winning with purpose 1 winning with purpose - ry

1Winning with purpose

Winning with purposeHow to improve employee engagement and internal communications through purpose

Winning with purposeHow to improve employee engagement and internal communications through purpose

radley yeldar.

Winning with internal communication

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Winning with internal communication


“ Employees are increasingly choosing their employer of choice, whose purpose and values align with theirs. This gives rise to the importance of internal communications in helping to create a unified culture that enables people to do their best work and contribute to the success of the organisation.”

Ellwood Atfield/ComRes (2017) The changing face of internal communications

Brands with purpose use their unique position, expertise and capabilities to deliver things that matter to individuals, society or the planet.

Over the last decade, many businesses have embraced purpose to add meaning, texture and value to their brands. Done well, purpose helps cut through in a noisy landscape. Done brilliantly, it allows individuals to connect emotionally with an organisation and to enhance engagement.

Here are our thoughts on the pivotal role of internal communication in placing purpose at the centre of why an organisation exists and how it creates and sustains value.

We hope you find our point of view informative and practical, either as a conversation-starter if your organisation does not have a purpose, or if you are looking for new ways to infuse purpose in your communications and culture.

We have also included comments from senior internal communication practitioners who are working to embed purpose in their respective organisations. They participated in a roundtable discussion jointly hosted by Radley Yeldar and the Institute of Internal Communication, on the role of internal communication in enabling purpose-driven organisations.

Participants represented a broad range of sectors including financial services, professional services, IT, engineering, healthcare and retail.

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Why purpose


We’re living in a rapidly changing world where macro-trends – such as technology, consumer activism, sustainability, globalisation and changing expectations about work – are forcing organisations to think deeply about what they stand for and how they behave. Purpose is a response to these shifts.

Thinking specifically about employees, people increasingly want to work in organisations with an ambition beyond maximising returns for shareholders. They want to contribute to something bigger. This is influencing the employers they choose, how long they stay and their performance.

For employers and employees, employee engagement is the difference that makes the difference. But, research by Edelman tells us that trust in organisations and their leaders is at an all-time low. And according to Gallup, employee engagement levels have remained fairly static for the last 15 years or so. So it’s clear that we need new approaches to raising employee engagement.

More organisations are placing purpose at the centre of why they exist and how they behave, in order to improve trust, employee engagement, performance and reputation.

Becoming a purposeful organisation begins with articulating your purpose – creating a vital opportunity for internal communication practitioners. Realising the benefits of your purpose will require positive organisational change; and internal communication also has an essential role to play in partnership with other functions including brand, marketing and HR.

Here we give our thoughts on the why, how and what of becoming a purposeful organisation.

“ Employee engagement was traditionally driven by a good salary and attractive benefits, but today most people see these as a given. Instead they look at what an organisation is working towards and known for. Crucially, they want to know that, as an employee, they will understand what they are working towards and how they make a difference, which gives them a greater sense of purpose.”

Imperative & LinkedIn Purpose at Work – 2016 workforce purpose index, Imperative & LinkedIn

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What the statistics say…


There is a great deal of evidence about the positive impact of purpose on employer reputation as well as employee attraction, engagement and performance.

Here are some research highlights:

– 60% of job seekers choose companies to work for based on their purpose.1

– 64% of employees feel more loyal towards businesses that aim to do more than simply create shareholder value.2

– 84% of employees working for organisations with a shared sense of purpose are engaged, compared with 32% of those working in organisations without a shared sense of purpose.3

– Ensuring employees have opportunities to do what they do best every day, and emphasising mission and purpose, are the two strongest factors in retaining all generations of employees.4

– Employees who derive meaning and significance from their work are more than three times as likely to stay with their organisations.5

– Organisations with a strong sense of purpose are more likely to embrace diversity and different opinions, encourage innovation among employees, and provide the tools and resources for employees to realise their full potential.6

– 89% of executives cite a strong sense of collective purpose as a driver of employee satisfaction; 84% say it can affect an organisation’s ability to transform; and 80% say it helps increase customer loyalty.7

– 82% of employees and executives have more confidence in companies with a strong sense of purpose.8

“ Connecting your employees and applicants

to jobs that bring out their sense of purpose will only

benefit your company. Employees that are more

satisfied and fulfilled are higher performers, more

productive and likely to stay longer.”

Imperative & LinkedIn Purpose at Work –

2016 workforce purpose index, Imperative & LinkedIn

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Here’s how...

Embedding purpose in an organisation is a continuous process of planning, feedback and action to progressively establish it in communications, behaviours, processes and systems. From an internal perspective, we believe there are six essential steps in a continuous cycle. You may sequence the steps differently depending on your journey and strategy. But internal communication has a vital role to play in each one:

01. Define your

purpose and put it at the centre

of your core narrative

03. Stimulate

dialogue about your purpose

to demonstrate commitment

04. Show the impact of

your purpose to bring it to life

05. Align your

purpose and the employee

experience

06. Use your purpose

to enable further change

02. Connect people both rationally

and emotionally with your purpose

PURPOSE-DRIVEN INTERNAL

COMMUNICATION


01. Define your purpose and put it at the centre of your core narrative

Create an inspiring and memorable purpose and a core narrative that aligns your purpose, ambition, strategy, brand and values.

02. Connect people both rationally and emotionally with your purpose

Put your purpose and core narrative at the centre of your internal communications.

03. Stimulate dialogue about your purpose to demonstrate commitment

Help leaders and managers act as role models and make purpose a part of their everyday conversations.

04. Show the impact of your purpose to bring it to life

Share human stories and best practice that show the purpose in action and connect the work of individual employees with your purpose.

05. Align your purpose and the employee experience

Work with colleagues so that your purpose and values are consistent with your employee experience and communications.

06. Use your purpose to enable further change

Show the measurable benefits of your purpose in action to encourage further dialogue and progress towards realising your purpose.

On the following pages you’ll find greater detail about the potential role for internal communication at each of the six steps, including the strategy, tools and tactics you might use.

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Define your purpose and put it at the centre of your narrative

01


Simply crafting a purpose statement does not qualify an organisation as ‘purposeful’. This will require action that aligns your purpose with consistency in what you do and how you do it.

But to get things off to the right start, it is essential that your purpose is inspiring, believable, ownable and true for your people, giving a clear, differentiated and motivating reason to work at your organisation. It must also be rooted in the brand and built from recognised, existing strengths, as well as being written in everyday language.

Your purpose also needs to be at the centre of your core narrative, giving people both the big picture and a line of sight to the contribution they can make through their daily work.

Contributions for internal communication

Strategy

Contribute to the creation of the purpose and the core narrative. Champion it for employees, and get them involved so the result resonates with them both rationally and emotionally.

Ensure support for the final purpose statement and core narrative by all business leaders.

Tools

Use creative approaches that involve people in the conversation – such as focus groups, team meetings and digital platforms – when testing potential statements with current and prospective employees.

Tactics

Formalise your purpose within a core narrative, with supporting messaging and stories that are memorable and easy to recall. They will help drive your internal communication strategy.

“ For internal communication, the

ideal place to be is in the middle of the

process. How do the decisions that leaders

make shape the purpose, so that we’re not

just taking their message and being asked

to do something with it?”

“ You have to be at the discussion tables when big decisions are made, but you also have to be on the ground.”

“ When we help organisations with change, we need to respect that the past is a fundamental part. It’s in the vernacular – don’t just run the purpose at me. It needs to be how we are, in the DNA, not just words you say at me.”

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Connect people both rationally and emotionally with your purpose

02


Recently published research reported that the majority of internal communication professionals believe their discipline should have a primary focus on aligning people with the organisation’s purpose and strategy. This is a great position to work from, though ‘aligning people’ could be interpreted as ‘processing to conform’, when what we want is commitment rather than compliance.

Your core narrative is a platform for engaging your people with your purpose when it is put at the centre of your internal communication strategy. A primary objective for your internal communication strategy will be to connect people both rationally and emotionally with your purpose – so they understand what it means and want to make it a part of their daily work.


Strategy

Place your purpose and the core narrative at the centre of your internal communication strategy.

Tools

Prepare briefings and toolkits for internal communication teams so they are familiar with the core story and supporting messaging. This will allow them to help local leaders and managers with their communications.

Tactics

Ensure the core story is memorable and easy to recall without notes. Help leaders and managers speak about it in a meaningful and conversational way – preferably adding their own stories for additional authenticity and relevance. Ensure they can speak confidently about the purpose in town halls, team meetings, one-to-one conversations, blogs, etc.

Depending on your strategic approach, this could be a ‘soft launch’ to begin uniting leaders and managers around the purpose, or a standout launch campaign for all employees that signifies a landmark in the evolution of the organisation.

A bold launch campaign should ignite awareness and understanding of the purpose, creating an emotional connection and excitement. Place the purpose in the context of people’s daily work so they can see how they are contributing to the organisation’s purpose.

Build the movement by encouraging people to share their views and stories of what the purpose means to them through digital platforms and the work environment.

“ Ensure everything that is communicated relates to the purpose and challenge anything that’s not.”

“ We’ve got to come up with conversations around why purpose is important and find ways to have those conversations regularly.”

“ Ensure it’s part of the

ongoing narrative.”

“ Keep it on the agenda in

our channels.”

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Stimulate dialogue about your purpose to demonstrate commitment

03


A key success factor for embedding purpose is having visible, engaging leaders and managers who bring the purpose and values to life through their behaviour and communications. For example, KPMG found a significant relationship between leaders who spoke about purpose to their team and higher levels of employee pride, retention and performance, compared with those leaders who didn’t.


Strategy

Equip leaders and managers to understand their essential role in encouraging dialogue and purpose-driven change – as visible, committed role models, coaches and responsive listeners.

Tools

Resources and content that leaders, managers and champions can use to communicate purpose, strategy and values – and to set expectations – in town halls, performance updates, team meetings and one-to-ones, including stories that recognise successes.

Tactics

Create purpose-related experiences and scenarios that help leaders and managers explore with their teams the impact of their work within and outside the organisation. Build from this immersion to encourage dialogue about further ways for the purpose and values to be applied in the future.

Organise online and face-to-face sessions that focus on specific topics concerning purpose, values and the customer experience, to generate points of view, comment, dialogue and storytelling. Ensure leaders and people managers are aware of the topics and points of view that are being shared, and encourage and support their participation in the conversations.

“ Ensure leaders are ready to

support communication of it.”

“ We got all our senior leaders to commit their vision on video, and we replay it. It’s on film. And they’ve said, ‘If you see me not doing this, let me know.’ We’ve kept in the outtakes too, so that people can see the human side of leaders.

It’s all about experience and outcomes – that experience is fundamental to our purpose. It’s human nature that in a crisis, people revert to type. Our CEO has said, ‘This is the filter through which we make our decisions.’”

“ It’s dependent on the leader. Who has

overall accountability for embedding

purpose? It should sit with the CEO.

Our job is hard when someone at the

top gets it, but doesn’t role model it.”

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Show the impact of your purpose to bring it to life

04


Just as internal digital platforms can assist broader and bigger conversations across an organisation, they also allow people to share stories about the connection between their daily work and your purpose. Sharing human stories can ignite the launch of a purpose, build an emotional connection to it, sustain momentum and enhance pride.

This is not just about leader-driven conversations; it’s also about facilitating storytelling throughout the organisation. Authentic stories of the purpose in action build understanding of how purpose has a positive impact and can be an inspiration for other people. GE, for example, encourages employees to post stories of meaningful work to the company’s website to promote careers at GE.


Strategy

Ensure that a human, storytelling approach underpins the internal communication strategy. Encourage all employees to take pride in their own stories about the purpose and values, and to share them widely with each other.

Create opportunities for peer-to-peer recognition of the value of those stories, to build a stronger sense of understanding, community and common purpose.

Tools

Develop or enable internal digital platforms, helping your people to share their stories, and allowing peer-to-peer recognition. Lead initiatives that help people to use these platforms and gain the maximum benefit from them, including reverse mentoring, if appropriate.

Tactics

Create employee recognition and awards that encourage people to discuss, celebrate and share stories of their experiences and successes related to the purpose and values. Use moving image to showcase personal stories, how people have collaborated to create positive change and the benefits of their work.

“ We measure Chatter and conversations around the themes. It’s content created by its own volition. We use Jive, so we can reach people and see a positive reaction based on likes. We tell operational stories, which are usually linked to purpose, to show how the purpose is coming to life.”

“ Share examples of work and

achievements that are clearly aligned to

the purpose to bring it to life for staff.”

“ Involve employees in discussions and storytelling around the subject.”

“Relate to real business scenarios.”

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Align your purpose and the employee experience

05


For a purpose to be turned into action, it must be lived within the organisation. This includes embedding your purpose in the employee experience, by aligning your employment value proposition (EVP) and its related communications and ‘touch points’ with your purpose.

We suggest teams – including internal communications, brand, marketing, sustainability and HR – work together to review how the purpose influences their work and communications. This is also an opportunity to agree how the impact of your purpose can be measured, and to create an action plan for what each team will do to activate and embed the purpose over time.

The next step is to explore similarities and areas of overlap between business unit and functional plans, creating a single plan with clear initiatives, priorities, governance and measures of success.


Strategy

Support action plans as an integrated part of the internal communication strategy, and maintain ‘air traffic control’ to avoid overload or inconsistent messaging.

Collaborate with colleagues to promote and embed purpose in their areas of the organisation, to align your employee experience with your purpose and values.

Tools

Ensure managers have the resources they need to implement their action plans. Create tools and content that help them deliver their plans. For example, change communications and onboarding materials.

Tactics

Use themed quarterly campaigns to bring the purpose, values and customer experience to life. For example, ‘TED Talks’, purpose ‘pop-ups’, and stimulating dialogue on internal digital platforms, at roadshows and in leader meetings.

“ Having an employee value proposition creates meaningful opportunities to engage with a diverse group of employees across the organisation. We’re trying to flush out what our experience looks like to get authenticity internally. That’s the closest we get to ensuring purpose across the organisation – by creating ‘moments of truth’.”

“Showcase great behavioural examples.”

“ Ensure every process, from

recruitment, to retirement

bleeds the same message.”

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Use your purpose to enable further change

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We’ve already seen that purpose can have a positive effect on an organisation’s ability to change. To show, share and celebrate the benefits of purpose, it’s important to measure its impact on performance.

Measuring progress could include purpose-related questions in employee engagement surveys and methods for more frequent insight, such as pulse surveys and focus groups. Topics for exploration with employees might include:

– Employees’ belief that they have an impact on realising your purpose

– The impact of purpose on behaviour and the employee and customer experiences

– Trust in leaders and whether they champion your purpose and values

We suggest a blended approach to give a quantitative view of the impact of internal and external progress, as well as exploring sentiment and stories of the measurable impact of purpose.


Strategy

Work with colleagues to agree the measures that matter and a manageable approach to measurement that also gives frequent feedback on employee perceptions and progress. Gain buy-in from leaders and managers to the approach, including how the results will be reviewed, reported and communicated.

Tools

Create a simple dashboard that shows how the organisation is performing against key measures of success. Support the dashboard with stories that demonstrate the human impact related to the measures.

Tactics

Package survey results in a concise, relevant way to help managers contextualise survey findings for their local picture, to encourage dialogue and celebrate stories of success. For the big picture, organise face-to-face sessions, webinars and video updates with leaders that include opportunities for people to ask questions and have them answered.

“ We set the context for change. We produced a video that was seen by colleagues around ‘What would [our founder] do?’ We linked it back to our foundations. It was a gentle way of linking our transformational change agenda with our foundations. It was extremely well received – it was an emotional, rather than a rational approach. It was effective in making people understand the need for change.”

“ We had qualitative and quantitative surveys

pre- and post-launch. We wanted to find

out if people got it, and what were the

gaps. We can’t affect behaviour unless

people understand what we’re trying to

achieve. Is their understanding manifesting

itself in behaviours and are we seeing it in

business performance?”

“ Have regular dialogues with people. You’re

not asking how they feel about the purpose,

but you’re seeing if those behaviours are landing. But yes, as a consistent measurement device, ask if you would

recommend us as somewhere to work.”

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01.

Your purpose does not gain traction with your people. This might be because it is overly complicated; or developed as a socially oriented initiative that is not connected to the brand or your people; or is an initiative driven by only one part of the organisation.

02.

Leaders contradict your purpose – for example, in the face of short-term demands or through a lack of transparency in their decision-making. They may be unable to put their personal priorities aside, which inhibits collaboration. Through their ‘say-do gap’ they undermine your purpose and values, inhibiting trust and a sense of common purpose.

03.

You try to do too much too quickly. When you set unrealistic expectations, it’s easy to give up. Avoid this by working in stages with colleagues to align your communications, employee experience, decision-making, processes and systems with long-term purpose.

04.

A lack of feedback on progress. This can be due to inadequate leadership or manager communications. This results in teams and individual employees failing to establish meaning and a line-of-sight from their work to your purpose.

05.

Forgetting about the basics. You need to get the fundamentals of the employee experience right – such as pay, workplace conditions and mutual respect – before the purpose will gain traction with your people.

The top five blockers of success


The top five drivers of success

01.

Your purpose gets to the heart of ‘why we exist’ – it’s believable, ownable, clear and compelling for employees and other audiences. It’s rooted in the brand and builds from recognised, existing strengths.

02.

Purpose is at the centre of communications and conversations – and as a result, your people know and understand it, feel inspired by it, unify behind it and bring it to life.

03.

Leaders are consistent role models. They have the understanding, commitment, support and resources they need. They demonstrate your purpose and values in how they behave, make decisions, set priorities and goals, and recognise achievements and performance.

04.

All employees know how they are contributing to progress through their daily work, dialogue, frequent feedback on measures of success and stories showing the purpose in action.

05.

Your purpose is turned into action through the progressive alignment of your purpose with your ambition, strategy, values, priorities, communications and employee experience.

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Radley Yeldar and Purpose

Radley Yeldar is an independent, London-based brand, marketing and communications agency that has been researching purpose within organisations for the past three years, notably through its Fit For Purpose index of the brands that best put purpose into practice.

Within our Purpose Toolkit, we have a broad range of tools to help organisations define and activate their purpose:

Performance

— Purpose dashboard

— Purpose indicators setting

— Materialty analysis

— Digital/Social listening and sentiment analysis

Behaviours

— ‘Line-of-sight’ tools and clinic

— Leadership engagement

— Values review and alignment

— Partnership analysis (and brief)

— Dream-team experiences

Purpose and story

— Fit for Purpose assessment and benchmarking

— Business case for purpose

— Stakeholder mapping

— Purpose stress-test

— Roadmap to purpose

— Purpose definition

— Horizon scanning

— Corporate to consumer alignment clinics

Communication

— Purpose campaigns

— Communications messaging and toolkits

— Content strategy

— Content ideation, generation, creation and channel optimisation

Winning with purpose

We are RY. Our 200-strong team of specialists has been working with multinationals, start-ups, private companies and public bodies for more than 30 years. Together, we tackle complex challenges for complex organisations by defining their story, communicating it simply, changing behaviour and delivering results.

We provide services in identity, campaigns, reporting, sustainability and employee engagement – and bring our work to life through film, digital content and platforms, experiences and print.

As a family-owned business, we’re better placed to take a long-term view. We strive to be the best place to work where the best work gets done.

1 Deloitte (2015) Mind the gaps, The 2015 Deloitte millenial survey2 Calling Brands (2012) Crunch Time – Why we need purpose at work3 CIPD (2010) Shared purpose: the golden thread?4 Gallup (2013) http://gallup.com/businessjournal/163466/generation-gap-workplace.aspx5 Hays (2016) Staff Engagement Ideas for Action (with reference to a report by The Energy Project)6 Deloitte (2014) Culture of purpose – Building confidence; driving growth7 Harvard Business Review/EY (2015) The Business Case for Purpose8 Deloitte (2014) Culture of purpose – Building confidence; driving growth

radley yeldar.

Our 200-strong team of specialists has been working with multinationals, start-ups, private companies and public bodies for more than 30 years. We offer integrated services, including campaigns, reporting, sustainability and employee engagement – brought to life through film, print, digital content and platforms, and experiences.

London office24 Charlotte Road London EC2A 3PB

T +44 (0)20 7033 0700

Birmingham office108 Northwood Street Birmingham B3 1TH

T +44 (0)121 200 3890

[email protected]

@RadleyYeldar

/RadleyYeldar

radley-yeldar

ry.com

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