Leadership & Culture | Insights
Gallagher Ex Team
1 Dec, 2021 · 3 -minute read

"… in these unprecedented times…" "…this unique moment in our history…" "…this once in a generation event…"

How many times have you heard the above, or a variant, since early 2020? A lot, no doubt.

But — it is laced in truth and the changes to our workplaces, as well as wider society, now require different ways of thinking and communicating.

The Gallagher State of the Sector 2021 report tracks the shifting landscape of comms and the industry's role in bolstering purpose in the workplace.

Chris Lee, VP of Employee Communications at Gallagher, joined forces with Poppulo earlier this year to deliver a webinar titled How to Reconnect Your People with Your Company's Purpose.

Here we run through some of the key findings and lessons Chris highlighted in explaining how the need to create purpose in your organization has never been more important.

Why is purpose so important?

When asked about their top priorities for 2021, State of the Sector (SOTS) respondents named engaging employees around purpose, strategy and values as their top priority by far. When asked about the type of transformation they were going through, the first theme that came up was culture change (including values, behaviors and leadership styles) at 43% — not new strategy, new product roll-out, mergers and acquisitions or any corporate focus.

This indicates that organizations are increasingly looking at reshaping their narratives to drive alignment and focus internally.

Employee experience isn't a new concept, but organizations have really woken up to its importance as a result of COVID-19. EX is about redesigning your processes and culture around your people, as opposed to just your organizational imperatives.

The pandemic saw internal communication jobs move from 'nice to have' to business-critical — 66% of SOTS respondents thought that their level of influence within their organizations had increased as they were relied upon to keep staff in the loop about changing regulations and responses.

Adding purpose successfully

There is a clear relationship between purpose and productivity. Productivity breeds purpose. When people are spending less time on things with limited value — and more time on meaningful ventures — employees are more likely to feel purposeful.

There is a clear relationship between purpose and productivity. Productivity breeds purpose.

Trust is also a key factor and acts as a super fuel for bringing purpose to people. It creates that space for people to become more autonomous and make micro-decisions for themselves, in turn creating an army of entrepreneurs – any organization's dream.

Why? When you think about it, entrepreneurs are the ultimate purpose-driven worker.

Every single decision they make – hiring, purchases, client management and sales – directly impacts their business and must be given careful consideration. An entrepreneur doesn’t just think about completing a task; they calculate the value of the task, and how it contributes to the company’s success.

In a hybrid model, and with the traditional punch-clock mentality of a 40-hour work week facing extinction, we are headed to a culture of trusting our people and empowering them to do what they need to do, when they need to do it and where they need to do it.

This empowered employee is now thinking in more creative ways like an entrepreneur and less like a cog in a wheel with explicit direction on when and where a task needs to be done.

What purpose IS
  • A way for employees to find a sense of meaning – their personal purpose
  • A way to create an ‘army of entrepreneurs’ – people who make a meaningful contribution
What purpose ISN’T
  • A statement on a wall or a headline in your all-staff newsletter that everybody has memorized
  • A program of communication activities that you roll out throughout the year

Internal comms with purpose in mind

You don’t simply ‘communicate’ purpose – you should embed it into everything you do. But comms teams are typically the gatekeepers of this purpose and their work in disseminating the right messages through each layer of an organization can be the difference between acting with purpose and falling on your face.

It’s time to change the narrative and tone of voice to make people feel supported and empowered to achieve their own goals within your organization's purpose.

Fitting your purpose statement into a video or newsletter won’t do – it’s important to reflect your purpose into the way you talk and interact with your people so that they feel empowered to make decisions that make sense to them.

Getting the narrative right

  • Make your strategic narrative a living and breathing document: This will ensure alignment between the organization's internal and external brand story and experience.
  • Don’t communicate purpose, communicate WITH purpose: Weave it into every aspect of your employee experience strategy – and remove ‘communication silos’. A challenge is that many teams and departments communicate in organizations – but there’s definitely value in helping them evolve their communications to fit your new narrative.
  • Bring purpose to life through employee stories: Make it tangible, relatable, authentic. Your people need to BELIEVE what they’re hearing.
  • Focus on authenticity: Let them be human – it worked wonders during the pandemic!
  • Treat employees like customers with personalized content: Apply creativity to content and campaigns, ensuring it is impactful, interesting, engaging and relatable.

Discovering your organizational purpose

Internal storytelling is a key platform upon which you can build purpose throughout each level of your organization.

As experienced change management consultants, we have a proven track record in unlocking behavior change for companies and leadership groups of all kinds. Take a look at our projects here.

To start the conversation and discover how a focus on purpose can elevate your operations, contact us today.