Purpose is the Starting Point of Success
Purpose is the Starting Point of Success
The company is a young vibrant organisation in Pharmacy Health Services. It was started by a young entrepreneurial leader which has grown the company from small beginnings to a recently public listing on the ASX. What this has meant is that the some of the key people who started at the beginning have not adjusted to change and grown with the company.
Also that since it is rapid growth which brings with it change, it was clear that the culture of the company had to be such that the team would cope with such change, embrace growth and develop a championship team set of values.
From some recent negative team issues it was clear a review of current values was needed. Using our facilitation process we spend as much time as is needed on what is the company’s purpose? Simply put it means as a team “Why do we exist?”
We have really seen the effect of this on organisations. In short, the establishment of a clear central purpose is the starting point of all success. Once this is clear, then everything else; the vision (overall objective), the mission (how we will do this), and the values (our behaviours) all flow.
This brings me back to my beginning story. At this team review day when they began looking at their current values and what behaviours would be needed to embrace the rapid growth the leader of the company had a revelation. Our purpose is all wrong! He then went into an analysis of how this had happened and his conclusion was that last year at a similar event he wanted to please the team so had them come up with the overall purpose and hence direction of the company. It was now clearly skewed away from what would make this company great. The purpose was all wrong, hence the current issues he was facing.
What this highlighted to me is this. The leader needs to set the direction of the organisation, including the behaviours that the team should live by. Yes they should include key persons in the establishment of the purpose, but ultimately it the leader of the organisation who should provide the visions and direction.
By allowing his team to develop the overall direction he had in fact been highjacked by employees that had their own agenda.
Establishing a simple statement for the purpose of your organisation, the very essence of why it exists at all can take time and be very confronting but without it, it is very hard to make all the other human aspects of the business work effectively. This statement should be clear, powerful, unique, and above all no more than a few words.
What is the purpose of your business? And does everyone on the organisation know that?
Purpose is the Starting Point of Success - To learn more about this author, visit Geoff Flemming's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
I recently facilitated a review of a company’s culture and values at their quarterly executive team meeting and an interesting discovery was made by the CEO.
The company is a young vibrant organisation in Pharmacy Health Services. It was started by a young entrepreneurial leader which has grown the company from small beginnings to a recently public listing on the ASX. What this has meant is that the some of the key people who started at the beginning have not adjusted to change and grown with the company.
Also that since it is rapid growth which brings with it change, it was clear that the culture of the company had to be such that the team would cope with such change, embrace growth and develop a championship team set of values.
From some recent negative team issues it was clear a review of current values was needed. Using our facilitation process we spend as much time as is needed on what is the company’s purpose? Simply put it means as a team “Why do we exist?”
We have really seen the effect of this on organisations. In short, the establishment of a clear central purpose is the starting point of all success. Once this is clear, then everything else; the vision (overall objective), the mission (how we will do this), and the values (our behaviours) all flow.
This brings me back to my beginning story. At this team review day when they began looking at their current values and what behaviours would be needed to embrace the rapid growth the leader of the company had a revelation. Our purpose is all wrong! He then went into an analysis of how this had happened and his conclusion was that last year at a similar event he wanted to please the team so had them come up with the overall purpose and hence direction of the company. It was now clearly skewed away from what would make this company great. The purpose was all wrong, hence the current issues he was facing.
What this highlighted to me is this. The leader needs to set the direction of the organisation, including the behaviours that the team should live by. Yes they should include key persons in the establishment of the purpose, but ultimately it the leader of the organisation who should provide the visions and direction.
By allowing his team to develop the overall direction he had in fact been highjacked by employees that had their own agenda.
Establishing a simple statement for the purpose of your organisation, the very essence of why it exists at all can take time and be very confronting but without it, it is very hard to make all the other human aspects of the business work effectively. This statement should be clear, powerful, unique, and above all no more than a few words.
What is the purpose of your business? And does everyone on the organisation know that?
Purpose is the Starting Point of Success - To learn more about this author, visit Geoff Flemming's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
|||
Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Geoff's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
|
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Cash Flow Forecast Samples High Quality Sales Leads Make Attitude Your Ally Meditation Guide Internet Marketing Campaigns |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Franchising Blogs
Top 50 Franchising Blogs | |
 |
Top 50 Raising Capital Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
