Business Strategy Course: How to Become a Purpose-Led Organisation

Business strategy. Plan and secure success.

COVID-19 update: arrangement of our courses

We are now delivering courses both online and in-person. Please check the delivery format for each class before you enrol.

Please note that course materials for all classes (excluding prescribed textbooks) are shared electronically within 48 hours of a course starting. Printing is not available.

Learn how to create an essential statement of purpose in this one-day workshop-style short course. As a result, you will develop a successful purpose-led business strategy, driving organisational and cultural change for the better.

Purpose is powerful. It is a statement of your organisation’s role in the world that sits far above and beyond profits by inspiring and motivating people into action. Purpose leads and guides the decision-making across your entire organisation, strengthening your long-term strategy and empowering leaders to respond meaningfully in times of disruption.

Becoming purpose-led is a proven strategy for organisational clarity and success, as it impacts on strategy, culture and communication. Done well, purpose is proven to transform businesses, driving performance and positively impacting an organisation’s people and bottom line in ways they never imagined.

In this course, you will learn the process to define and articulate your professional or business purpose and harness the multiple benefits of becoming a purpose-led organisation.

Aims

This course aims to develop your understanding of what purpose is and how to uncover, define and begin to align it with your organisation. It is designed to empower you with the thinking, understanding and tools needed to define and articulate your professional or organisational purpose.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• discuss what purpose is and why it is important
• grasp the role of purpose across the different areas of a business: culture, communication and strategy
• follow a process to uncover organisational purpose
• identify the right people to involve in the process
• master the techniques to think deeper and bigger throughout the process of uncovering purpose
• identify and define a purpose statement tied to an organisation’s core strengths that is meaningful, inspiring and actionable
• become proficient in the techniques required to become purpose-led.

Content

Purpose and its importance

• The definition of purpose
• The outside forces in business, society and politics that make purpose prevalent today
• The ROI of purpose for organisations
• Anatomy of purpose and where it comes from
• Where major brands and organisations commonly go wrong

The role of purpose within an organisation

• What is purpose in relation to the rest of an organisation
• The impact of purpose on culture, strategy and communication

How to uncover organisational purpose

• Who to include and how to lead/guide a purpose discovery session
• The real human stories that elicit purpose
• Sources for stories within an organisation
• Capturing meaning and impact from stories

Defining and articulating a purpose statement

• Purpose statement formulas
• Words, meaning and hierarchy
• Examples of draft statements and polished statements

Becoming a purpose-led organisation

• When, where and how to bring purpose into the day-to-day
• Inspiring people and ideating on purpose
• Case studies and examples of purpose statements and their implementation

Intended audience

Designed for anyone wanting to assist their organisation in becoming purpose-led. This includes:

• CEOs
• COOs
• Managing Directors
• General Managers
• Founders
• Business Owners
• HR/People & Culture Managers
• Marketing Managers
• Brand Managers

Prerequisites

None

Delivery style

This is a one-day interactive seminar with individual and group exercises for attendees to practice and apply their learning.

Delivery options:

• Face-to-face seminar, delivered on University premises.
• Online seminar via the platform Zoom. Your own device is required.

Materials

A course workbook is provided electronically. It contains key exercises and the latest research on organisational and corporate purpose.

Recommended reading

Recommended reading

Blount, S & Leinwand, P (November-December 2019 Issue) Why Are We Here?, Harvard Business Review Business Roundtable (August 19, 2019) Business Roundtable Redefines the Purpose of a Corporation to Promote ‘An Economy The Serves All Americans’, Business Roundtable.

Gast, A, Illanes, P, Probust, N, Schaninger, B & Simpson, B (April 22, 2020) Purpose: Shifting from why to how, McKinsey Quarterly.

Krippendorff, K (September 26, 2012), Fast Exercise to Find Your Purpose And Passion For Work, Fast Company.

Malnight T W, Buche, I & Dhanaraj, C (September-October 2019 Issue) Put Purpose at the Core of Your Strategy, Harvard Business Review.

Serafeim, G & Gartenberg, C (October 21, 2016), The Type Of Purpose That Makes Companies More Profitable, Harvard Business Review.

Suggested purchases

Chouinard, Y 2006, Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, Penguin Books.

Cooperrider, D, L & Whitney, D, Appreciative Inquiry: A Positiove Revolution in Change, Berret-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Sinek, S 2009, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, Penguin Press.

Sinek, S with Mead, D & Docker, P, Find Your Why, Portfolio Penguin.