Introduction
In this article we illustrate a business case of bottom-up purpose creation implemented by HRI. In the coming weeks we will publish within the “projects” section of our blog our other real cases and application projects.
The “ purpose ” of a company (literally purpose means aim, purpose) goes beyond the traditional reading of the Vision and Mission, it contributes to defining the identity of a brand and / or a company by enhancing the values and motivations that drive the company to action, connoting a dimension of ethical-social relevance in addition to the economic.
Identifying and communicating one’s purpose represents a challenge and a commitment for companies: it is a medium- to long-term strategy, requiring consistent actions. Once the purpose has been chosen, it must necessarily guide the organization’s operational choices. After extensively defining and communicating its “purpose,” any inconsistencies of the company will be particularly apparent.
An example of a purpose-driven brand
Patagonia a decidedly “purpose-driven” brand
An example of purpose that we like very much and bring as an example is that of the Patagonia brand, which represents an extraordinary case of a purpose-driven brand.
In addition to the declaration of its environmental commitment, it carries out (and narrates) a series of concrete and tangible initiatives for the realization of its purpose. This involves choices that are sometimes even uneconomic but supported by the strength that such a purpose gives the brand, and thus the ability to sustain even higher prices.
Approaches to defining purpose
There are various ways of working out the company’s purpose. The two main approaches are:
- Top-down approach: the management team dictates the purpose guidelines by “capturing from above” the values of the company.
- Bottom-up approach: the management team makes its fundamental contribution to the creation of the purpose but also involves employees by asking them to express their views and give voice to the various souls of the company.
In this article we will deal with a business case (technology and innovation company with about 1,000 employees) of bottom-up purpose creation.
Why there is a need for a purpose
There are a variety of reasons for defining the purpose of one’s company.
- The purpose can be a differentiator from the competition. If well told (storytelling) it says something about the brand that goes beyond the products or services offered, such as how the company sees society, or the relationship with its customers and employees. Customers and employees can identify with the values expressed, establish an emotional connection, and create stronger bonds of loyalty with the brand and the company.
- It represents a critical success factor in terms of attractiveness to Millennials and especially to Z-gen (referring to both potential employees and customers). For younger people, the values aspects are key and they prefer companies that explicitly state and implement values.
- Purpose can be a key element of identity for employees. Especially in cases of M&A, change of ownership (perhaps with the exit of an owner who was a reference point and inspiration for all), creation of new production or business units, inclusion of new product and service lines. In general, all situations that shift the center of gravity of activity and/or the structural set-up of the company.
Purpose as a cornerstone
In all cases we can see purpose as the pivot around which business life revolves over a long period of time (ideally the entire life of the business), but when we go on to define bottom-up purpose, an additional value is added. You empower the people who live the business (sometimes including customers and suppliers) to participate in defining the foundation of their home.
Tiziano Terzaghi wrote “Live a life in which you can recognize yourself” in “The End is My Beginning.” From literature to life this theme of recognizing values, lifestyles is becoming more and more fundamental, especially for Z-generation youth and after the Covid pandemic.
Bottom-up purpose project setting
The bottom-up purpose project must qualify the purpose starting from a structured “listening” phase of corporate “feeling.” We divided the activities into four stages.
Cluster definition
First, we did a population segmentation to identify listening targets/clusters. Through data collection and analysis of the corporate perimeter population, population segments were identified to be represented in the focus groups. Next, the “real” participants in the focus groups (about 50 people) were identified.
Listening
The listening phase included the planning and management of the focus groups (7 groups of employees + 1 group consisting of the management team). The results of the focus groups are used to set the next phase.
Extended listening
We felt it was important to obtain involvement of the entire population through the preparation and administration of a survey.
Analysis and restitution
In this phase we drafted a document where we explained the activities and analysis done. Finally, the document contains some proposals for the “purpose statement” and key attributes, consistent with the corporate identity and the contributions that emerged from the listening phases. The document remained fully available to the company to finalize the purpose definition.
Cluster definition
We set out to create a number of focus groups so that they would be representative of the entire corporate population. We started by analyzing the population not only from an organizational perspective, but also with respect to other “personal” variables. Among these variables were age, gender, seniority in the company, schooling, children, etc. .
Hierarchical radial representation of groups by location, gender, level of education and age.
This helped to combine a corporate vision with the vision of the whole of the individuals who represent the soul of the company. From the different visions of people of different generations, experiences, values and aspirations, a choral vision of the foundation on which to build purpose emerged.
Once this clustering was done, we verified that the groups thus constituted had the right statistical representativeness with respect to the entire corporate population.
Finally, the participants (anonymously represented as sets of “statistical” attributes) and the contents of the focus groups and survey were presented to and previously validated by the HR function.
Listening
Focus groups
The focus groups involved about 50 people representative of different corporate “souls” (groups of 6-7 people, duration 120′ per group). There were 7 groups plus one group composed of members of the management team. The 7 groups were facilitated through 3 open questions on the Zoom platform and then we had some of the focus groups do an additional “future exercise” consisting of 5 open questions to be answered on the Mirò platform. In choosing the groups, we used the expedient of making them internally homogeneous and differentiated from each other to bring out more clearly any distinct visions.
Convergence and divergence
In this way we were able to clearly note points of convergence and points of divergence and identify a “sentiment” for each group that summarizes themes and dynamics of the discussion in the specific group.
Differentiated listening
We also did differentiated listening experiences to avoid the technological obstacle represented by the Miró platform for some of the participants.
The last focus group, that of the management team, followed a different path: we proposed both a more specific and focused “future exercise” and purpose writing.
Extended listening
Survey consisting of 7 questions between multiple choice and open-ended questions. One of the latter questions required a purpose proposal.
The redemption of the survey reached almost 60% of the population and, more significantly, 60% of the participants wrote a purpose proposal.
We contextually measured for each question the responses by age group finding sometimes interesting matches between people of distant generations.
Analysis and return
The material collected during the various stages of the project, including the notes taken during the focus groups, is literally a mine of information.
Among the various analyses we have returned to our Clients:
WordCloudexample
- an analysis of the texts and in particular the frequency of keywords in the focus groups, the survey and the purposes sent in response to the survey.
- a mapping of the convergent (and divergent) traits among the focus groups.
- a graphical representation of keywords expressed in general and on specific themes/questions/groups (WordCloud).
- an analysis by age group of survey responses.
- some initial purpose proposals created from the synthesis of the work done and using some of the most significant keywords.
- contextualization of the purpose proposals within other purposes of large and well-known companies in the same or different sectors from that of the Client.
- a series of considerations of the implications that the adoption of certain keywords in the purpose should then lead to consistent operational and business choices.
Conclusions
Our bottom-up purpose project in addition to being very engaging and interesting allowed HRI to field an “arsenal” of methodologies and tools for maximum effectiveness and quality of outcome. For example, we used both statistical analysis (group creation and validation, text analysis, keyword frequency identification, etc.) and “analog” methods such as active listening in focus groups. The conduct of the entire program was held through technology platforms of video calling (Zoom) and collaboration (Miró). All this produced excellent results from several points of view:
- it made it possible to collect, in a relatively short time, a large amount of relevant and already qualified information
- organize this information in a usable way by being able to modulate the appropriate degree of synthesis or detail
- have quantitative as well as qualitative evidence on the various “souls” of the company
- return to our Clients an “operable” synthesis but enriched by all the various moments in which the analysis took place.
For us, it was further proof that even a topic like purpose can be dealt with more successfully by making use of HR analytics.