester. More than 345 million plastic bottles have been converted into shoelaces and other footwear components, and all leather is supplied from tanneries that are gold- or silver-rated.
Timberland links its mission to larger challenges that affect the people who create its products rather than just to the day-to-day jobs they perform. The corporation joined forces with the Planet Water Foundation to put purified water towers in numerous worker neighborhoods after learning that manufacturing workers lacked access to clean drinking water. These initiatives not only improved output and reduced absenteeism, but they also boosted the community’s overall vitality.
3. Companies with a purpose-driven mindset advance measurable objectives
Outstanding businesses establish quantifiable objectives to carry out their business strategy and mission statement. For instance, Alaska Airlines’ core values include responsibility for the people and communities it serves. The airline establishes quantifiable goals centered on three main pillars: make flying meaningful, invest in stronger communities, and fly greener.
About 2% of all carbon dioxide emissions caused by humans are produced by the worldwide aviation industry. The company is working to reduce air pollution from commercial airplanes in order to fly more sustainably. One of the first airlines to equip a segment of its aircraft with split scimitar winglets was this one in 2013. This increased each plane’s fuel efficiency by nearly 34,000 gallons yearly, saving $20 million in fuel expenses overall.
Case Study: Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines, a leader in biojet fuels, collaborated with Neste to build the framework for the industry-wide adoption of renewable fuel options, including forest residuals, a cleaner substitute for conventional jet fuel generated from the stumps and branches left over after a logging operation.
Since 2004, Alaska has decreased its emissions per passenger mile by more than 35%. Additionally, the corporation has set a lofty aim to reduce net aviation CO2 emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by the year 2050, joining other airlines in this endeavor.
The airline furthered its objective to minimize inflight trash by 70% by 2020 by ceasing to serve non-recyclable plastic straws and citrus picks. An estimated 1,963 tons of cans, cups, paper, and other materials were recycled by flight attendants in 2018.
According to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Alaska Airlines is the most environmentally friendly airline in North America. The business has innovatively pushed the limits of how airlines protect the ecosystems in which they operate, for example, by making large investments in environmentally friendly aircraft fuel.
“We care about running a great airline and making a positive impact on the places and people we serve,” said Director of Sustainability, Kirk Myers. “When we are at our best, we do so in ways that strengthen our business and accelerate our growth.” And, the company has the metrics to prove it.
4. Purpose-Driven Companies Innovate
A competitive advantage can be generated by an organization’s mission. The mission statement of IBM is to “make a connected world smarter.” Through initiatives like Smarter Planet, which in its first year attracted the attention of a quarter of the company’s research, it harnesses that purpose to propel lucrative innovation.
Case Study: IBM
Through its Smarter Cities challenge, which asks governments to submit difficult environmental, social, or infrastructural problems, IBM links purpose-driven innovation to the market. The business uses its knowledge and technology to develop solutions. More than 100 cities have already received it. Bolzano generated a 30% savings in services for its older population; Stockholm witnessed a 22% reduction in traffic congestion and a $92M yearly income increase; Malta lowered water consumption by 15% and energy use by 25%.
This isn’t apathy in the service of others. Revenue related to solutions for Smarter Cities climbed by 50%, and the Smarter Planet program as a whole has generated more than $7 billion in revenue, giving the corporation a significant competitive edge. Two to three times as many people are likely to think about teaming with IBM if they are aware of the initiative.
According to research, 68% of executives think purpose gives businesses the flexibility to adapt during disruptive times, and 59% think purpose may bring about revolutionary change. This is especially true of organizational purpose in the broadest sense.
However, even modifying established philanthropic initiatives to place a greater emphasis on social good can produce significant outcomes. For instance, the social robot My Special Aflac Duck helps children deal with cancer. It is a prime illustration of social innovation. The duck employs interactive technology and play to support kids dealing with cancer. It has four patents pending, lifelike movement and emotions, and a Bluetooth-enabled software.
My Special Aflac Duck, the product of 18 months of child-centered research with partner Sproutel, has won more than 20 accolades. The promotion increased U.S. knowledge of My Special Aflac Duck by 15% in less than a year. One hundred percent of those who are aware of the purpose program are more likely to purchase an Aflac product.
My Special Aflac Duck won two Silver Lions at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity in June 2019: one for use of technology that “pushes the boundaries of digital innovation” and another for corporate image, communications, and reputation management.
5. They Work with Their Partners to Make a Difference
A company’s mission must go much beyond typical philanthropy, as must a purpose-driven business. It will eventually affect suppliers, clients, distributors, and the entirety of a company’s operations because it is a business strategy. Companies that clearly state their fundamental business mission frequently work to improve how they interact with society. Surprisingly, that can be excellent news for the nonprofit partners of a business.
Case Study: United Way Worldwide
Consider United Way Worldwide, the largest privately funded not-for-profit organization worldwide. The United Way, which has approximately 1,800 local offices across more than 40 nations, specializes in bringing people together to recognize and address regional problems. United Way also aspires to be a strategic partner for the enterprises and companies who fund its initiatives.
“The first question we ask is: what do our customers want?” said William Browning, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer for United Way. “Our customers are the communities we serve, our corporate partners, and our individual donors. It’s essential to listen and know your customers in order to provide value.”
Philanthropy Cloud was developed in collaboration with United Way and Salesforce.org to better serve corporate donors. Since it enables people to give and to identify, organize, and track volunteer opportunities that suit their interests, the online worldwide platform links employees with one another and the causes they care about most. Corporate partners can interact with their staff, work with other mission-driven organizations, and have a better understanding of how their philanthropy is affecting regional communities. United Way is putting its mission to advance the common good by mobilizing the caring power of communities into action by linking businesses and employees with causes throughout the world.
Companies with a Purpose Take a Position
Companies with a purpose can be found in many types of industries and come in various sizes. The only thing they have in common is a firm grasp of their values and a readiness to stand up for them in ways that add long-term value to their organizations and to everyone they serve. An company should lead with purpose, but the challenge now is how to do it.
Exercise 2.1: Minefield
Course Manual 2: Finding Purpose
You most likely already have a goal in mind.
Before you had your great insight, you were aware of a situation that required fixing. Your goal is to find this answer or a concept for how the issue can be resolved.
It is simple to lose sight of that goal amid the craziness of launching a business, assembling your first team, and locating a workspace. You can feel overburdened if this is your first venture into working for yourself rather than an employer. When you begin speaking with venture investors to secure investment, things get more crazier.
They demand a number. Even considering a purpose may not seem crucial.
This inquiry is not intended to help you discover a purpose you do not already have, though. It involves describing the motivation behind why you founded the business in the first place. Here are the key actions for formulating a precise and motivating objective.
1. Clearly state the issue
You might think it’s simple to fix the issue your company is seeking to address. It’s possible that nobody nearby observed it. You will struggle to get the attention of potential investors and clients unless they can clearly understand that there is a problem.
for instance, international payments. Before a few years ago, setting up a payment at the bank required a trip during business hours. International payments are a pricey luxury because this payment came at a great expense. Customers hardly ever even think about them.
Those who travel frequently were aware of the problem, but companies like Wise (formerly TransferWise) needed to demonstrate their importance to investors and clients. They not only succeeded, but their services have revolutionized the lives of people who frequently must move money between different currencies and regions.
Case Study
Tony Meola, who recently left as the head of Bank of America’s U.S. consumer operations, is a manager who is aware of the continuing nature of purpose work. He claims that one element that makes it insurmountably challenging is that it entails persuading institutions to change course, and established cultures have a tendency to obstruct progress. Managers end up fighting the change as a result of becoming extensions of the culture. Organizational complexity and conflicting expectations are further obstacles.
Meola overcome them by making it clear what the division’s goal was: to treat operational excellence as a destination and to not let any other demands divert from it. In staff training and development, he placed a strong emphasis on operational skills and leadership. He brought this focus to every discussion, every choice, and every issue his team encountered, always asking, “Will this make us better operators? He continues, “When you maintain it that way, when you don’t waver, an amazing thing happens. The goal becomes ingrained in everyone’s conscience. The organization starts to operate at a higher level as the culture changes. Processes become more manageable, straightforward, and consistent. People begin seeking long-term fixes rather than temporary ones that increase inefficiencies through process variance.
Adopting this mindset required declining anything that didn’t support it. For instance, a suggestion had been made to allocate more money to the call center of the division in order to improve and speed up the resolution of client issues. However, the project was abandoned since no improvement in operators would result from the investment when management and staff utilized their stated purposes as a filter. They came to the conclusion that what the organization really needed to do was look into how the operations themselves might be improved in order to get rid of the shortcomings that first led to call center enquiries.
Employees understand a leader’s dedication when they hear the goal communicated honestly and consistently, as Meola did. They then start to believe in the purpose themselves and reorient. The alteration is announced at the top, and it then manifests at the bottom.
2. Remain private
You are the company’s boss for a reason. What values do you personally uphold? Most leaders identify a problem they wish to fix and then go in search of the answer for their own benefit.
Sharing your personal insight into the issue is a terrific method to emphasize the significance and applicability of your solution. You might think this is obvious, yet frequently the most motivational and memorable aspect of a goal is a personal narrative.
Accept the details, such as how you felt during this upsetting or motivating encounter. Put your eyes closed and recall that time. Put it in writing. Express your emotions to others.
3. Put your purpose to the test
When your mission is almost complete, it is worthwhile to gauge key stakeholders’ reactions to it. As a leader, don’t wait until you think your mission or vision is ideal before sharing it.
Instead, converse with a variety of stakeholders and observe their responses. Who would be the greatest candidates to evaluate your goals? You should ideally seek advice from those who are knowledgeable about the industry, prospective clients, and even potential investors. Who would be the ideal candidates to spread your message? writers of stories and journalists. Ask a writer you know whether your goal would make a good narrative, especially if you know one.
It is simple to become too attached to an idea when turning it into a business. Although being so close is a benefit, it can also blind you to different viewpoints. You can find out if your mission inspires, perplexes, or uninspires others by putting it to the test.
The sooner you do this, the sooner you can realistically decide whether you need to rework the notion entirely or just clarify it more.
4. Consider the long term.
Will your goal endure over time and remain pertinent as your company expands? Will it develop together with your team?
Strong purpose extends beyond the individual. Employees, investors, journalists, and other stakeholders can all support it. Asking yourself if your vision is sufficiently expansive for others to buy into it and continue to be inspired by it might help you determine whether your purpose can withstand the test of time.
While testing your purpose early on is a wonderful approach to assess the current potential of the concept, consider the future. Do you still recall the standard interview question about your future goals for the next five or 10 years? Utilize it in your circumstance. Imagine your company turning ten years old. Is your mission still relevant?
What a distinct purpose can achieve for your company
We’ve already covered how established businesses might function better by having a purpose that is well defined.
Being able to articulate a clear goal makes it simpler for businesses to motivate investors. Naturally, angel investors and venture capitalists will carefully review your company plan and supporting materials. But they are still people, and people appreciate big ideas and support great people and stories. Investors find it impossible to resist a company that genuinely has the power to alter the world.
Your purpose matters to a variety of stakeholders, not just investors. For both workers and clients, it is equally critical, if not more so.
Even in the early stages of your firm, you quickly reach a point where you require more assistance and expertise. It’s likely that you won’t be able to offer your first hires competitive salaries. After all, the money raised through challenging funding rounds is meant to help you develop your product or service.
Keep in mind that many workers enjoy their jobs for reasons other than the pay. While a fair wage should be expected, research shows that employees are three times more likely to stick with a company that has a purpose. They are also happier and more involved than employees at businesses that only exist to produce money.
The numbers are even more astounding when it comes to customers. In general, having a clear goal encourages consumer loyalty and creates trust. According to a survey by Edelman, 89% of customers believe that a firm with a purpose offers the best services and goods. In comparison, more than 80% of customers in emerging markets said they made purchases related to a cause at least once a year, while more than 70% of consumers worldwide said they would suggest a company with a purpose.
Last but not least, remember the people who can spread your story: journalists. People who write stories to people who are interested in inspiring stories and the people who made them happen are people who are interested in inspiring stories and the people who made them happen.
Summarizing Your Goal
It’s never a waste of time to identify your mission. One of the most crucial steps in starting your business is determining your purpose, which will serve as the cornerstone for your vision and mission.
A clear purpose gives you an easy way to determine whether you are actually on track. Additionally, it will motivate your staff, consumers, media, and investors.
Every business decision is based on a clear, true objective, which will enable you to create a reputable organization that endures.
Exercise 2.2: Life Map
Paper & Pencils
Distribute the necessary materials, let participants to draw their maps for at least 20 to 40 minutes, and allow each participant at least five minutes to share and respond to a few questions.
This exercise highlights finding your purpose by allowing participants to tell their life stories. Using symbols to symbolize key life events, each person creates a “map” of their life that spans from conception to the present. Many participants will exclaim, “Oh I can’t draw!,” but you can reassure them that quick stick figures, icons, or phrases where appropriate are acceptable because the sharing itself is what’s important, not how well they can draw. Because most individuals underestimate how long sharing their story will take, if you only have 5 minutes per person, tell each participant they have 3 minutes to present and utilize a timer.
Course Manual 3: Bigger Picture
The Importance of Understanding the Bigger Picture
What exactly does it mean to see the bigger picture?
Instead of concentrating on minute details, consider how your activities can contribute to the overall achievement of a project or business goal. Big-picture thinking can be essential for success in the job since understanding what to concentrate on can help you manage stress, budget your time effectively, and set attainable goals. Big picture thinking is useful in many different contexts, such as:
• Entry-level
• Managerial
• Supervisory
• Client-facing
• Leadership
Why Is It Crucial To Keep The Bigger Picture In Mind At Work?
You may make sure you grasp the connections between basic activities and long-term goals by working to develop a big-picture view at work. This can make the goals you set more effective and attainable. You can benefit from developing big-picture thinking if you:
• Recognize the connection between particular projects and overall organizational objectives.
• Instead of focusing on minor symptoms, address issues at work and develop a successful problem-solving strategy.
• Keep an open mind because it will help your professional relationships.
• Understanding the bigger context can help you gain the insight needed to create attainable, concrete goals.
• Responding to challenges patiently and rationally can help you feel better at work.
• Improve your time management skills to make project planning more effective.
Big-Picture Versus Detail-Oriented Thinking
Employees can utilize both big-picture thinking and detail-oriented thinking to solve a range of problems at work, however both are helpful approaches. Think about how these two methods of thinking differ to understand when to apply them:
Context
While big-picture thinking may focus on the entire project or the project as it relates to company goals, detail-oriented thinking often emphasizes focusing on a particular area of a project. For instance, a big-picture thinker at a car manufacturer may consider making sure the findings of a finished vehicle’s crash tests adhere to business safety standards. Comparatively, a detail-oriented thinker could concentrate on carrying out crash testing and gathering data.
Time frame
While detail-oriented thinkers prioritize immediate needs, big-picture thinkers usually evaluate a project’s long-term repercussions. For instance, a big-picture thinker at a fashion design company would forecast the market trends for the following year based on the best-selling clothing items from the previous year. On the other hand, a person with a keen eye for detail can spend hours designing clothing for a forthcoming fashion show based on current trends.
Mindset
Big-picture thinkers prioritize fulfilling quality standards and moving production along, in contrast to detail-oriented thinkers who may aim to produce the highest quality product within a certain time frame. For instance, a teacher who focuses on the big picture might design lesson plans around standardized tests in order to improve students’ test scores and help them get into the institutions of their choice. In contrast, a teacher who pays close attention to detail could add entertaining activities or supplementary material to standardized lessons.
Case Study
Many businesses today place a strong emphasis on short-term objectives. Think about the boiling frog example. If you boil a pan of water and then try to put a frog in it to cook it, it will immediately jump out. It is conscious of its impending boiling point. However, the frog will gladly stay in a pan of lukewarm water and finally fry if the temperature is gradually increased. Companies that just think about the short term, without considering the medium or long term, are like frogs in lukewarm water. Because diverse consumer trends are bound to accompany the medium and long terms.
Think of Blockbuster. They had a short-term outlook and weren’t really considering their purpose or what they stood for. If not, they might have seen the chances before it was too late. In the UK, HSBC is another example. They attracted lots of students in the early 2000s since they provided a student rail card. Students were given discounts on UK rail travel. Due to the high cost of alternative rail travel, this was crucial. These students are currently some of HSBC’s most prized clients. However, they stopped doing it, and if you look at HSBC UK’s client age profile, there is a significant increase in the 30- to 40-year-old age group, but there are many fewer people applying. And right now, HSBC is promoting a £200 (about $300) sign-up bonus for new customers. That’s a much bigger expense than just offering a student rail pass!
How Do We Approach The Big Picture?
Here is where our work hub is useful. Teams require visibility to build momentum when it comes to broad-based thinking. Without it, development is stalled and cannot be built upon.
The truth is that when everyone has a designated touchpoint that effects the firm, we all feel more engaged with our everyday work. Keeping 30 people connected with big-picture goals may seem like having a lot of chefs in the kitchen. Additionally, encouraging the team as a whole to think broadly promotes fresh, creative thinking.
Include Your Team In The Overall Objective
The eagle’s eye view of everything is provided by big-picture thinking.
In a conventional office setting, many businesses hold face-to-face gatherings like weekly all-hands meetings to discuss the big picture. Due to time limits, these sessions frequently need big-picture thinking; therefore, summarizing specifics is crucial to maintaining everyone’s interest.
We go from physical space to digital space with a scattered team. Async and sync communication formats are combined to move collaboration totally to our products. With these instruments, we ought to have greater communication and connectivity than ever before. Teams should be explaining to the entire business how their goals fit into the overall picture in a discoverable format that is an improvement over how we now operate.
In actuality, we are up against a number of obstacles, including hyper-connectivity that causes context shift, impenetrable silos, and a reliance on tools that frequently cause distraction.
When the larger picture is brought back into the situation, it becomes challenging to give disconnected employees access to visibility. In order to bring our remote teams together to achieve these shared objectives, we need to examine the crutches we’ve relied on that are impeding collaboration.
Make Company Objectives Visible To The Entire Team
Making company goals accessible to all employees is the first step in involving a distributed team in the big picture. The north star of a company is its goals. They communicate to all teams where their attention should be focused. And it’s crucial for team leaders or managers to find tools that can make it easier to successfully communicate those goals.
Teams are brought together and given clarity into the “why” of their initiatives when business goals are established in a work hub. Accountability is clear since everyone may set objectives and monitor development. And team members are aware of exactly who they should ask questions of for clarification.
Give Workers Room To Disagree With Big-Picture Goals
Business executives no longer meet behind closed doors to discuss strategy and quarterly objectives. The expectation of open, equitable decision-making has come with modern employment. And since we already know that diverse teams are more creative, we can apply this to setting corporate objectives.
Encourage your team to offer suggestions after you’ve started a discussion about long-term objectives. Your staff will feel more linked to the “why” and the purpose of the overarching goals if you encourage them to express their worries and thoughts.
Be In Touch With Other Teams
Teams that aren’t connected to one another wreak havoc on output, which leads to extra work to be done.
Unfortunately, siloes are a problem that remote workers encounter frequently. Teams can fill in the blanks and understand how their work contributes to the achievement of organizational goals when there is transparency both inside the team and between teams.
Regular Collaboration
Prior to remote work, many of these problems were not addressed by our collaborative techniques. They weren’t a big topic of conversation for solving issues at work; they were just a regular part of our working day. We approach collaboration differently now. It not only plays a crucial role in a company’s success, but it also keeps teams together.
Collaboration is crucial at every stage of goal-setting and achievement. You can’t be held responsible for the work you’re doing if your team doesn’t know what you’re trying to achieve. Every level of the business can benefit from this. There is no point in establishing teams in the first place if they cannot work together on corporate objectives. To enable the amount of collaboration you need to succeed, make sure your broad objectives are known to and transparent to the entire business.
Create OKRs
A simple framework for setting goals is the OKR. They specify the overarching purpose or goal and employ key outcomes to monitor and assess the goal’s progress.
Hold a brainstorming session to determine the issues or obstacles you’re attempting to address before creating OKRs. Then consider what goal you may set to address that issue. Finally, list the actions or crucial outcomes required to achieve your goal.
Many businesses have organization-wide OKRs that outline their goals for the current quarter or year. Company-level OKRs are fantastic for letting employees know how the business is doing overall, but team-level OKRs are also beneficial. On these OKRs, you can work with your team to determine what needs to be done in order for them to support the overall objectives of the business. You can also establish individual OKRs for each team member if your team is small or medium sized. Giving everyone on your team a goal to work toward over a certain period of time keeps everyone motivated and productive.
Connect The Team With Technology Around Broad Objectives
For remote teams, technology is not a panacea. We now realize that many of our working methods were antiquated, and that relying solely on technologies won’t necessarily address the underlying structural issues. Tools are required to optimize your remote team at the same time. Without them, collaboration will be slower.
Work hubs function because of this. A work hub consolidates all of the features of your current tools under one roof, minimizing the inconvenience of adding just one more tool while tying your team together no matter where they are. You can quickly search for everything you’re looking for after setting up your work hub. Additionally, from a single location, you can assign tasks, define OKRs, communicate with team members, and organize documents.
Exercise 2.3: Start, Stop, and Continue
Exercises that involve feedback should always be carried out thoughtfully and with a keen understanding of group dynamics. This activity is intended for teams or groups that have previously collaborated and are comfortable providing and receiving feedback. “Stop,” “Start,” and “Continue” are used to direct the feedback messages.
To assist people in developing self-awareness and insight, as well as to help groups develop trust and openness
Post-it Notes and/or Pens
Work in small groups or divide a bigger group into groups of four to six people. When delivering feedback, groups should have had a lot of experience working together and should be able to draw on a variety of common experiences.
Use feedback exercises such as Current Strongest Impression or I Appreciate… before utilizing this one with younger or less experienced groups.
Course Manual 4: Communicating Purpose
Why It’s Important To Communicate Your Goals
The topic of how to effectively convey your mission now that we have established why having a purpose for your organization is crucial and how to define your purpose emerges.
Even the most compelling and compelling objective won’t help your business until you communicate it to your audiences. If none of your stakeholders are aware of the reason for your company’s existence, it will be very difficult to attract top talent, visibility, business investment, or clients.
Investors look beyond the numbers, buyers base their selections on more than just pricing, and only a small percentage of employees (usually the incorrect ones) join a company only for the money.
How To Communicate Your Purpose
Having a clear objective and vision for your company and putting those into words are the first steps in communicating your purpose.
The objective is to enthrall, excite, and motivate others.
Your vision provides an answer to the query of why your business exists. Your vision or mission must be directly related to your communications approach. It’s crucial to make sure that the communications strategies and tools you choose are relevant to and connected to the goals of your company.
Professionals in marketing and communications have been tying their objectives to those of their organizations for many years. It’s time to establish a similarly strong connection to the mission of the business. In this regard, businesses have an advantage because there is no existing communications strategy to modify or adapt. Instead, you can start by putting your mission at the heart of your winning plan.
How To Make Conversations More Purposeful
It takes more than just adding a few words to the end of a news release or advertisement to effectively communicate intent. It involves putting your “why” at the heart of all of your communications. Consider the automaker Porsche as an example. Every piece of communication they use reinforces the exclusivity and aspirational themes of their brand. In addition to making automobiles, the corporation promotes and communicates an ideal lifestyle.
Another illustration of communications with a purpose is the cosmetics company Dove. Dove started its “Campaign for Real Beauty” a number of years ago with the intention of assisting women in feeling confident in their own skin. Dove picked everyday ladies to represent their products in their advertisements rather than utilizing professional models.
The business went a step further and marked photographs on its website with the phrase “no digital distortion.” The mark makes it obvious that the woman’s picture hasn’t been digitally improved. There aren’t any unrealistically small waistlines or extraordinarily lengthy legs, which are typically found in altered images. Dove has come to be associated with boosting women’s self-esteem. During the first ten years of the campaign, the brand’s revenues went from $2.5 billion to $4 billion as a result.
The Impact Of A Compelling Story
Businesses that share their mission frequently have a compelling story at the heart of their brand.
They are aware that discussing a product or service’s attributes alone is insufficient.
A product with more features and a lower price will always be available. Customers have a stronger incentive to buy when you share your story, which can eventually lead to repeat business.
Once more, you are in a good position as a young company. Growth estimates are vital, but stories can set you apart from the competition and pique the interest of stakeholders, such as possible investors. An innovator. In the majority of early-stage businesses, the leader’s story and the company’s story are interwoven.
Components Of Effective Narratives
Strong narratives have a number of characteristics.
Details will change based on you, the sector you work in, and the nature of your good or service. Every effective communications strategy should include the components outlined below, once they have been tailored to your company.
Genuineness And Personality
The majority of present-day and particularly future consumers, investors, and potential employees have been exposed to marketing and advertising messages since they were young.
Claims that businesses are the greatest at what they do or sell the cheapest product are (over-)saturated in these markets. Consumers are searching for value that goes beyond the cost. This presents both a challenge and assurance to us as a company. You can use your story to deliver a sincere connection to your customers as they seek deeper connections with businesses.
Instead than just telling your story, include your audience. Video is a fantastic tool for doing that. More than any data or figures could ever do, showing your audience your path from the kitchen table or the back of a napkin to the end result motivates them.
The most doubtful person who was thinking about how your employees are handled is persuaded (and converted) when they see that your cleaners are actually happy.
You are the primary character in your story because you are a leader. The situations you and your customer will be dealing with right now are your antagonists.
Regardless of what you are offering or whether you are in a B2C or B2B setting, you are selling to customers who want to do business with other customers.
Your leadership journey has captured the attention of many people. Missing out on it would mean passing up a significant chance.
Being Relatable And Comprehensible
It’s simple to use too much jargon, yet doing so directly goes against the idea of authenticity. It may even discourage others from using your product or service because it will make you and your company sound like every other company out there.
Case Study: Cut the Jargon!
Adapting The Story To Your Audience
Your communications plan must target various audiences. Potential investors, journalists or other authorities on the topic of business, early clients, and your first staff are four of the most typical audiences. Each of these audiences will require a different strategy to inspire them, but they will all require a strong connection to your cause.
It’s true that prospective investors want to know that you have a solid grasp of your numbers. But nothing can help you stand out from other leaders like a compelling narrative. Imagine being exposed to only one pitch all day long. A strong vision will make your company more memorable to potential investors.
Journalists and other knowledge leaders (podcasters, streamers, TV hosts, etc.) aim to help their audience and build their personal brands by being associated with cool things. Determine what their own audience would want to engage them in our story.
Customers are purchasing your goods and services, but are they really? The cheapest price or the most opulent features aren’t what today’s consumers are searching for. Even if you have the lowest price this week, a rival could easily undercut you the next week. The same is true of a product’s attributes. Beyond pricing and features, having a mission for your company that goes beyond profit and loss spreadsheets might help you win over customers.
How simple is it for companies to bring on their first staff members? Numerous nations are currently complaining about a lack of competent workers. This implies that there are more available jobs than job seekers. When it comes to luring in talent, having a compelling mission is one of your company’s best selling points. Established businesses are more likely to provide prospective employees with higher benefits. However, joining a business that thrill them and where they feel they can actually make a difference is highly alluring for many professionals.
While your communications must be tailored to your audience in order to be effective, they also must make it clear what you are trying to accomplish.
Conclusion
Consider your vision to be the most condensed, simplified expression of your mission. Its opposite is your story, which adds information and explains thought processes and advancements.
The best narratives connect with every audience, even if telling your story to various groups is just one of your company’s communications goals. The majority of the time, your company’s purpose and your purpose as a business leader are inextricably interwoven. Your communications plan needs to be focused on this goal for the organization’s existence.
It’s crucial to be true to your own and the company’s story in order to create a compelling narrative. The best communication plans and approaches, however, are those that are adapted to the target audiences.
Maintaining your authenticity and relatability builds a strong connection with customers, motivates potential employees and advocates, and persuades prospective investors that your company is the real deal and one they don’t want to miss out on.
Effectively expressing your mission will help you stand out in the corporate world.
Exercise 2.4: Communication Origami
• Make the argument that even though you gave everyone the same directions, each paper appears distinct. Why does this matter?
• If the group had been permitted to ask questions or kept their eyes open, do you believe the outcomes would have been better?
• It’s difficult to communicate clearly since everyone interprets information differently. For this reason, it’s crucial to check for understanding and ask questions to make sure the message is not twisted.
Course Manual 5: Embed Purpose
The most recent declaration on the purpose of the corporation from the Business Roundtable, a significant association of US CEOs, would not surprise you if you had gone to sleep in 1981 and woken up today. The organization’s recent statement that “each of our stakeholders is essential”—including customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and shareholders—and “we vow to deliver value for all of them”—is a tectonic change because of what transpired in the previous 40 years.
According to the Commercial Roundtable, a business enterprise’s “primary goal is to earn economic returns for its shareholders” in 1999. Shareholder capitalism was at its most obviously ascendant at the time. The organization had stated in 1981 that “the shareholder must have a good return but the legitimate concerns of other constituents also must have the necessary consideration.” Clearly, that stance has changed significantly since then. The most recent claim raises the question: Is capitalism in 2019 becoming more like it would have been in the 1980s?
There are grounds for thinking that this time is unique. Major policy problems include the environment, inequality, and diversity and inclusion. The public’s confidence in institutions is at an all-time low, and more people are looking to corporations as the main change agents on important societal issues. ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investors, who now account for almost a third of all global investment assets, are on the rise, which supports this trend. Additionally, businesses now have much more control over data and are more globally international than ever before, yet they are still vulnerable to a tweet’s worth of indignation from around the world. Customers, particularly millennials and members of Generation Z, have raised the bar for sustainability in what they expect from businesses.
Because of this, finding a purpose is more important than ever. However, there is a chance that purpose will be replaced by corporate social responsibility, with an emphasis on feel-good projects unrelated to strategy, choices, performance, or anything else important to how a business operates. That, in our opinion, would be a mistake. Talking about your beliefs without acting on them can lead to accusations of hypocrisy, or “woke-washing,” in the catchphrase of Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever.
How do you translate information from written words to actual events is our challenge. How do you transition from logos and catchphrases to something that is actually practiced on a daily basis?
A corporation’s commitment to its stakeholders is known as its corporate purpose; the legitimacy of this commitment depends on how the company embeds it and is perceived to “live” it. To that aim, a company’s mission should direct all other decisions and be clear in all it does. The organization’s DNA should reflect a mission that is fully integrated in every aspect of the organization.
Three Effective Ways To Incorporate Purpose And Values Into Culture
Therefore, you have firmly voiced your positions. Wonderful! then what?
Anyone can make any claim about a purpose or set of values. The follow-through is the challenging part. Action is required if the purpose, values, and ideals are genuine.
Unfortunately, joining the bandwagon of purpose is more convenient and widespread than acting appropriately.
The recently released “B2B Purpose Paradox” research, created by Carol Cone and Harris Poll, reveals a significant discrepancy between CEOs’ statements on the significance of purpose and their perceptions of how it influences innovation, operations, and engagement with society.
You guessed it. CEOs agree that having a purpose is important, but they don’t think it has much of an effect on how their leadership and businesses operate. It is understandable that the general public doubts corporate America’s sincere dedication to goals other than financial gain.
Recall that words are meaningless. Actions alone bring about change.
How to Transform Words into Actions
Integrating your goal and guiding principles into your culture is the best approach to make them genuine. The next three actions will get you going.
Action 1: Make your purpose and beliefs your compass.
So, have you heard this order before? Be mindful. Everything else is governed by a genuine purpose and principles.
Your business probably has already made some decisions based on values. Nevertheless, when you make a prominent decision that is purposefully founded on your principles, your commitments will come to life.
Even better, create a procedure that will guarantee you consistently take your goal and ideals into account while making decisions.
Case Study: Paypal
Example: The most important virtue that PayPal emphasizes is inclusivity. And they name their workers as the most significant stakeholders. The business is renowned for its dedication to LBGTQ rights, which is consistent with these assertions.
PayPal abandoned its intentions to establish a new operations center in Charlotte after North Carolina enacted a legislation that forbade local governments from enacting anti-discrimination laws based on gender identity. They explained that everyone should have equal rights under the law, including each and every one of their employees.
Their choice to leave Charlotte was a clear indication of their regard for diversity and their public support for the rights of their employees.
Action 2: Eliminate activities that are unclearly at odds with your declared commitments.
Regardless of how excellent your business may be, some of your existing practices definitely conflict with your mission and core beliefs. Remove them.
There’s no need to delete everything at once. Start by deciding which one or two to discard. Change them out for fresh strategies. Don’t forget to ask your employees for their opinions as well.
Keep in mind that these days, practically anyone can spot and point out the contradictions in your words and actions.
Case Study: Blackrock
Example: The massive fund management company Blackrock declares that its goal is to assist more and more people in achieving financial well-being.
Furthermore, they assert that they will include long-term sustainability into their operations in order to safeguard the assets of their clients over the long run.
The corporation recently announced it would divest from thermal coal, possibly in response to pressure from environmental groups. Additionally, they vowed to take initiative in resolving the climate crisis. Actions must also match this commitment.
Action 3: Go after a fresh, motivating objective that is connected to your purpose and ideals.
Stretch your goals rather than simply wrapping your purpose language around them.
Your staff and consumers will be more affected by new and audacious goals.
Case Study: Novartis
Example: The goal of Novartis is to rethink medicine in order to enhance and lengthen people’s lives.
Increasing underserved populations’ access to medicine is one of their top priorities. They have pledged to routinely incorporate access initiatives into their research, development, and global delivery processes for each of their new medicines.
Does the Effort Pay Off?
This question can be answered with a qualified “yes.” But you must be prepared to put in the effort.
According to a research published in the Harvard Business Review, organizations with strong senses of purpose beat the market by 5–7% annually and experience faster growth and higher profits. However, businesses can only take advantage of these advantages if they have a plan in place for spreading the mission throughout the organization.
In a similar vein, the Cone study claims that 83% of businesses that outperform the market in revenue growth tie everything they do to a goal.
Additionally, and this is just as crucial, the efforts should benefit society.
When purpose and beliefs are deeply ingrained in a business, there are significant advantages. However, speaking without doing is a dangerous endeavor. False promises annoy stakeholders like your customers and staff.
Also, don’t forget about your staff.
You may immediately start putting your company’s mission and values into practice. While you’re at it, link each employee’s position to your goals.
According to our research, workers are more engaged when they recognize how their tasks support the aspirational goals of the organization. They want to offer something. Without them, you cannot succeed. So assemble them inside the designated tent.
Keep in mind that despite the effort, there are enormous potential benefits for your company and society.
Exercise 2.5: Heard, Seen, Respected (HSR)
• Ask participants to share a personal experience with a partner of a moment when they felt unheard, unnoticed, or unappreciated.
• Ask the class to refrain from making any interruptions besides “What else?” and “What happened next?”
• a few inches between the legs of two chairs facing one another
• zero tables
• Everyone gets an equal amount of time to play both the storyteller and the listener roles in turn.
• For the storytelling – pairs
• Then, foursomes for discussing what transpired
• Introduce the goal of HSR, which is to practice listening without intervening or passing judgment.
• Each individual has seven minutes to tell a tale of not being seen, heard, or appreciated, one at a time.
• Partners discuss their listening and storytelling experiences, asking one another, “How did it feel to tell my story; how did it feel to listen to your tale?”
• Participants share their thoughts in a foursome using the numbers 1-2-4, asking, “What patterns appear in the stories? How much weight do you give the pattern?
• Participants consider the following questions collectively: “How may HSR be utilized to address challenges identified by the patterns? What further Liberating Structures might be employed?
Course Manual 6: Engaged Purpose
Employee engagement in the Age of Purpose
The workplace is evolving.
Most likely, you’ve heard about the ongoing talent war. Retaining excellent talent is more crucial than ever in the current environment. The way workers work and their expectations are changing in an obvious way.
More than rewards, people need meaningful work that is in line with their values. Companies that succeed engage their workforce to keep them and get the most out of them.
Let’s delve a bit more, shall we?
Statistics on employee engagement show a clear picture: Around the world, 85% of workers are either not engaged or are actively disengaged. And that’s only the very beginning:
•About 25% of the workforce consistently feels burned out.
•In the first four months of employment, 50% of employees leave, and what’s more, of those who do stay, 51% are looking for work right now.
•However, just 11% of employers actually believe that their employees depart for financial reasons.
There is no shortage of evidence illustrating the issues in today’s workplace, but there are also instances of what may occur when employee engagement is done correctly:
•Comparing companies with high employee engagement to those with low levels, the former generate 147% more earnings per share.
•Meaningful employment increases an employee’s likelihood of engagement, which boosts productivity and performance.
•Positive employee experiences are mostly attributed to meaningful employment.
In essence, workers desire meaningful work that is driven by a distinct employee purpose.
In This New Age Of Purpose, What Happens To Employee Engagement?
First, the fundamentals:
•Employees who are engaged at work are individuals that are involved with, passionate about, and committed to their jobs and workplace, according to Gallup.
•Employee engagement is described by the HR Technologist as the emotional investment workers make in their organizations.
•Employee engagement, according to Quantum Workplace, is the degree of the mental and emotional attachment workers have to their workplaces.
In other words, people’s desire to positively contribute to the company’s goals is fueled by the drive, enthusiasm, and involvement they bring to their work.
Am I Having An Impact?
Although there are other factors that influence involvement, such as wellbeing, chances for learning and growth, and rewards, it all comes down to something deeper.
It’s about more than just the rewards, perks, and work-life balance. It concerns the purpose of the labor itself and the query, “Am I changing anything?”
Companies with meaningful work not only have higher profit margins, but their employees also feel like they are contributing to something worthwhile. They have an emotional attachment to the company since it offers them the chance to accomplish meaningful work rather than just earn a paycheck.
Here are a few more traits of motivated workers:
•Employees that are actively invested in their work are prone to learning new things and looking for challenges.
•They draw a direct link between their abilities and their responsibilities.
•They pledge to do better and support the mission of the business.
What Occurs When HR Executives Prioritize Employee Engagement?
John F. Kennedy once asked a janitor cleaning the floor what he worked at NASA while he was on his first visit to the agency. I’m assisting in getting the man to the moon, the janitor retorted.
He had a clear knowledge of the goal, as stated in NASA’s vision, which directed his efforts and demonstrated the significance of his job. That is involvement. This has a cascading effect on an organization as a whole since highly engaged teams are more productive, have fewer accidents, and are 21% more profitable. Additionally, engaged workers exhibit fewer absenteeism and improved morale.
How Can Employee Engagement Be Increased?
A goal is only worthwhile if it is supported by deeds.
Although providing perks and incentives may increase job satisfaction, the impact on engagement is fleeting. You can rapidly find yourself attempting to keep up with the newest fad by offering employees ever-greater incentives.
Connecting to a person’s need for accomplishment and significance in the world is essential for engaging employees. Businesses with a purpose that is clearly incorporated into every element of their work and communicated to its stakeholders will attract talented and skilled individuals.
Ikigai, a Japanese philosophy, perfectly expresses this. When researchers traveled to Okinawa, Japan to learn why their people have the highest percentage of centenarians worldwide, they repeatedly overheard the following:
“I have something that gets me up every morning and keeps me going.”
Ikigai is about achieving happiness in life. It is located where four different categories converge:
Image: Bodetree, adapted from Francesc Miralles
Ikigai at the workplace means that staff members like their jobs, have an impact on the world, are compensated for their efforts, and do what they are good at. The Ikigai puzzle’s mission piece has recently started to set people apart when choosing which company to work for, if they should give more to their existing workplace, or whether it’s time for a change.
The significance of employee giving and volunteering for a fulfilling workplace
The social entrepreneurship era we are approaching demands that businesses invest in their social responsibilities in a way that is consistent with their mission and encourages their employees to take initiative.
Corporate giving and volunteering initiatives can give employees a meaningful way to express their desire to make a difference. People are not only making a difference and doing good deeds, but they are also improving their hard and soft talents. And a business that recognizes, supports, and encourages employee volunteering may succeed in attracting and retaining the best talent.
Act Immediately, Workers Are Eager To Engage
For leaders to implement changes that are truly in line with today’s concerns, the dynamics of the employee’s connection with the workplace must change. By changing the culture and mindset, the company will be able to sustainably attract and retain creative and motivated employees.
Companies may capitalize on the momentum of recent global action and enable each employee to take action by putting in place an exciting employee volunteering program.
Regrettably, purpose is as mysterious as it is potent. There is no one way to achieve purpose, and no one definition can include all of its elements. Every person’s journey is unique because it depends on their tastes, passions, and workplace.
Regardless of the individual, there are three key behavioral changes that can promote a more engaged workforce globally.
Case Study
Diversity was identified as one of the top two main engagement factors for employees by Sodexo, one of the top 50 organizations for diversity, in their employee engagement study. According to another McKinsey analysis, businesses with the highest levels of racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to outperform their sector’s average in terms of financial performance.
After placing in the Top 10 for the previous eight years, EY was recently named the best firm for diversity in 2017. They have an incredible 44.7% more women in leadership positions than the S&P 500 and 11.1% more than the other Top 50 firms for diversity. The diversity and inclusion ideals of EY are the gold standard because they are ingrained in all aspect of their business operations. For instance, they equalized paid parental leave for mothers and fathers as the first professional services company. The enormous efforts made by EY to incorporate diversity and inclusion into all business procedures have produced a highly engaged staff.
It is evident that there is a direct link between firms with a purpose and better levels of employee engagement. Looking into the company’s values is a wonderful place to start when a company wants to figure out what its purpose is.
1. Start With The Why
Following Simon Sinek’s advice, it might be as easy as asking the correct question: why? Both employers and employees must adhere to this. Companies must consider why they are in business and discover a way to succinctly express this “why” through a mission statement and an appealing brand (story). This may not only provide current workers a greater sense of purpose but also help potential employees decide whether they would be a suitable match for the position.
Employees must also take extra time to consider their own unique motives. Think about what you specifically want to get out of your job, how you define success, and what kind of work environment might help you succeed in your own terms.
Cone Communications reports that 75% of millennials are willing to forgo a pay raise to work for a company that values its employees. Therefore, leading with “why” might be the most effective HR tactic you can use to draw in and keep purpose-driven people.
2. Remove Purpose’s Pedestal
Although purpose denotes a deeper feeling of meaning, how you define the kinds of work that are significant to you is entirely up to you. Others gain meaning from learning something new or working on a project they are very enthusiastic about, while some people find fulfillment in helping others. We appear to have come to the conclusion as a community that some “purposes” are more valuable than others, yet there is no reason why a banker should feel any less meaningful than a social worker.
The results speak for themselves. Hospital janitors, who perform some of the most tedious and unappealing daily chores, were found to be among the most purposeful workers, according to an American Psychological Association research.
People will continue to be terribly disappointed when they learn that being a doctor or a missionary doesn’t necessarily guarantee a greater sense of fulfillment as long as we rely on society to define what a genuine purpose is rather than the person.
3. Raising Standards
We need to set higher standards when the distinctions between work and life become more hazy. This refers to our expectations of work more generally rather than just our expectations of companies, the cultures they foster, or the benefits they provide.
There is no need to settle for being disengaged given the time we invest in our careers. The fact that 90% of Americans appear to have accepted this as the new normal is very alarming. You can design almost any work (or portfolio of jobs) you want thanks to the expanding number of freelance platforms and tools accessible – as long as you have the motivation and ambition to do so.
We need to get away from the idea that you’re “trapped” with the cards life deals you.
What if, instead, we embraced the idea that gave rise to the original “American Dream” – the conviction that, provided you’re willing to put in the effort, you can create a life you love?
In conclusion, while the current lack of career participation in our society is worrying, there are also many reasons to be hopeful.
As the largest generation in the workforce today, millennials, “purpose” is increasingly being taken into account when assessing potential career paths.
We must reevaluate occupational happiness over the long term in light of the realities of increasing life lengths combined with decreasing financial support from social security. And we need to start taking responsibility and setting an example if we want to make a significant shift. Think about how your regular behaviors, interactions, and choices—whether you’re an employer, an employee, or both—might support these three mentality shifts. We can all benefit by putting purpose first by rebuilding a more happy, content, and productive workforce.
Exercise 2.6: Round Table
Course Manual 7: Shared Purpose
Do the team members understand exactly what their jobs and responsibilities are inside the company? Why is it crucial to clarify the aim of your team?
Consistent decision-making, efficient prioritization, and improved performance through interaction are made possible by a common team purpose. Why do we do what we do is a question that is answered by purpose.
Read about the main characteristics of a shared team purpose, why it benefits workplace culture, and the issues that may occur if it isn’t present.
The Essential Qualities of a Shared Team Goal
The foundation of collaborative decision-making is a common team goal. Through a series of subtle cues, leaders employ purpose to direct the attention of the group towards a single objective. These cues might come in the form of overt reminders of the organization’s objectives or covert symbols like catchphrases, iconography, and mission statements.
High-purpose environments are places where a team’s actions are guided by the organization’s mission. Consider decisions, projects, and products as the branches and leaves of a tree, with purpose as the trunk. Every action relates to the company’s primary goals.
Team members make decisions in light of the team’s objectives.
A team member can make decisions and choices that support the team’s vision if they can see where the team is headed. For instance, team members will make choices that encourage small, local firms to rent their premises instead of global corporations if your company renovates vacant buildings with the aim of assisting small enterprises to boost the local economy (think of a local coffee shop instead of a Starbucks). Team members’ daily decisions are influenced by the clear goal of assisting small businesses in order to boost the regional economy.
The Advantages of a Shared Team Purpose
Benefit No. 1: Perspective shift. Dedicated team members will devote a lot of time and effort to a task when they believe it to be vital, which usually improves the work’s quality.
The Talented Learners
A Harvard psychologist conducted an experiment in 1964 where he evaluated the academic potential of first- and second-graders in a nearby public school. He provided the results to the teachers and marked some pupils as “talented.” However, the children were never made aware of their classification. The “gifted” pupils performed exceptionally well at the conclusion of the year, as the researchers had anticipated. They performed much better on tests than their peers and developed stronger bonds with their professors.
The twist?
The psychological test that the pupils took was a dummy test.
It didn’t reveal which pupils had greater potential. The “gifted” students were actually picked at random.
The teachers themselves were the experiment’s real subject. When teachers were given a freshly defined purpose—to lead these bright children to excellence—the researchers wanted to examine how it would affect how they interacted with their students. The study found that the teachers had distinct approaches for the “talented” students:
• They were friendlier and warmer with them.
• They provided them with extra resources to work with.
• In class, they used them more frequently.
• They gave more comments on their academic work.
Even though these pupils weren’t any different from their peers, the sum of all of these tiny interactions over the course of a school year allowed for a higher success rate. This demonstrates how perspective may change with a defined aim.
Benefit No, 2: accelerated learning. Those with a purpose learn more quickly. Make it obvious how a certain ability relates to the team’s goal.
Members of the team will put more effort and focus into learning a new skill when they are aware of its importance, which will increase their “learning velocity” (the speed at which a team improves upon a new concept).
Case Study: Mountain Medical Center
In 1998, Harvard researchers looked at how quickly 16 surgical teams picked up the novel MICS method of cardiac surgery. Although some of the teams were predicted to do particularly well, the Mountain Medical Center team was predicted to have difficulty. The team was from a less well-known hospital without a strong educational foundation or much resources. Despite this, Mountain Medical Center performed exceptionally well and came in second.
How did a medical facility like Mountain Medical Center function efficiently? Their team had a clear goal that was continually emphasized: we are learning this new technique because it will boost productivity and benefit our patients. According to the study, teams that were constantly reminded of the goal of their training fared significantly better than teams who weren’t.
(Short form note: The hospitals and doctors’ names in the Harvard study were modified.)
Third benefit: Deeper Connection with Team Members and Outside Clients. A common team goal enables empathy and connection to spread throughout the organization and throughout the target customer base. Team members are better able to relate to both the group’s target demographic and one another if the group’s goal is clear.
Case Study: The soccer hooligans in England
Clifford Stott, an expert in crowd violence, was hired by Portugal in order to help them prepare for the “English soccer hooligans,” a group of fanatical supporters renowned for rioting after soccer matches, before they hosted the 2004 European Championships.
Stott’s study led him to make a somewhat paradoxical recommendation: the best way to deal with violent crowds was to avoid dealing with them.
He ordered some police units to stop using riot gear in favor of yellow vests and gave them instructions to start learning about soccer. He thought that taking off the riot gear would make the officers look less frightening and that the officers and spectators would get along better because of their shared interest in soccer.
When the tournament started, the police departments that adopted Stott’s strategy saw a dramatic decrease in violent crime, with just one English fan being detained. Fans had the impression that the cops were there to keep them safe, not to reprimand them. Violent outbursts persisted in the regions that did not implement Stott’s strategy.
We are here to help you, not to hurt you, Stott’s instructions made quite plain.
The message’s clarity of aim immediately facilitated communication between fans and authorities by demonstrating that there was nothing to be afraid of.
The Effects of Vision Deficit
Poor performance is the first consequence. Teams struggle to perform to a high degree because they are unable to understand the overall context of their actions without frequent reminders of purpose as inspiration and direction. Work gets monotonous, and communication, product quality, and work ethic all tend to suffer.
The Chelsea Hospital group was one of the favorites to win the Harvard MICS research. The team had access to a wide range of resources and was from a prestigious hospital with a focus on education. Chelsea Hospital, however, didn’t fare well, placing 14th out of 16 teams.
How could a hospital that has all these advantages operate so poorly? The main justification for the training or the goal of the new operation was never revealed by the leadership. As a result, the team did not place a high priority on understanding the process and the significance of their job.
According to the analysis, teams either performed well or poorly. A team’s success or failure was correlated with the manner in which its leadership addressed various areas of purpose:
Second consequence: Intentions that are misunderstood. Others frequently misinterpret a group’s motivations when they are not upfront about them.
Lack of a defined objective can cause a rift amongst team members and hesitation or animosity from outsiders because people tend to dread the unknown.
Case Study: Riot police in Belgium
One of the world’s biggest sporting events was held in Belgium in 2003. Belgian police used a show of force to defuse tensions in an effort to maintain peace. The Belgian government invested millions in surveillance equipment and riot gear before putting their officers through rigorous training. By demonstrating their dominance, they thought rioters would be deterred from misbehaving.
It was a failure.
Shops were smashed by rioters, who also attacked onlookers and police wearing riot gear. The government aimed to promote peace. They did not, however, convey to the public the benign nature of their objective, and as a result, outsiders interpreted their actions as aggressive and reacted in kind. People had a mob mentality because they thought the police were only there to protect them and punish them.
Inconsistency in decision-making is the third consequence. Without a common goal, team members unknowingly make inconsistent (and frequently damaging) decisions.
Case Study: Return the salmon
A regular diner in a restaurant in New York City selected fish. She requested if she might have something else after finishing about half of the meal because she didn’t like the fish. The customer was handed a take-out bag with the leftovers of the dish she didn’t like after the meal, and she was charged for the fish.
She spoke with the restaurant’s owner, alleging that this conduct was petty and beyond what she would have expected from one of the owner’s establishments. The owner, who thought his company’s primary purpose was to service customers, was taken aback by this choice and questioned his management about it. The manager claimed that he believed his decision to be the “correct” one.
The manager had no direction in his decision-making process since the owner was unclear about the company’s primary goal (to serve the client), which caused him to make a decision that was at odds with the organization’s ideology.
Now that you are aware of the fundamental characteristics of safety and the significance of its development, let’s talk about how to foster purpose in the workplace.
Exercise 2.7: Mad Lib Mission Statement
paper and pens.
Course Manual 8: Individual Purpose
It makes sense that CEOs would focus more on pressing business matters than more ethereal, emotional concerns during these trying, bizarre times. When you’re worried about their well-being—not to mention the sustainability of your company—how vital is it right now to encourage your employees to consider their “purpose in life”?
It matters more than you may imagine. Individual purpose can act as a compass in times of crisis, enabling people to better face and manage uncertainties and so lessen the negative impacts of long-term stress. Strong senses of purpose tend to make people more resilient and better at recovering from stressful situations. 1 In fact, when comparing those who claim to be “living their purpose” at work with those who claim they aren’t, the former report levels of well-being that are five times higher than the latter, according to our research conducted during the pandemic. Additionally, the former group is four times more likely to report higher levels of engagement.
People who live with purpose also live longer and in better health. One longitudinal study3 found that regardless of the age at which people defined their purpose, a one standard deviation increase in purpose reduced the probability of dying over the following decade by 15%. Comparing patients who claim to have a feeling of purpose with those who claim not to, the 1997-founded Rush Memory and Aging project discovers that the former are:
• 2.5% greater likelihood of not develop dementia
• 22 percent less likely to display stroke risk factors
• A stroke is 52% less likely.
Additionally, organizations gain from individual purpose. Employee experience, which is connected to higher levels of engagement, a stronger organizational commitment, and an uptick in feelings of well-being, can be significantly influenced by purpose. People who feel their personal purpose aligns with their careers tend to find more meaning in their work, which increases productivity and increases the likelihood that they will outperform their colleagues. According to our own study, there is a link between employees’ sense of purpose and the EBITDA4 margin of their business.
Employee experience, which is connected to higher levels of engagement, a stronger organizational commitment, and an uptick in feelings of well-being, can be significantly influenced by purpose.
In light of this, as businesses resume operations and start to navigate the next phases of the “new normal,” CEOs and other senior executives should pay more attention to personal purpose.
Your personnel will undoubtedly be carrying out that task. People look to their jobs for psychological gratification, so as the crisis subsides and businesses adopt new working practices, some employees may face conflict or even dissonance over concerns of purpose. For instance, video calls at the office may make significant and energetic encounters feel far less so. While this is going on, other employees will be evaluating whether the crisis-related activities of their organizations matched the lofty pre-crisis statements made by those organizations—and basing their future career choices on the result. Business executives will want to develop strategies to recover and maintain the sense of organizational energy, urgency, and speed—without the accompanying fear and stress—at organizations where people performed very well during the crisis.
We study how the two interact and fuel one another through the lens of the employee experience in this course manual as we highlight findings from an ongoing research project into the intersection of organizational purpose and individual purpose. Along the way, we highlight methods that businesses can support workers in discovering or expressing their purpose, investigating how it relates to their professional lives, and trying to make purpose a concrete aspect of people’s work. Finally, we want to give CEOs and other leaders a chance to reflect more deeply on their own behavior. After all, when will we consider the purpose and direction of life if not now, when life as we know it appears to be in such danger?
Companies all over the world have been brutally reminded by the pandemic of the need to never take happy, healthy workers for granted. Future-thinking firms will be concentrating on purpose as part of a larger effort to guarantee that talent is given the priority it deserves because personal purpose directly impacts both health and motivation.
Case Study
Peter Lim – Secura Group’s CEO
Successful teams are built on individual accountability. There can never be team accountability if this is the case. The final goal of a leader is crucial in deciding whether team members can reach their maximum potential. A team member that has their full potential recognized tends to lean toward becoming a dedicated, motivated, and accountable team member. The likelihood of a dysfunctional team is significant if a leader’s ultimate goal is solely financial gain because the team and the individuals that make up the team won’t be able to survive the brutal business cycles present in all industries. More bluntly put, leadership must first have the end-point correct, which is ongoing value creation, among many other qualities. Individuals will automatically become accountable once that is resolved since their value system will be influenced by the value system of the leader. Once all of these things are in place, team accountability emerges as a natural event.
Theodore Gill – Director General of Epicor International
Individual accountability can be utilized to improve a team’s performance as well as to foster competition within the team. Using technology promotes commitment to more ambitious company goals by enabling dispersed elements of the organization to collaborate on business operations in real-time, manage individual workflow, and provide visibility into how the rest of the business runs. One way to achieve a just balance between individual and group accountability is through this. The way we work and interact in the workplace has changed as a result of new technology, a rise in data volume, increased access to information, and a demand for mobility, which leaders must acknowledge. Businesses must encourage teamwork and knowledge sharing among employees and teams in light of this. The majority of the time, achieving corporate goals depends on cross-functional collaboration between departments and a sense of team accountability.
Become Personal
We experience purposefulness when we aspire or work toward something personally meaningful or appreciated. Individual purpose can be thought of as an overarching sense of what matters in our life. According to research, the majority of people claim to have a purpose even though this purpose is frequently difficult for them to identify or articulate.
However, even when a person’s purpose is obvious, it can nonetheless interact in unexpected ways with an organization’s purpose. Consider the fictional composites of our experiences, May, Hannah, and David. All three of them are employed by a multinational healthcare company with a clear, well-articulated mission: to improve patients’ and their families’ quality of life by creating life-saving treatments. This is great news for May, who joined the company because of its mission and sees it as part of her purpose to lessen the pain of those who live with chronic illnesses. Hannah understands the company’s mission, but she finds it far less motivating than May does. By looking after and providing for her family, Hannah experiences a stronger sense of purpose. David, in contrast, is adamant that helping others and easing their suffering is his calling. David is collecting his paychecks and counting down the months until he can quit his work and enroll in nursing school, where he hopes to start genuinely fulfilling his purpose, in contrast to May, who loves her job because it so closely corresponds with her mission.
These illustrations show how it can be challenging to balance what people need from their jobs with their personal motivations. Sometimes, as with May, a person’s goals precisely match those of the organization. But other instances, as in the case of Hannah and David, there is only a partial match. And for yet other workers, there might be a poor match or none at all. 5 Making sure that the organizational and individual forms of purpose are interconnected, mutually reinforcing, and ultimately taken into account in everything from hiring, feedback and incentives, learning, and matching individuals to the jobs they will find most fulfilling is part of your role as CEO and organizational architect.
However, before you can do any of that, you must first assist your staff in better understanding their own goal and how it functions, beginning with the broad categories that aid in describing and characterizing it. Don’t forget that you are also affected by this. The likelihood that a leader will be able to inspire others to step beyond of their comfort zones and consider how their purpose might be better served at work increases with the degree to which that leader is purposeful, open, and empathic.
What Was Gauged
Human values play a significant role in defining personal purpose since they assist individuals in deciding what is personally essential to pursue in life and at work. A survey was created to map the type and strength of a range of universally held human values including tradition, security, authority, and achievement, among others, in order to better understand how people think about and experience purpose.
Nine typical ways that people align themselves with purpose were identified by statistical analysis of the survey data. While a person’s purpose may resemble one of these nine categories relatively closely, it may really result from mixes of these nine types, with each person’s combination having a different emphasis on and priority given to the various components. Three such patterns (or purpose archetypes) that emerged from our research are displayed in the image below.
An individual’s sense of purpose can be strengthened, clarified, and, for some, may even act as a lifelong desire or North Star, according to academic study and our personal experience. While the things that people find meaningful typically change over long periods of time, they can also change fairly quickly, especially in response to the kinds of life-altering experiences that many people are currently going through as a result of the pandemic or the more recent racial-justice protests. A leader who was previously driven by personal success, for instance, can recover from the pain of these times more inspired by concerns about equality or by giving back to the community. Or a leader who was previously driven by independence and freedom might find the pull of stability meaningful.
How To Handle It
Companies all over the world have been brutally reminded by the pandemic of the need to never take happy, healthy workers for granted. Future-thinking firms will be concentrating on purpose as part of a larger effort to guarantee that talent is given the priority it deserves because personal purpose directly impacts both health and motivation.
The time has come to begin finding out how an individual’s purpose relates to what he or she wants and needs from work—or how these relate to an organization’s purpose—even though it may still be early in the process. Start by just having an honest, open, and thoughtful conversation about these issues with your staff. You can help people better identify and articulate their purpose and even start looking for ways to help them live it more fully at work by treating this as the start of an ongoing conversation about purpose, meaning, and what your employees want from work. This will have a positive effect on everyone.
And as you get going, keep in mind that your deeds and ability to lead with compassion now matter a lot. Only the things that your people grant you access to will be available to you. You’ll improve your chances of having more of both if you treat these discussions and the ideas that come from them as the blessings that they are.
Effective leaders are crucial for maintaining trust, stability, meaning, and resilience through difficult times. They are also essential in helping individuals around them “feel” the world.
Start The Discussion From Yesterday
Effective leaders are crucial for maintaining trust, stability, meaning, and resilience through difficult times. Additionally, they are essential “sensemakers” for people around them. There are many people in your organization who are under extreme pressure due to the urgency of the current situation. Purpose will act as a catalyst in these dynamics, and those who compartmentalize the strain and trauma may later experience stress, anxiety, and burnout.
Consider a teammate who is frustrated by not having the time, opportunity, or permission to focus on their purpose and the necessity to earn a job to satisfy basic requirements. This irritation may be unconscious. Or the coworker who thrives on in-person meetings with clients and colleagues but finds days full of video interactions to be exhausting and depressing. To recognize, comprehend, and deal with these tensions as they arise, people require compassionate and empathic leadership.
Simply discussing the challenges at work with your coworkers can boost their feeling of purpose, as can encouraging them to look beyond the immediate crisis to the wider picture and what truly matters to them.
Through routine, facilitated conversations with your direct reports, you can accomplish this in a productive way. Consider these as sympathetic check-ins instead of project or even purpose check-ins, which provide you the chance to learn how employees are faring and how you can best meet their needs. Make these sessions a regular element of how the managers in your organization lead.
Make Time For Reflection A Top Priority In Your Work
Your team will hopefully be more ready to investigate the subject for themselves if you foster an environment for open conversations about purpose, including your own. A “purpose audit” may be beneficial. Make the time necessary for people to think about how their work fits into the wider picture by utilizing the nine forms of purpose as a jumping off point and examining which components resonate and for what reasons. Do people feel as though they are living their purpose when they can clearly state it? What obstacles keep them from experiencing it fully? How, if at all, have recent events altered their perspective on purpose? When do you feel most alive is one deceptively straightforward ice-breaker question that we’ve seen spark interesting conversations.
Exercise 2.8: Leadership Race
• I feel confident making significant decisions in advance.
• I feel confident making significant decisions without prior notice.
• I don’t attribute my difficulties to other people.
• Even under pressure, I am personable.
• In the face of difficulty, I maintain an optimistic attitude.
Course Manual 9: Role Clarity
How to Clearly Specify Roles and Duties to Increase Accountability
When things go wrong on your team, defining clear roles and duties is a frequent “go to” approach for team leaders. But what if roles and responsibilities could be established in a way that also increases accountability?
Missed deadlines or individuals breaking their promises to one another are examples of common team breakdowns. Important details slipping between the gaps without anyone taking responsibility is another example. These breakdowns frequently include finger-pointing at “them” and justifications for why “I did my part.”
A best practice for creating a successful team is outlining precise roles and duties. Although this method may temporarily stop the breakdowns, the underlying issues brought on by a lack of clarity frequently recur. I advise you to take it a step further and adopt the basis for boosting responsibility as well. Clarifying roles and duties and putting accountability procedures in place together will enable sustained high performance.
Case Study: British American Tobacco
A corporation must identify its most significant sources of value and ensure that decision roles align with them in order to achieve the correct balance. Martin Broughton, the former chairman and CEO of British American Tobacco, the second-largest tobacco corporation in the world, faced this difficulty. When Broughton was appointed CEO in 1993, BAT was falling behind its closest rival. Broughton was aware that the business needed to better leverage its worldwide reach, but the decision-making roles and duties were in conflict with this objective. Four geographical operating units operated independently, infrequently cooperating and occasionally even competing. Cost synergies between the operational units were tricky, and achieving uniformity across international brands proved challenging. “There are seven main tobacco businesses in the world—and four of them are British American Tobacco,” industry insiders laughed. The punch line would be altered, Broughton vowed.
The chief executive envisioned a company that could benefit from the opportunities that come with doing business internationally, including having global brands that could compete with market leaders like Marlboro from Altria Group, buying key raw materials like tobacco internationally, and having greater consistency in both innovation and customer management. But Broughton was wary of giving global executives too much control over business decisions because he didn’t want the company to lose its agility and competitive drive in local markets.
Roles for the most crucial decisions needed to be made clear as the first stage. Purchasing evolved become a testing ground. Each operating unit had previously chosen its own vendors and arranged contracts for all materials. Under Broughton, a global procurement team was established at the corporate level with the authority to select suppliers, bargain for prices and quality for international supplies, including bulk tobacco and particular kinds of packaging. Now, regional procurement teams might contribute to the development of global materials strategy, but they still had to carry out their decision. The duty for delivery and service was handled by the regional teams in conjunction with the suppliers in their areas once the global team signed contracts with them. The regional teams continued to have decision-making authority for products that did not offer global economies of scale (mentholated filters for the North American market, for example).
How to Improve Team Performance in Two Steps
Initially, take the time to precisely define (or re-define) each team member’s role. To guarantee that you have the proper people and the right skills on the team to complete your team’s purpose, this includes the precise duties for each role. You make clear the types of contributions each team member can make by doing this. Everyone in the team will be aware of what you can ask particular team members to do thanks to this clarity.
Clarifying what each team member needs from the other in order to succeed is the second phase. This second phase is the one that receives the least attention. However, this action is crucial to establishing the degree of accountability required for good performance.
The next section goes into more detail about each phase, why it’s important, and how it all fits together to produce great performance.
Step 1: How Do You Define Roles and Responsibilities?
A team member’s specific position is not the same as their job description. The team’s mission and the abilities, knowledge, and other factors that are necessary to reach the team’s objectives determine each team member’s role. The functions and responsibilities of the team leader (or project manager) are possibly the most straightforward to describe. They are responsible for the team’s accomplishments, which frequently start with defining success. Building the team and directing strategy, planning, and execution are their responsibilities. Of course, leading and managing the team to success is the team leader’s primary responsibility.
The contributions needed from each team member to complete the mission are used to create team responsibilities.
When defining each team member’s position, keep the following contributing domains in mind:
a. What do they know? Knowledge or expertise
b. Knowledge: What have they achieved?
c. What specifically can they offer the team in terms of their skills?
The level of commitment a member of the team is expected to make in their role determines their responsibilities.
Or, to put it another way, what specifically are you depending on them to do for the team? For instance:
a. Give direction and advise.
b. Think strategically and contribute.
c. Create original ideas.
d. carry out a certain task or class of tasks.
Without a question, clearly outlining roles and duties can support a team’s effectiveness. However, if you want to foster excellent performance, this is insufficient.
Why It Is Not Enough to Just Define Roles and Responsibilities
There is an implicit idea that if roles and duties are clear (i.e., everyone understands what they are expected to do), then things will get done and run smoothly, which will assure sustained high performance. I’ll argue that this is a myth, and I’ll explain why.
One person’s role is separated from another by a border that is created by roles and responsibilities. When it comes to assigning assignments and managing work, they are helpful. To support and promote teamwork, however, clearly defined roles and tasks are insufficient.
This is so because, rather than uniting people, barriers serve to divide them. When you merely establish the borders, you’ll inevitably find that you’ve missed something important. And it won’t take long for something else to slip between the cracks. You will then find yourself trying to establish positions and duties once more.
Do you think the illustration below accurately depicts a team?
But when you only concentrate on outlining roles and duties, you precisely reinforce the environment of the conventional organizational chart. Consequently, the second, equally important stage is to specify how the “boxes” connect. In order to maximize the positive impact, you must additionally specify how the individuals who fill each role’s designated box will collaborate.
Step 2: Establishing Mutual Reliable Commitments
The conventional definition of duties and responsibilities leaves out a crucial element that is both straightforward and quite significant. Clarity regarding what team members can rely on from one another is what is lacking. You may promote accountability on your team by taking this action.
You ensure that the job gets done and that the relationships work by making it clear how people can and must help one another. This strategy is very helpful for enhancing teamwork and outcomes.
By defining roles and responsibilities, you can make it clear what each team member can and must do. But you won’t establish the circumstances for long-term success until team members improve their awareness of what they can rely on from one another. The “I did my part, but others did not do theirs” phenomena is also replaced with an attitude of “what do we need to do to succeed” by clarity and confidence in what you can rely on from one another.
Simply put, a team’s effectiveness is a direct result of its members’ capacity for mutual reliance.
How to Change From Doing My Part to Doing What’s Necessary for Us to Succeed Together
Would you like to prevent items from slipping through the cracks? Do you want to encourage people to accept personal accountability for carrying out the necessary tasks? Would you prefer that individuals were more concerned with achieving results than figuring out who was in charge of what?
In order to achieve mutual success, have team members actively form agreements with one another to further define the links between them. This is how you start to connect the hierarchical model we were given with the behaviors necessary to succeed in a changing workplace.
When using this strategy, thinking shifts away from “my job vs. your job” and toward “what do we each need to do to achieve our joint success.”
Team members that make and keep promises to one another strengthen their working relationships and the effectiveness of their team. Everyone benefits when team members ask for what they need with the assurance that their teammates will provide it. Accountability in action looks like this.
How Establishing Accountability, Roles, and Responsibilities Interact
Your team will be prepared to learn from each other’s mistakes and make adjustments to deal with whatever comes next if you pay attention to both clearly defining roles and duties AND building accountable connections.
Because it is uncommon to be able to foresee everything that a person will need to undertake, roles and duties will never be completely clear. In addition, unexpected events will unavoidably happen. However, cooperation thrives when you adopt the discipline of explicitly defining agreements between individuals given their roles.
Building trust and creating an accountable culture requires putting equal emphasis on what each team member must do individually and on what they can rely on from one another.
The practice of accountability is included into the framework of your team’s relationships when you explicitly define roles and duties as well as what team members can rely on from one another. This combination works well for improving outcomes as well as creating a solid base for high performance.
Exercise 2.9: Direction Direction
• Did the directions seem to lack clarity in any way?
• What may have made this confusion worse?
• What are some important considerations to keep in mind when giving or receiving instructions?
Course Manual 10: Goal Accountability
Why do 40% of makeovers fall short of what they set out to do? Is it the fault of the team or the person? Here are 13 techniques to encourage personal responsibility for your strategic objectives.
There are a variety of reasons why strategic transitions fail, or at the very least fall short of their goals.
We can spend a lot of time wondering why we failed, whether it be because of unreachable goals (or the opposite), a lack of resources, or simply because changing market conditions prevented the firm from making a change.
What if, though, the problem was something else? What if the issue was the lack of accountability and lack of concentration among your team members and the persons they form?
The boat cannot move forward if the coxswain directs the rowers to row in one direction, and only half of the boat does so.
The likelihood that the team will advance down the field during a drive is significantly decreased if the quarterback refuses the offensive coordinator’s request for a passing play and instead passes off to the halfback with wide receivers already in motion.
Although there are other metaphors that can be used, we come to the conclusion that accountability is essential for team-based success. Additionally, your company is a team.
There are pieces that have obligations, but the aggregate is what matters. If the sum cannot achieve its purpose (goals), it will fail.
Through the perspectives of a leader, manager, and team member, we are discussing three different dimensions for encouraging accountability for strategic goals today. Continue reading to learn why keeping oneself accountable is the common thread in all successful transformations and why everyone has a part to play in yours.
For leaders
1. Appoint
An autocrat is someone who micromanages, is walled off to outside opinions, and offers little opportunities for involvement and progress.
This type of leadership may have been an option in the past for generations emerging from wars all over the world, but in 2021, thanks to COVID-19’s encouragement of remote working, our workforce has more employment possibilities, and we as a people want to feel fulfilled by our jobs.
Therefore, it makes sense that a leader’s ability to assign tasks and duties to their management team will determine whether or not responsibility for strategic goals is successful.
A steadfast leader must be able to delegate effectively in order to connect their management team to their vision of the strategy and ensure that goals are cascaded to their teams with clarity of purpose.
2. Offer the appropriate tools
Without their rackets, tennis players are nothing. Who would run the 100 meters without a stopwatch to record their time?
It is your duty as a leader to make sure that the company has the right resources to carry out your strategy.
Giving your managers and their staff the resources they require, whether it is a license for Microsoft Office, Zoom, pencils, paper, or Strategy Execution Management software, is vital.
If you are unsure of what is required, consult your management team or conduct an organization-wide survey to see what suggestions come up.
3. Set a good example.
Last but not least, don’t be scared to set an example.
Even if you are unable to perform the tasks of the people working on your improvement priorities, you may still be counted on to attend kaizen events, take part in countermeasure activities, or finish a gemba walk.
Don’t think your presence won’t help your team in their regular work (but do not overstay your welcome). They’ll achieve amazing things thanks to your support and encouragement.
For Managers
1. Get team members involved in defining goals
The strategic direction of the leaders must be taken into consideration while the management teams develop the initiatives that will help achieve the main goals.
But how can those initiatives and the goals that go along with them, as well as the top priorities for line improvement, be developed without including the teams that will carry out the strategy?
The catchball technique is particularly effective because of this.
Knowledge holders are present on every Zoom call, roam the workshop floor, and sit in kaizen workshops. Utilize the knowledge around you to inspire innovation and a fresh perspective on work that will support the step change that has been targeted by your superiors.
2. Managers ought to help one another
Tribalism cannot thwart transformation.
Departmental silos must be abandoned.
Identification of the resource that will be required to bring about this paradigm-shifting change is required as part of the critical thinking process involved in transformation.
When team members are removed from operational duties to assist in the long-term effort of your strategic program, the choice on human resources involved in transformation might lead to disagreement amongst managers.
Build a network with the affected managers among you, offer help when you can, and generally make sure you are setting an example for how your teams ought to communicate.
3. Keep tabs on the output and contribution of your team.
You must be accountable for monitoring how your team is doing and how it is progressing as a whole if you are leading a team that is in charge of a project that supports a priority for improvement.
However, that does not entail micromanaging.
Utilize software that enables your team to enter measurements and corresponding diaries for the project-related tasks.
Conduct regular reviews of the team’s performance, and use analytical software and traffic light systems to spot any trends.
4. Encourage and create
A feeling of belonging can lead to accountability.
Make sure to organize team-building exercises and maintain open channels of communication within and between teams. The closer the link we feel to our coworkers, whether it is in terms of communication about our personal or professional lives, the more likely we are to work harder as a team to accomplish our objectives.
Also keep in mind that managers should be seen participating in the process just as much as leaders should. Run a kaizen event, acknowledge the achievements, and, most importantly, take lessons from the mistakes.
5. Try again, this time fail more competently
No one could have put it better than Samuel Beckett.
You must allow your team to fail.
Encourage, oversee, and foster unity, but avoid creating a fake environment where failure has no repercussions.
We still fall short despite our greatest efforts and careful planning for success.
It is crucial that you hold yourself accountable for providing the team with the root cause analysis tools, support, and authority to determine why they could have failed and to take the necessary corrective action.
You’re doing your team a disservice if you protect them from unsuccessful endeavors.
Case Study: KPMG
You’ll need middle managers who not only understand the organization’s goal but also deeply connect with it and lead with moral authority if you want to create an inspired, devoted staff. That goes well beyond what the majority of businesses expect from midlevel employees.
Take KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms, which has thousands of partners. Those partners treated leadership like bookkeeping for many years. Because that was the cultural tone established at the top, they were cautious in their observations, exact in their judgments, and cautious in their decisions. Both senior leaders and the partners lacked an inclination to become sentimental when discussing principles. Employees at all levels tended to only make safe, incremental advancements as a result.
But after that, KPMG saw a change. The business started looking at the idea of purpose. Its leaders were shocked to learn from a history search that it had significantly influenced many important global events. They came to the conclusion that KPMG’s goal was to assist customers in “inspiring confidence and empowering transformation” after conducting and examining hundreds of employee interviews.
Although the firm felt awed by these five words, KPMG’s top executives resisted the urge to use them as a marketing catchphrase. Instead, they sought to link each manager and leader to the goal. They started by candidly discussing their personal sense of meaning and purpose. When this started to have an effect, they realized that the partners and their teams needed to follow suit. The partners were receptive to these expectations when senior management discussed them, but they did not feel prepared to live up to them. As a result, the accounting company made an investment in a novel training program where the partners learned how to deliver engaging tales that reflected their sense of personal identity and career goals.
The culture did shift, even though putting that instruction into practice was challenging—it was a huge stretch for professionals in investment, real estate, tax, risk consulting, and other fields. Today’s partners explain to their teams how their personal purpose relates to their professional lives and the core goal of the company. They are demonstrating a sensitivity and genuineness that nobody had anticipated to see at the middle levels of this accounting business by doing this.
For Team Members
1. Journal
Being a member of a transformation program is undeniably a sign that your abilities are acknowledged, but given the resulting personal change, it is a double-edged sword.
Because the volume and intensity of your effort will vary, it’s crucial to complete goal journals in addition to any metrics you enter. A goal journal will reveal the story behind the number; maybe other obligations interfered with execution, you lacked motivation, or it was hard to concentrate because of how you were feeling.
We tend to overlook our psychological cues much too often, but by providing this insight into your work, you can later consider the influences on it.
2. Assist a coworker who is having a hard time.
In keeping with the first accountability advice, it is important to encourage a colleague who seems to be having trouble.
Accountability on your team involves more than just keeping track of your own actions, feelings, and thoughts. It is in everyone’s best interests to be considerate of our teammates, so if you detect a decline in your coworkers, offer support. This could take the form of a coffee date, training, or simply listening.
3. Plan out your work.
Usually, in a transformation program, you will be involved in several initiatives.
Through tools like the x-matrix, your managers and their leaders will be able to observe the interdependencies, but that is at a top-level view.
By organizing your workload, you may make your efforts transparent and give your management more information about how the resource is being used.
Furthermore, by determining the due date for your job, you are establishing micro-goals, another tool to guide your execution.
4. Self-analysis
A goal tracking app is a requirement to encourage responsibility as your boss and leadership look for the best tools to enable you to perform at the anticipated levels.
The information you are inputting is immediately deposited into the main Strategy Execution Management platform, which is the priceless final result.
You can receive routine review emails from the correct software vendor to enable you to evaluate your own performance.
Self-evaluation is the best source of motivation there is. Reviewing our performance proactively can be a great source of inspiration for us to get better.
5. Request aid
Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for assistance.
There is no shame in needing assistance or instruction to strengthen your efforts.
Goal slippage may be caused by a lack of knowledge or skills.
Cooperation entails holding yourself responsible for strategic objectives.
Utilize the knowledge of the group around you to enhance your own skills. Asking for assistance is preferable to deliberately knowing that you won’t be able to finish your work and will ultimately contribute to your team’s failure.
Is There A Single Person Responsible?
Simply put, no
The purpose of organizational levels, line reports, and various jobs is to create a network of support, expertise, and accountability to keep the firm operating and providing services to its clients.
Setting strategic objectives and carrying them out effectively are essential for the success of our firm. It includes remarkable adjustments to our actions, our working style, and, most importantly, how we hold ourselves accountable.
It’s true that periodic road shows and performance reviews serve as a catalyst for action among firms, but being proactive is always preferable to being reactive.
We must all accept responsibility for the success or failure of the transformation program if we want to stay ahead of ourselves and on track to achieve the advantages of our strategic goals.
Since the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, the one percent succeeds when they cooperate, each holding up their own contribution to the transformation.
https://blog.i-nexus.com/13-ways-to-make-your-team-care-about-goals
Developing mid-level managers into leaders with a purpose
Case Study: KPMG
You’ll need middle managers who not only understand the organization’s goal but also deeply connect with it and lead with moral authority if you want to create an inspired, devoted staff. That goes well beyond what the majority of businesses expect from midlevel employees.
Take KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms, which has thousands of partners. Those partners treated leadership like bookkeeping for many years. Because that was the cultural tone established at the top, they were cautious in their observations, exact in their judgments, and cautious in their decisions. Both senior leaders and the partners lacked an inclination to become sentimental when discussing principles. Employees at all levels tended to only make safe, incremental advancements as a result.
But after that, KPMG saw a change. The business started looking at the idea of purpose. Its leaders were shocked to learn from a history search that it had significantly influenced many important global events. They came to the conclusion that KPMG’s goal was to assist customers in “inspiring confidence and empowering transformation” after conducting and examining hundreds of employee interviews.
Although the firm felt awed by these five words, KPMG’s top executives resisted the urge to use them as a marketing catchphrase. Instead, they sought to link each manager and leader to the goal. They started by candidly discussing their personal sense of meaning and purpose. When this started to have an effect, they realized that the partners and their teams needed to follow suit. The partners were receptive to these expectations when senior management discussed them, but they did not feel prepared to live up to them. As a result, the accounting company made an investment in a novel training program where the partners learned how to deliver engaging tales that reflected their sense of personal identity and career goals.
The culture did shift, even though putting that instruction into practice was challenging—it was a huge stretch for professionals in investment, real estate, tax, risk consulting, and other fields. Today’s partners explain to their teams how their personal purpose relates to their professional lives and the core goal of the company. They are demonstrating a sensitivity and genuineness that nobody had anticipated to see at the middle levels of this accounting business by doing this.
Exercise 2.10: One Year from Now
• What kind of work will you be doing? Where are you going to work? How will you go about achieving your desired outcome?
• Your House – Do you intend to put money aside to purchase a home? Have you been putting off making any improvements to your current home? Does the garden require any care?
• Your finances – Do you want to pay off any debts you have finally and completely? Are you setting money aside for a specific purpose? Want to take control of your retirement planning?
• Relationships – Are you content with your partner? Do you desire marriage? How valuable are your intimate relationships? Do you need to improve your social skills more?
• How do you want yourself to feel about yourself in a year? in terms of the mind, body, society, and oneself? What does that feel like, visually?
Course Manual 11: Purpose Overload
People are your most significant asset, according to a common adage attributed to Stephen Covey. The ideal candidates are truly priceless when it comes to project management. Our projects just couldn’t run without our personnel. How employees do their responsibilities, which range from administrative work to highly technical activities, can make or break a corporation.
While it is crucial for organizations to make the most of their resources, this strategy might backfire when it comes to personnel. Employers who give their personnel too many tasks risk pushing the group to failure in the long run.
This post will define purpose overload, discuss the effects it has on your team, and explain how to recognize it early on and put a stop to it.
What Exactly Is Employee Overload?
An employee will have a variety of tasks to complete on any given workday, each with its own deadline and priority level. Employees occasionally receive more work than they can handle during working hours, though. We refer to this as employee overload. It happens when workers have too much on their plate and can’t easily finish it within their regular work hours.
Anyone working for a company, from an assistant to a manager, whether they are employed full- or part-time, onsite or remotely, can experience employee overload. Individuals, particular teams or divisions, or even the entire company, may be impacted. If it’s connected to a particular endeavor, it might be transient or momentary. But in many instances, it gets ingrained in the corporate culture.
What Consequences Might Purpose Overload Have?
When workers are overworked, the company will probably suffer over time. Employers could be tempted to give their staff members extra work in an effort to boost productivity. This may be effective in the short run, but it quickly has a negative effect on worker performance and health. It will eventually cause problems with staffing and retention inside the company.
The detrimental impacts of purpose overload on your employees’ health are listed below.
Poor Mental Health And “Burnout”
One of the first areas of our well-being that overburden affects is mental health.
Stress
Let’s face it, there are many reasons why we experience stress at work. The American Institute of Stress estimates that 80% of managers and workers experience workplace stress. According to the report, an excessive amount of work is what stresses out employees the most.
Numerous other issues with one’s physical and/or mental health might result from stress. Employee overload can lead to problems ranging from physical symptoms like headaches and stomach problems to social repercussions like hostile work conditions and a limited social life.
Anxiety and Depression
A person’s general mood and emotional health are impacted by overload. Their interactions with others at work and in their personal lives are thus impacted, as is their performance. Employees who are overworked frequently experience increased anxiety as a result of concerns about managing their workload, particularly when they are under time constraints.
Heavy workloads can also lead to depression, such as when workers believe they are operating at maximum efficiency but their workload keeps increasing. When this results in depression, it can further impede their productivity and connections with family, friends, and coworkers.
Burnout
According to the World Health Organization, burnout is a result of ongoing workplace stress that saps individuals’ resources and decreases their effectiveness. Due to an extremely high workload, people who feel they have no authority or influence over their work experience burnout.
They become estranged from their coworkers as a result, and they start to despise their jobs. Employees find it difficult to report to work because of these feelings, which leads to resignations. According to a poll conducted by employee well-being business Limeade, 40% of resignations in 2021 were brought on by burnout.
Obstacles To Physical Wellness
Under addition to their emotional health, your staff members’ physical health is also in danger from purpose overload. The body can experience the following physical impacts of overload.
Insomnia
Our brains find it difficult to transition from working to sleeping mode when we put in extended workdays due to excessive workloads. We have trouble falling asleep as a result, especially at night when our bodies are repairing themselves. Overwhelm-related insomnia can result in decreased production, which will be more detrimental to your company than beneficial.
Increased Risk Of Heart Disease And Complications
Employees who are overworked experience constant stress and have a higher risk of heart attacks than those who are not. Overwork and heart issues are directly related, according to research. For instance, those who clock over 55 hours a week are 13% more likely to get a heart attack than those who clock in between 35 and 40 hours each week. A three to four hour daily overtime shift increases your risk of developing chronic heart disease by 60%.
Increased Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes
Overworked workers are more likely to get Type 2 Diabetes than heart disease. One study found a link between the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes and those who put in 55 or more hours per week. In the meantime, a different study discovered that the irregular work schedules of Indian sanitation workers directly contributed to their serious health issues, which included diabetes.
What Effects Does Overworking Your Team Have?
Health is supposedly wealth, but because of employee overburden, it is far too frequently disregarded. Your company will suffer if you don’t put your employees’ well-being first as employers. Here are a few effects of excessive workload on your team.
Poor Quality Work
Overload-related stress and weariness might lower productivity during working hours. Employees that are exhausted and overworked cannot perform to their regular standards. To complete the assignment as soon as possible so that they can move on to the next task in the queue, they might take shortcuts and forego finishing checks. In this case, speed invariably trumps quality, and as a result, a worker who is overworked is more likely to produce work that is inconsistent or of lower quality.
Conflicts At Work All The Time
Irritability is one of the most obvious symptoms of stress. Purpose overload may be to blame if you see a worker yelling at their coworkers or witness a sharp fall in team spirit. These alterations in attitude lead to disputes among team members, which has an impact on the office atmosphere and the performance of your team as a whole.
High Turnover
Although employers might not be aware of it, a high employee turnover rate is one of the causes. The general work environment at your firm might be impacted by overworking your personnel. Additionally, if overloading is accepted in the workplace, you will lose good workers more quickly.
Compromised Brand Reputation
Potential employees will almost certainly learn about the organization before they even start to apply for a position. They will look into many facets of your company, such as the income, perks, and workload they may anticipate. Most candidates hesitate if they learn that the company has a high employee turnover rate because of overworked personnel. This reputation could hurt your company down the road because it will leave you short-staffed if you are losing workers more quickly than you are bringing in new ones.
How To Identify Overworked Employees
It’s time to understand how to recognize the symptoms of purpose overload in your team now that you are aware of how overload affects the health of your employees and the team as a whole.
Reduced Energy
Everyone gets worn out by too much work, but it still interferes with sleep. Even from staff that are typically energized, you could detect a drop in enthusiasm.
Being Prone To Distraction
Consistent overwork has a bad impact on concentration. You’ll see your staff members lose focus as their energy levels decline and their stress levels grow. They are not paying attention to the subject at hand and are easily sidetracked.
Regular Tardiness And Absences
Employees quit loving their work when they become burned out. They can arrive after hours or not at all. Being frequently late owing to the high workload and losing their work-life balance might result in tardiness and absenteeism. They might also be signs of depression, which has been linked to overload in the past.
Case Study: WATT Global Media and ROWE
Although WATT Global Media had been a successful family-owned B2B publishing company for almost a century, management had noticed engagement among their new, highly skilled employees needed improvement. These employees appeared to lack a basic understanding of who the customer was and how their day-to-day tasks were relevant to bottom-line results.
Greg Watt and his management group felt that a change was necessary. They came across a method of management known as the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE). Simply said, the ROWE philosophy holds that work is not a destination, but rather something you do. Work is managed; employees are not. Employees in ROWEs are given the freedom to do anything they choose, including working whenever and wherever they please as long as the task is done.
Watt was aware that it would be a significant adjustment, but after some thought, the business decided to go forward. Annual performance reviews, defined office hours, any requirement to report to work, and top-down, hazy management interactions with employees were all eliminated. Every management has to abandon their use of the command-and-control method. According to Watt, “We lost a few who didn’t make it over to the other side. But once everyone else joined in, we succeeded spectacularly.”
The outcomes have been noticeable, to put it mildly. Financial results have exceeded expectations since implementation in 2012; employee retention is up significantly as a result of employees’ ability to move across the country for personal reasons without losing ground; employee satisfaction scores have improved noticeably; and resumés for new positions have been flooding in as a result of employee word-of-mouth recommendations. According to Watt, “people are cooperating, exchanging ideas, and learning from each other in a way they never did before.”
How To Keep Workers From Being Overworked
There are various techniques to prevent employee overload so that your team members can maintain their focus at work and achieve a better work-life balance. Here are a few concepts:
Consider Using Single-Tasking
When assigning work, demonstrate that you are taking each person’s wellbeing into account. Try to implement single-tasking, for instance, inside your team. Your staff will be able to generate better work since they will be able to concentrate on one task at a time rather than feeling overburdened by a never-ending list of things to complete.
Set Limitations
Establish clear boundaries so that everyone on your team understands that working excessive hours is not acceptable. Tell them, for instance, not to read their work emails after hours to reduce stress. Set a good example by refraining from calling your team members on holidays or weekends unless there is an urgent matter.
Talk About Self-Care And Mental Health
It might be challenging for some people to discuss their health or how their job is affecting their emotional well-being. But once more, there is a situation in which you can really set a good example. Make self-care and mental health a topic of discussion. This can foster a sense of belonging and support at work.
Better Manage Resources
Enhance your resource management processes to prevent personnel from being stretched too thin. Select a system that alerts you when someone is overbooked so you may control their workload proactively before they experience the consequences of overload.
Although it may be difficult, capacity planning is much simpler to implement with tools and systems that offer you a bird’s eye perspective of your resources and help you plan out a project from beginning to end, allowing you to manage resource allocation without overtaxing your team members. With the help of these elements, you can design a staffing strategy that encourages a positive balance between the work commitments and personal obligations of your employees.
Exercise 2.11: Concentration
Course Manual 12: Purposeful Leadership
What Is Purposeful Leadership And Why It Matters
According to a line from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” This short quotation highlights the significance of understanding where you want to go in life and at business. Those in positions of leadership should have this idea in mind in particular. Although the term “purposeful leadership” may sound vague, the benefits are readily apparent when we observe a leader who knows and lives their particular purpose.
Great leaders strive to achieve their most crucial results while living their principles and enjoying the happiness that comes from being loyal to their purpose.
What Does A Leadership Purpose Mean?
A leader’s purpose reveals their “why” for leading, and it should serve as a North Star to guide them through the challenging situations that come with leadership. The following questions are answered by a leadership purpose.
• As a leader, what do you enjoy doing most?
• What beneficial influence would you like to have on the world?
• What bonds do you wish to forge or strengthen?
• What has altered as a result of your direction?
Four Advantages of a Purposeful Leader
(1) Drive and wellbeing
We have all seen what a capable leader can accomplish in a position that is consistent with their main mission. Making progress toward fulfilling work attracts a leader’s effort, intelligence, emotional intelligence, and social intelligence to the highest level possible. To the fullest extent possible, a leader needs these components.
Sadly, leaders frequently find themselves in circumstances in which their leadership role is not aligned with their purpose, which makes it challenging for them to lead with the passion, drive, and engagement necessary to exhibit their best selves. You can determine if your leadership role fits with your mission using the list below.
Being a leader should provide you the opportunity to:
• vibrant and enthusiastic
• Strong dedication to the company, the team, and the role
• Consistently high standards of quality
• a distinct idea of the desired effects
Great leaders are aware that the basis for authenticity, drive, and wellbeing throughout their leadership journeys is a clear and meaningful purpose.
(2) Consistency
Even in a corporate environment that is undergoing fast change, leaders whose actions are in line with their purpose are consistent with their reactions. A leader’s actions frequently come across as haphazard or manipulative when they lack a clear and known objective. Knowing what to expect from a leader enhances engagement and satisfaction, which boosts worker productivity.
Consistency does not imply that a leader is not flexible or able to make the necessary adjustments in response to fresh information and shifting circumstances. It simply means that they take the time to explain why they have altered course and assist others in comprehending how the shift is consistent with the leader’s and organization’s values and mission.
When a leader exhibits inconsistent behavior, followers lose confidence in their ability to act and believe they must wait to see what is requested of them. Employees will hesitate even though they are aware of what they should do. Consistency breeds doubt, causes delays, and puts staff through more stress.
(3) Clarity in Complex Situations
A leader’s mission serves as the compass that directs them in the right path when faced with ambiguity, complexity, and uncertainty. A leader can state a compelling objective, but if it does not inform their behavior, it will undermine the employees’ trust and well-being.
Leaders with a clear purpose don’t attribute their actions to external factors. Instead of behaving out of fear, doubt, or irritation, people who are clear about and committed to their mission are able to pick the optimal course of action.
(4) Establishes Safe Boundaries
A leader’s purpose serves as a roadmap for selecting the best priorities with their limited time and energy. Leaders frequently experience a gap between their daily actions and their purpose. Leaders can utilize their noes to defend their yeses in good conscience when they have a clear and compelling purpose. Leaders may establish appropriate boundaries for how they allocate their time and energy thanks to the clarity of purpose-driven decision-making.
Sadly, not enough leaders spend the necessary effort defining and continuously honing their specific leadership mission. This is a mistake because individuals who lead with a clear and purposeful goal reap numerous important advantages for both themselves and the people they are leading. The most inspiring and effective leaders deliberately identify their leadership mission and match their day-to-day behavior with that purpose. They realize that this is the cornerstone of leadership authenticity, meaning, and wellbeing. Do you understand why you want to lead?
Case Study: Lush
The cosmetic company Lush’s decision to shut its social media accounts after leakers exposed the harm done by Facebook and Instagram is a recent example of purpose-driven leadership. We’re talking about suicide here, not spots or whether someone should colour their hair blonde, the CEO told The Guardian. If we look at it and don’t care, how can we claim to be a caring company?
Making tough choices to put the bigger mission above profits is what it means to lead with purpose.
Seven Traits Of Leaders Who Are Purpose-Driven
Passion For The Company’s Success.
These leaders are deeply and genuinely emotionally invested in the achievement of their missions. They prioritize the requirements of the team and the achievement of the objectives over their own demands.
Approach The Job With A Sensible Sense Of Urgency.
This is essential for managing change or uncertainty in the workplace. Starting from the top, combating business battle fatigue and keeping a proactive attitude toward the task are essential.
Create A Setting That Is Productive.
In times of uncertainty, a lack of clear direction, structural and behavioral silos, and resource constraints cause many teams and organizations to struggle with engagement, productivity, and achieving results. Whose fault is that, though? Right. Fix it, then.
Have A Personal Focus Or Direction.
In their personal lives, purpose-driven leaders frequently display the same level of zeal, passion, and focused discipline. And everyone is aware of it.
As They Make Judgments On A Regular Basis, Keep Purpose At The Forefront.
Activities, projects, and initiatives should not be undertaken if they are simply a diversion from the goal and aim. Period.
Able To Picture The Effect They Desire To Have On Others And On Their Organization.
The key to leading with purpose is having the capacity to actually picture the desired outcomes and winning scenario. It gives the leader the ability to eloquently state the necessary goal-oriented actions.
Successfully Overcome Challenges As You Work To Produce Lasting, Sustainable Results.
Resilience is necessary for purposeful leadership, especially while navigating the choppy waters of transition and uncertainty. resiliency in thought resilient conduct. tenacious action.
Getting In The Way Of Leading With Purpose
If your work lacks meaning, it will manifest in the way you lead. Others will see your glaring lack of dedication and direction. These absences are probably going to lead to resentment toward the group’s efforts, and the outcomes will suffer. However, there are times when a leader loses the early enthusiasm they had for the company. That is neither exceptional nor indicative of malice. But the leader must be self-aware enough to either step back or walk aside when this occurs.
For improvement, getting input from others is essential. If people perceive you as managing rather than inspiring and leading, you might want to look through the following descriptors and highlight any that you feel are impeding your ability to find a purpose that will underpin your leadership style:
• You don’t spend enough time interacting with the people you need to motivate.
• You don’t pause to consider the purpose of your work or your motivations.
• The organization doesn’t support the projects and objectives that motivate you.
• You discuss “purpose” and “the why” but don’t encourage action.
• You neglect the now in favor of the future.
Great, But What Now?
Make the time: Take a few minutes each day to reflect about your purpose. What matters to you? What are your desired time and talent commitments?
Understand your “why” and consider why you want to lead in the first place. What are the benefits, downsides, rewards, and advantages? Recognize the weight of your responsibility. Bring your ideas to at least two people who have experienced a comparable situation, and seek their opinions.
Determine what makes you special – what can you do that no one else can? A special collection of skills can draw attention to or ignite a sense of purpose. Concentrate on those, then assign the rest.
Reduce interruptions and conflicting priorities. While still carrying out your obligations, look at ways to streamline your existing workload and concentrate on key duties that support your goal. To maintain attention, assign duties to your direct reports or split responsibility with a colleague, at least temporarily.
Consider the periods in your career when your direction was obvious and you were glowing with joy, then move forward. What did you and your work have in common that made that possible? How may you mimic those events in your present situation?
Make goals in areas that will place you in a position to help others if you want to develop your leadership purpose. These responsibilities may not always be tailored to your advantage (even though they will benefit you). You might want to concentrate on the following areas:
What are you passionate about?
What makes you happy?
How can you lead others in the business by utilizing this passion or joy?
What kinds of labor energize you and what kinds make you feel exhausted?
When was the last time anything went wrong or you became frustrated at work? What was your response? What happened to the situation? What would you change if you could?
What inscription would you want to appear on your gravestone? What more must you prove to support that?
How do you wish to contribute to your neighborhood or society?
Now, complete these drills, create a strategy, return to your field of war, and execute, execute, execute!
Exercise 2.12: Leadership Pizza
Do we not all enjoy pizza? This time, the slices provide a chance for a leadership self-evaluation in addition to delicious flavor.
Flow: It is a tool for introspection and self-evaluation where you consider the most crucial traits and dispositions you must develop to become a great leader.
• Integrity
• Vision & Inspire
• Empathy Value and Recognize People
• Love & Purpose
• Self-awareness
• Self-efficiency
• Prioritization
Project Studies
Project Study (Part 1) – Customer Service
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 2) – E-Business
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 3) – Finance
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 4) – Globalization
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 5) – Human Resources
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 6) – Information Technology
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 7) – Legal
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 8) – Management
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 9) – Marketing
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 10) – Production
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 11) – Logistics
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 12) – Education
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Discovering Team Purpose process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Purpose Driven
02. Finding Purpose
03. Bigger Picture
04. Communicating Purpose
05. Embed Purpose
06. Engaged Purpose
07. Shared Purpose
08. Individual Purpose
09. Role Clarity
10. Goal Accountability
11. Purpose Overload
12. Purposeful Leadership
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Program Benefits
Production
- Work measurement
- Labor efficiency
- Constraints management
- Workload balance
- Methods standardization
- Manufacturing reporting
- Changeover completion
- Personnel assignment
- Cost reduction
- Capacity utilization
Operations
- Interactive research
- Project execution
- Quality management
- Continuous improvement
- Performance analysis
- Cost effective
- Time effective
- Process improvement
- Performance improvement
- Process decentralization
Human Resources
- Improve engagement
- Improve retention
- Mitigate burnout
- Foster wellbeing
- Human flourishing
- Inclusive environment
- Recover morale
- Inspire workforce
- Reduce absenteeism
- Employee satisfaction
Client Telephone Conference (CTC)
If you have any questions or if you would like to arrange a Client Telephone Conference (CTC) to discuss this particular Unique Consulting Service Proposition (UCSP) in more detail, please CLICK HERE.