How Leaders Can Align Employee Performance With the Organization’s Purpose

Pointing out that the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we do our jobs and respond to things will surprise no one. The rapid adoption of digital technology occurred even as people feared losing their jobs and experienced anxiety in their everyday lives. A positive result has been people searching for ways to live more meaningful lives at home and work.

Now, it is more important than ever for organizations to reevaluate their business strategy, rally around a common purpose and, yes, stick with a commitment to doing better. “Purpose” is more than just a buzzword. Articulating and pursuing a purpose explains the reason the organization exists, creates a unified organizational culture and puts humans at the center of operations.

Organizational change is typically reactive and undertaken only when problems become crises. Much more occasionally, innovative technologies or processes present opportunities that prompt organizational change. Neither situation is necessarily wrong, but changes should be meaningful and implemented in ways that communicate the intentions behind them. The expected impact should also be stated clearly.

Employees are not robots. They need to know and share in the purpose at the center of the organization’s operations. A strong organizational purpose encourages employees to be innovative and productive, to feel like they are contributing to something larger than themselves, and to understand how what they do each day impacts their colleagues and community.

So, how does a person lead and execute with a purpose? A good way to start is sharing their intent to, for instance, make a difference in the lives of 100 percent of customers within three years. After setting such a target, an effective leader will create interim, measurable goals for their team.

Following through on a statement of purpose is the hard part, especially at a time when teams are dispersed and disconnection is a real possibility. To keep everyone rowing in the same direction, leaders must enable employees to carry out the business strategy in a concerted and connected way. As discussed below, making use of technology that integrates every aspect of the employee experience, including professional development, is key to consistently reaching milestones.

Additionally, leaders need to be prepared to answer employees who ask, “What am I getting out of this?” When responding, a leader must help each team member understand how their work contributes to moving the organization toward realizing its purpose. Providing help to employees who require it is also important.

Deploying Technology to Keep Employees Working as a Team

Technology will not provide employees with a purpose, but its use is essential. The ultimate measure of a tech tool is whether it helps people accomplish what they need to do. Leaders must assess each tech tool on the basis of whether it enables employees to execute strategy seamlessly. Does it allow employees to learn, grow and connect?

Integrating the various tech tools enables employees to achieve peak performance for themselves and the organization. Here is how.

Facilitating Learning and Mentoring

Offering learning and development (L&D) opportunities to employees puts people at the center of the organization and gives individuals an understanding of how their work matters to achieving the organization’s purpose. Providing employees with a platform they can use to acquire new knowledge and skills shows them they are valued members of the organization whose contributions matter. The organization also benefits because employees who upskill can do more to execute strategy.

As employees become more effective and grow in their roles, they tend to become more engaged, which further enhances performance. In this way, continuous learning opportunities turn into unlimited performance opportunities when people are provided with technology that helps them level up in their present positions or move into positions they aspire to fill.

Enabling Performance and Progress Toward Goals

Performance management technology should allow managers to collect data and conduct detailed analyses so they can identify whether goals are being met. Data analytics can also indicate which employees are poised for success and which are in need of opportunities to upskill or receive other forms of help in order to hit goals.

Integrating performance management tools with the L&D platform gives leaders the capability of seeing the big picture. Failing to integrate these tech tools leaves employees at risk for falling short of meeting their goals and objectives and key results. If that happens, the performance of the entire organization decreases.

Fostering Engagement

Connection has never been more important than it is right now. While the majority of the world continues to work remotely, providing employees with communication technology is essential. The tools selected must give managers the ability to offer real-time feedback, share appreciation for individual and team progress, and convey how goals are being met. Giving individual employees the support they need will keep the entire team engaged and working toward a common purpose.

Make Achieving the Organization’s Purpose Personal

In a 2018 report subtitled Social Purpose Is the New Black, Shelton Communications Group noted 92 percent of the 1,000 U.S. internet users it surveyed could not match more than half of the brands tested to the stands the brands took. Why? It could be that organizations were not bringing purpose into their everyday culture and forgetting that stating a purpose is not just a one-and-done action.

Continually focusing on how purpose drives decisions in the workplace, as well as strategy, will send a strong message to employees and customers. Maintaining a focus on purpose will also bring humans back to the center of the organization.

Connecting all of the pieces described in this article will enable leaders to give employees a greater purpose. In particular, integrating tech tools will support performance, mentorship, learning, engagement and the achievement of goals.