SHARED PURPOSE
We have never been more connected.
Yet closeness has to be earned.
Technology created more reach, more data, more channels and more ways to interact. But connectivity alone does not create relevance, trust, belonging or participation. Organizations need a credible reason to get closer to the people and groups whose participation matters.
Business language evolved as organizations became more aware of meaning. Mission, Vision and Values defined the organization. Purpose added a deeper question: Why do we exist? Shared Purpose takes the next step into the relationship.
Shared Purpose is the credible common ground between legitimate organizational interests and what matters to consequential actors and society. It is the middle space where particular interest and collective interest can meaningfully meet - creating a reason to get closer, connect and participate.
THE EVOLUTION OF PURPOSE
Mission . Vision. Values.
What we do.
Where we are going.
How we behave.
Purpose.
Why do we exist?
Shared Purpose
Where can legitimate organization interest and collective interest meet?
From defining the organization
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to defining meaning
to defining common ground.
CORPORATE PURPOSE ASKS: WHY DO WE EXIST?
SHARED PURPOSE ASKS: WHY SHOULD WE MOVE TOGETHER?
ENGAGEMENT NEEDS COMMON GROUND.
Organizations have legitimate ambitions.
Employees, consumers, citizens, communities, authorities, investors and partners have interests, needs and expectations of their own.
Engagement becomes possible when there is credible common ground between them.
ORGANIZATIONAL INTEREST
What the organization is trying to make possible.
COLLECTIVE INTEREST
What matters to the people and groups whose participation matters.
Shared/Purpose
A SHARED REASON TO MOVE
COMMON GROUND THAT CAN GUIDE CHOICES - AND CREATE MOVEMENT.
Shared Purpose is found, not imposed. It emerges from understanding what the organization legitimately needs, what matters to empowered actors and society, where tensions sit and where mutual relevance is credible enough to support action. The statement can express the territory; it cannot create it.
Once discovered, Shared Purpose becomes a decision principle and the DNA of the relationship. It helps leaders decide what to build, where to invest, what to prioritize, what to promise, which relationships to strengthen and how the same underlying meaning should become tangible across product, experience, leadership, Brand, Culture, Reputation and behavior.
FOUR JOBS OF SHARED PURPOSE
GIVE DIRECTION
What are we trying to make possible together?
CREATE MEANING
Why should this matter beyond the organization?
GUIDE CHOICES
What does it require the organization to do differently?
ENABLE PARTICIPATION
What role can others genuinely play?
FOUR JOBS OF SHARED PURPOSE
SHARED
Can others recognize why this common ground also matters to them - and find a real role in it?
CONSISTENT
Can the organization credibly sustain it through strategy, capabilities, decisions and behavior?
ACTIVABLE
Can it become priorities, relationships, experiences, interactions and action?
FOUR JOBS OF SHARED PURPOSE
SHARED PURPOSE
Common ground
RELATIONSHIPS
Build the bond
CONNECTED INTERACTIONS
Make it tangible
ENGAGEMENT
Participation becomes active
MOVEMENT / VALUE
The relationship moves
Shared Purpose defines the space. Relationships build the bond. Interactions make it real. Engagement appears when people choose to participate, act and influence - and that movement can create business value.
BRIDGE FROM ORBITAL THINKING: Orbital Thinking reveals the system and the tensions.
Shared Purpose identifies the credible common ground inside that system.
Orbital Strategy then converts that common ground into choices and a route.
