Does your business have a purpose? Why do employees need a reason to feel motivated?
Giving employees autonomy and motivating them isn’t enough to build a successful business. Horst Schulze contends that you need to establish a purpose-driven culture to give them a reason to work harder.
Learn how to establish a culture where employees have a vision of what they need to achieve.
Reinforce a Purpose-Driven Culture
To create a purpose-driven culture, condense your vision into a concise vision statement that’s easy to remember. Then, weave this vision statement into your communication at work as much as you can: in meetings as well as in personal conversations. In doing so, you ingrain the vision statement in your organization’s culture, nudging employees to think more about how to align their work with the vision.
For example, imagine you manage an art gallery and have developed the vision statement, “We want to build connections in our community through art.” Mentioning this vision statement to your marketing coordinator may encourage them to spend less time building an online presence for the gallery and more time organizing local events.
(Shortform note: In Leading Change, John P. Kotter contends that when you write a vision statement, you must strike a balance: If it’s too vague, employees won’t know how to implement it in their daily work. If it’s too specific, it might restrict employees’ autonomy, preventing them from doing their best work. For instance, the art gallery we mentioned before wouldn’t want their vision statement to be “Spread art” (too vague), or “Hold art shows every other Thursday” (too specific). Additionally, don’t just keep repeating the vision statement at employees—give them the opportunity to criticize it. Even if you don’t change your vision, employees are more likely to commit to it if they feel you’ve heard and understood their concerns.)
Schulze recommends reinforcing your purpose-driven culture in two types of meetings: first-time employee orientation meetings and daily refresher meetings.
First-Time Employee Orientation
According to Schulze, an employee’s first day is a valuable opportunity to instill the company’s vision. When someone starts a new job, this big, emotional life change tends to open their mind to fresh perspectives and behaviors. During this time, new employees will more readily embrace your organization’s purpose-driven culture.
Schulze explains that he begins his first-time employee orientations by asserting that no individual, including himself, is superior to others; every employee is equally important in contributing to the company’s success. Then, he unpacks the company’s vision statement, explaining it in detail to help employees understand what they’re working toward and why their efforts matter.
He also establishes the basics of customer service that we discussed in the first section of this guide: why employees should prioritize customer service above all else, the desires that all customers have, and so on. Finally, Schulze helps employees set goals and learn the specifics of how to do their jobs.
Daily Refresher Meetings
Schulze argues that one-time orientations or training sessions are insufficient for employees to retain the principles of your organizational culture and consistently deliver the desired level of service. Even if you give a very inspiring orientation presentation, employees will forget most of what you talked about if you don’t regularly reinforce these ideas.
(Shortform note: One way organizational leaders can regularly reinforce company culture is by modeling that culture through their behavior. For instance, say that an organization values open communication. Its managers can reinforce this value long after orientation by communicating feedback in a clear, honest way and by welcoming employees’ constructive criticism.)
To help workers internalize the principles of a purpose-driven culture, Schulze advocates for a brief team meeting at the start of every employee shift. During this meeting, a team leader explains a single principle of your company’s guiding philosophy and allows their team to discuss it. Schulze created a list of 24 principles for teams to review over the course of 24 days that detail exactly how employees in his hotels should work. For instance, one principle states that every employee is responsible for fixing the flaws with the business they identify on the job (as we discussed earlier).
(Shortform note: If you’re already meeting with your team to review one of your organization’s cultural principles every day, it may be productive to add a few strategy-focused items to your agenda to help team members coordinate their work. In Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, Verne Harnish recommends conducting daily meetings where every team member quickly sums up what they’re doing today, the team reviews how well the company as a whole is performing, and anyone facing an obstacle in their work announces it so the rest of the team can try to resolve it.)
