Paul Keijzer — February 27, 2017 Follow @Paul_KeijzerImagine a life where your basic needs are taken care of but you have nothing more to strive for. Nothing greater that you’re aspiring to achieve. Sounds like a mundane and purposeless life to me. That’s most likely the state you’d like to avoid in your life. Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in which he talked about the level of “self-actualization” where having a reason to achieve greatness was important and which everyone was aiming for? That’s exactly how organizations work, or should work. Once they’ve taken care of their basic requirements (return on investments, market share and profitability) they need to strive for something important, something greater. And that’s why all organizations need a Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP).
How the Digital Age is Changing Everything
In the digital age that you currently operate in the first step that every organization needs to take is a conscious step towards Digital Transformation. It’s unavoidable and necessary. And no it’s not as simple as embracing new standards or installing new digital technologies. It’s much more. Digital Transformation entails the awareness that your organization needs to be agile and continuously drive change which can be achieved by constant research and harvesting a transformational environment.
Remaining static, with your processes, policies, management style, business model, and even your purpose is suicide. There’s no other way to look at it. It’s simply going to lead to your organization’s demise (and it won’t be slow or gradual). In contrast, empowering your organization with agility, flexibility and digital awareness will enable it to acquire digital advancements rapidly and promptly enough to harness it’s abilities in its favor. Sure it would require you to undergo several change management cycles and revisits of your corporate strategies, but that’s the only way you’ll survive or remain relevant.
What is a Massive Transformative Purpose?
Amongst other things, all ‘great’ organizations have one thing in common – they all have a well-defined Massive Transformative Purpose. What is a MTP? Quite simply, an MTP is an outrageously and highly aspirational motto. It’s an audaciously huge purpose statement that an organization, individual, community or social movement strives for.
Tesla, Inc. states that “our mission is to accelerate transition to sustainable transport”. Google has a strong MTP that aims to “organize the world’s information”. With such bold and strong MTPs these companies have embraced Digital Transformation and leveraged it to transform the world. You could say that what such organizations are aiming to achieve is hardly possible for a single organization – it’ll take the efforts of many such organizations to collectively create such an impact. But nonetheless it hasn’t prevented them from defining such bold and aspirational MTPs.
So how do you go about establishing your organization’s MTP? An aspect to keep in mind is that it has to be audaciously big. Hence, what it can’t be is technology specific, narrow, aimed at what can be achieved today or motivated by profits. It’s way, way beyond all that. It’s a statement that’s all encompassing, and beyond your current scope and capabilities. It’s so broad that you won’t be able to achieve it in the near future, but it’s something that you’re striving for.
Why It’s Important To You?
I’ve often talked about how motivating your talent can be an uphill struggle if they aren’t challenged enough or given meaningful purpose to strive for. One thing that always fuels passion in talented people is their hunger to achieve greatness. Do something that they can be proud of. Something that’s unique and gives them purpose. That’s where your organization’s MTP comes in.
The more you structure yourself and your organization around a massive transformative purpose the harder and more dedicated your people will work. They’ll feel more fulfilled with their jobs. And of course, you’ll have a better chance of aligning your people around a corporate goal that’s based on your MTP. It’s about creating an impact on the planet that hits home deeper in the hearts of people. When they know their contributions will impact society and the ecosystem more positively, they’ll work endlessly to ensure your organization’s success.
With your team pushing the boundaries of what’s possible to achieve and aiming for greatness you can be sure that your organization can harness their passion to gain competitive advantage. Such “big thinking”, rapid technology absorption and organizational agility will enable your organization to vastly differentiate itself from competitors. In fact, with a purpose than has mass appeal you’ll not only drive exponential performance from your employees, you’ll be winning over consumer trust and attention.
The days of aiming for profitability and making a few quick millions are far behind us. In an era of high consumer awareness and empowerment, altering demands and rapidly changing technologies the key for survival is aiming for something that’s massively bigger than you and your organization. And for that you’ll need to define your Massive Transformative Purpose and keep redefining it.
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