Cultivating a purpose driven agenda

I’m writing this in a coffee shop in Banff, sat next to my youngest child who wanted some time out from the hustle and bustle of town on his computer with his headphones on. The server was absolutely delighted – she said they aim both to serve great coffee and to be a safe haven for people. That’s a great sense of purpose right there, and one we are truly appreciating right now.

I can almost count on one hand the number of times Brian Cullen, CEO of MAPD Group, and me, when asked why we do what we do as owners of the MAPD Group, have not been asked to clarify our exit strategy. It’s the inevitable question to which so many people seem to want a black and white answer. We’ve also, on many occasions, been met with extreme cynicism when we’ve said we don’t have one. It seems to be a given, if you own a business, that you’re looking to make money and then sell. Not that there’s anything wrong with making money, but having a strong sense of purpose and being profitable are by no means mutually exclusive.

We’re firm believers in Simon Sinek’s infinite game. We’re not in it to compete – we’re in it for the fun (and rollercoaster – I’d be lying if I told you that it was easy) of the journey and for the privilege to continue taking part. Of course we will exit at some point, but our ownership should be a mere chapter in the long life of a sustainable business. There is no end game – just milestones along the way. That doesn’t mean for a second that we haven’t thought about how we might exit when the timing is right to hand the baton on to others for the next chapter – we just don’t conduct ourselves or define our days for or by an exit point. We live for the little MAPD moments that are really, really special.

MAPD – Making A Positive Difference – is our sense of purpose. It applies to our clients (that goes without saying) but of equal importance is the way we MAPD to each other and to the communities within which we operate, whether they are geographical, virtual or sector-driven. This includes our suppliers – we see our relationship with them as a partnership and not transactional. Everything we do has MAPD at the core, ranging from our decision making at board level (have we passed the hand on heart test?) to the monthly MAPD moments shared with and by our people – we share what we have done and how we have made a positive difference to our clients or to each other. Our big, hairy audacious goal is to have MAPD listed as a verb in the English dictionary – “this morning, I MAPD to my elderly neighbour by putting her bins out.”

I’ve worked in law firms in the past – really great law firms that ran like clockwork, were extremely profitable and full of great people – but this is hands down the best role I’ve ever had and I genuinely think that is largely due to the shared understanding of why we do what we do, the strong alignment of our tribe and the feeling of belonging to a collective sense of purpose. We describe it as being on the rocket – we’re all on a journey together, the rocket often changes direction because it’s not aiming for an end point, so we’re just enjoying the journey together and aiming for multiple different milestones along the way.

The top questions we asked ourselves in our journey to become increasingly purpose-driven were:

1. Why? Why do we do what we do? We know what we do and how we do it, but why? There’s no right or wrong, but this question really helped us to define our purpose. Check out Simon Sinek’s ‘Start with the Why’. Clearly articulate what you do as a business, how you do it and then ask yourself the searching questions around why you actually do it. What’s it all for?
2. What do your people want? Just ask! There’s no one size fits all and everyone’s view is important so consider trying focus groups, discussion forums, questionnaires or pulse surveys. And just asking everyone the question!
3. What do your clients want? Again, just ask – how often do we actually say to a new client, “talk me through what success looks like / what a positive outcome might be?” The answers may surprise us…
4. Does the culture of the business match this sense of purpose? This can obviously only be tested once you have clearly articulated the sense of purpose but it’s easy to measure through regular pulse surveys once you have the sense of purpose embedded.
5. How do you want to be remembered? This is a question that only you can answer. It could range from “as the best litigator in my field in the country” to “as someone who was compassionate and made people smile” or “as someone who trained the next generation of good lawyers”. There’s no right or wrong answer.
6. How do you measure your sense of purpose? Is it a KPI which carries equal importance to other more quantitative metrics? Look at what you currently measure, formally or informally. Is it limited to financial metrics such as billing, chargeable hours and recovery? If you measure client satisfaction or people satisfaction, do you include them in the same reporting pack or are they separate? Do you give equal weighting to each and what is the consequence of each of these metrics? In other words, do people have the opportunity to get a bonus for good performance and is there any action for not meeting these metrics?
7. Is it simple? The elevator pitch is the best test here. Can you articulate your sense of purpose to someone in a lift in under 30 seconds?
8. Is it authentic? If people don’t embrace it, it will feel fake and won’t work. Ask your family and friends whether they think it works and what comments they have.
9. Is it feasible? On the basis that true authenticity applies to our whole life, can we, and do we, live by it both inside and outside of work? As above – sense check it with your entourage outside of work and ask for their opinion.
10. How do we embed our sense of purpose into absolutely everything we do? From the way we recruit, to the manner in which we converse with our clients, to our approach to profit – this needs a team. Ask a group of your people – from all departments and roles – to work this through and see what they come up with.