The Path to Purpose

Mar 1, 2022 by Chris Lahna

“Why?”

It is a question that can be applied to everything. Why not ask it of the work we do? It is, after all, how we spend over a third of our adult life. Seems worthy of some inspection if you ask me. Whether you call it your why, your purpose, or your reason to get out of bed in the morning – each of these phrases touch on something essential to living an engaged work life. That “something essential” is motivation. We humans require motivation to be at our best.

In 2021, I made a shift in my career and joined Dominium. We are among the leading developers and operators of affordable housing in the United States. As an HR leader, my skills and experience could be applied to multiple industries and firms. I joined Dominium because I knew I could have a specific impact within the firm and in the lives of our residents. Put simply: the work motivated me.

The United States has roughly 26% of the affordable housing we need, and as a result, families nationwide face costs they cannot afford and, ultimately, housing insecurity that sometimes leads to homelessness. We are first and foremost a real estate development and management firm, but we choose to focus almost all our effort on helping solve this problem. Our team members could use their skills to build office buildings or strip malls, but our purpose is making high quality housing affordable and accessible.                                                          

Take The Preserve at Highland Ridge, for example. We were able to apply our knowledge, expertise, access to markets, and design and construction capability to build a beautiful property for our residents in the Nashville, Tennessee area – all of whom earn no more than 60% of the Area Median Income. Everyone deserves the opportunity to live and raise families in a place they are proud to call home. 

Now, I am an HR leader, so I don’t design or run our properties and I don’t help resolve resident concerns. However, my team and I help hire, develop, recognize, and retain the team that does. We work to create environments where that team can be their most productive, can scale to have a greater impact, feel appreciated and included, and overall, further the mission. If anyone on my team struggles to connect their work to our purpose, it is my responsibility to help them connect those dots.

That is my why.

 

The Big Picture

But what does this have to do with you as a leader? And what does purpose-driven work mean for your business?

We often tell ourselves we do what we do for money, benefits or security, but research suggests those financial incentives have diminishing returns over time and, at some point, money doesn’t increase your happiness. Instead, when team members align their work to a greater purpose, the likelihood of engagement and satisfaction increases, while the risk of attrition decreases. Leaders across all areas of a company have a role to play in helping our teams draw those connections.

• 63% – Companies that connect their strategy and purpose to the work of their employees experience a 63% increased return to shareholders (McKinsey, The Great Attrition: Same turnover, but the “why” differs by industry, November 8, 2021)
• 53% - of executives who said their company has a strong sense of purpose said their organization is successful with innovation and transformation efforts, compared with 31 percent of those who are trying to articulate a sense of purpose and 19 percent of the companies who have not thought about it at all. (The Business Case for Purpose, Harvard Business Review, 2015)
• 30 & 40% - Purpose-oriented companies have higher productivity and growth rates, along with a more satisfied workforce who stay longer with them – 30% higher levels of innovation and 40% higher levels of workforce retention than their competitors. (Purpose is everything, How brands that authentically lead with purpose are changing the nature of business today, Deloitte Insights, October 15, 2019)

It’s clear that, not only does a well-defined purpose have an impact on employees as individuals, but the implications for the entire business are profound. It is a differentiator in the market and can help our teams work better.

This month, we started a series of leadership development discussions at Dominium - Leadership Blueprint Sessions. Can you guess what the first discussion was about? That’s right. Purpose.

We discussed the impact we make on people’s lives across the United States through affordable housing. We spoke with an experienced Business Leader, HR Consultant and Executive Coach Tina Drozdz about how she’s seen a shared purpose orient several leading companies toward financial and organizational growth. And we talked through our duty as leaders to communicate our purpose and talk with teammates about how their work contributes to it.

Communities, customers, employees, and shareholders alike have expectations of the business community today that are vastly different than the expectations of a decade ago. Connecting what you and your organization do to a shared purpose and societal impact isn’t complicated, it may not cost you anything, and the return impacts every part of your business – what are you waiting for?