Common Purpose

Shawnee Love   •  
August 3, 2010

I closed off last week poking a bit of fun at company rivalries. Although the dialogue borders on humorous, the results of company in-fighting are not funny. I decided that for the next couple of weeks, I will flush out the ideas for reducing the rivalry. First we have creating and communicating a common purpose. This idea has two key components:

Create AND Communicate

Think of them like yin and yang. Where one ends, the other begins and you can’t have one without the other. They are not like the chicken and the egg, because a common purpose clearly comes before communication.

When I work with clients, I always ask what they are in business to do. It is common to get many different answers from the same company, and that variation represents a problem for the business for the same reason that dragon boats and river rafts go in circles instead of towards their goals when the paddlers are all over the place.

To prevent the corporate dizziness that comes from everyone paddling against each other, I encourage the company leaders to establish their common purpose. E.g., at the next leadership meeting, go around the room and ask each participant this question:

“Why does this business exist?”

Write down the answers and discuss. Agreement means there is a common purpose and it is time to communicate.  If the answers don’t align or even worse, disagree, then don’t let anyone leave the room until you do have a final answer. A common purpose will guide your boat’s direction, encourage your people to work together, and thus affect every aspect of your business going forward. When looked at through that light, few things are as important to your business success.

Strangely, creating the common purpose is the easy part for many companies. Communication is where organizations fall down because it is far easier for a few leaders who spend a lot of time together to decide on a purpose than it is for those leaders to go forth and articulate the same clear, concise, consistent, and continual message (the 4 Cs of Corporate Communication which we’ll talk more about in another article). There is no magic and unfortunately no tool or technique to make this easier. Much like a yo yo diet, temporarily diligent communication doesn’t have lasting results and can leave you worse off in the long run. For communication to be effective, it must be part of your leadership style for the rest of your tenure. Are you ready for the commitment?