This post originally appeared on the Organizational Communication Research Center blog for the Institute for Public Relations. It’s no secret that today’s leading businesses are turning to purpose to articulate their mission, power growth, unite and motivate the organization, and become future-ready in a world of non-stop change. Study after study confirms purpose’s impact on the bottom line. Consider the following:
Business adoption of purpose can and should be measured. At Gagen MacDonald, we begin by diagnosing adoption gaps within a particular organization—areas where the expression of purpose isn’t yet aligned with internal realities. That process involves working with the leadership team to gather insights through a proprietary diagnostic—for example: How does purpose create value for the business? Provide strategic clarity? Contribute to brand authenticity? Influence the experiences of customers and employees?In gathering these data points around critical investment areas that drive purpose, we can reconvene with leadership to assess the current state—how well the company as a whole understands its purpose to date and how it uses purpose actively in decision-making. From here, we build a tailored adoption plan aimed at closing these gaps.As the diagram below indicates, measuring business adoption of purpose means measuring progress towards adoption-specific desired behaviors and practices, elevating individual success stories via recognition, and embracing an iterative approach. The core elements outlined below represent a subset of all possible levers companies can pull to activate purpose within the organization. Activation plans must be tailored to each organization’s needs and goals, but most will include these core components.
Embracing an iterative approach, in particular, is crucial. Once activated within an organization, purpose can yield powerful, lasting results. As former CEO of Barclays Antony Jenkins put it, “Purpose is not an add-on. It’s not an initiative. It is a culture change and it never finishes.” I’d complement this thought with another point by Maril Gagen MacDonald: “While purpose is the collective ambition of your company, meaning is the satisfaction you get for living your purpose. Together, purpose serves as the anchor that keeps an organization true to its core, and meaning inspires energy and optimism to continue to deliver on the collective dream.”
- A 2016 Ernst & Young study revealed that 87% of consumers believe companies perform best over time if their purpose goes beyond profit.
- According to Korn Ferry research, organizations with teams focused on purpose had annual growth rates nearly triple the annual rate for the entire industry.


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