What is purpose-driven leadership?

Purpose-driven leadership, often called purposeful leadership, emphasizes the importance of helping employees find meaning in their work. Purpose-driven leaders excel at inspiring their employees to embrace shared goals. The result is a highly motivated workforce that stays committed to a company’s mission, vision and values.

What is meaningful work?

Meaningful work gives employees a sense of purpose, which is why this approach is known as purpose-driven leadership. The good news is that everyone can find some sort of meaning in the work they do. You can help by creating a positive work environment, recognizing employees for their accomplishments and ensuring that team members understand how their roles contribute to the organization’s success.

Read more: Work Well-Being: Why Purpose Is Powerful

6 principles of purpose-driven leadership

The purpose of leadership is to motivate employees to achieve specific outcomes. For example, your company may want to increase its gross revenue by 10% in the next year. As a leader, you need to create a vision for your team and make sure that everyone understands the importance of embracing that vision. Follow these six principles to get your team excited about the future.

1. Define your purpose

First, define your purpose. Running a department without a purpose is like undertaking a cross-country trip without a map or a GPS system. It can be done, but it’s a lot easier if you know where you’re going.

To ensure everyone is on the same page, create a team purpose statement. This is a brief statement explaining why your team exists or how it contributes to the company’s success. For example, if you manage the accounting department, your purpose statement might focus on how your team helps the company maintain its profit margin.

2. Understand your role as a leader

As a leader, your role is to motivate employees and help them find meaning in their work. Before adopting a new leadership approach, understand how you can positively influence your followers. Here are just a few examples:

• Model desirable behaviors for team members.

• Celebrate when your team reaches a milestone.

• Give team members as much autonomy as possible.

• Make sure everyone understands your vision for the department and the overall vision for the organization.

Related: Identifying Your Leadership Values: Your Core Values

3. Make sure your policies align with your mission and vision

A mission statement spells out what your company does and who it serves. It also lists key business objectives and explains how the company plans to achieve them. In contrast, a vision statement explains the purpose of your company. Rather than listing key objectives, a vision statement contains long-term goals. Both documents guide employees as they carry out their assigned duties.

If you value purpose-driven leadership, align your policies with your company’s mission and vision. This alignment can help ensure that employees derive a sense of meaning from their work and can help avoid any confusion stemming from mixed messaging. 

4. Build trust

Purpose-driven leaders are responsible for communicating a shared vision to their team members. Your employees are more likely to embrace this vision if they trust you and believe you have their best interests in mind. To build trust with team members, follow these tips:

• Be as transparent as possible: You may not be able to share every detail, but you can provide regular updates.

• Provide ongoing support to the people on your team: You may need to provide encouragement when things are tough or praise when things are going well.

• Listen just as much as you talk: Employees are often more likely to trust you when they know you’ll take their concerns seriously.

• Lead by example: If you want employees to be enthusiastic and responsible, make sure you model those same qualities.

5. Involve key stakeholders

For best results, all stakeholders should embrace your company’s purpose, not just your employees. For example, if your purpose centers on making a positive impact on the environment, you probably don’t want to work with a supplier that’s fighting to roll back local environmental regulations. Make sure that vendors, investors, community members and other stakeholders are committed to your company’s purpose.

6. Empower your employees

Allowing employees to make decisions helps them feel empowered, making it more likely that you’ll remain committed to a shared purpose. You don’t need to let go of all decision-making authority, but you should let employees make as many decisions as possible. For example, if you offer a flexible schedule, let employees choose their own hours, if possible.

What traits do you need to excel as a purpose-driven leader?

Purpose-driven leaders often have several characteristics in common:

• High levels of intrinsic motivation: People with high levels of intrinsic motivation take pride in a job well done. This helps them tackle every challenge with determination.

• Flexibility: Purpose-driven leaders must be able to adapt to changing business circumstances. Therefore, you need a high level of flexibility instead of rigidity.

• Self-awareness: As a purpose-driven leader, you must understand what motivates you. It’s also important to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses.

• High emotional intelligence: Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage your emotions and respond appropriately to other people’s emotions. As a purpose-driven leader, you need high emotional intelligence to build trust and convince followers to embrace a shared purpose.

Frequently asked questions about purpose-driven leadership

Why is purposeful leadership important?

Purposeful leadership is essential because it goes beyond motivating employees to complete individual tasks. This leadership style helps team members find meaning in their work, which may help you increase your company’s retention rate or improve morale. It also gives team members a better understanding of how their work affects people in other departments.

What are the pros and cons of purpose-driven leadership?

Purpose-driven leadership may help you attract quality hires and build trust among team members. Another advantage of this leadership style is that it helps businesses achieve goals unrelated to profits. One of the potential drawbacks is that profit-motivated investors may not be willing to embrace social causes. You may also have to abandon profitable product lines if they don’t align with your company’s stated purpose.