Your purpose statement answers the question, why does my business exist?
This is not about your vision, your people or your strategy, it's about why you exist!
The Purpose should talk about your passions and what you care about as a business.
💡 Use a whiteboard with sticky notes or a digital whiteboard (Miro or Canva) to do the following exercise.
💡 Here is a Miro Template to guide you through.
Step 1:
Each team member reflect on their notes from the previous step and capture their ideas for the purpose statement.
- One idea per sticky note.
- One to three ideas from each person
Take turns to explain your ideas to the team.
Step 2:
Group together common ideas. Encourage discussion as you do it.
- Which ones resonate the most with you and the team?
- Which idea do you all agree is closest to feeling like the purpose?
Step 3:
Once this is agreed upon, you can have a go at crafting a purpose statement.
- The final language of the statement can be refined at a later date if needed.
- At least get a solid draft down today.
Examples of great purpose statements
The Body Shop - The Body Shop exists to fight for a fairer, more beautiful world
Canva - Empowering the world to design
Crusoe Cloud - Aligning the future of computing with the future of the climate
Quality check
Don’t try and be too clever with the wording – simply convey what you mean. Once you have your purpose statement, test it by asking…
- Is it inspiring? Your people should be inspired and be able to attract people to your purpose.
- Why should people care?
- Would someone know what the business stands for?
- Would it attract people to come to work with the business?
- Would investors/customers be attracted to the business – would they care?
Reminder: This is not about your vision, your people or your strategy, its about why you exist!
Purpose Workflow: Wrap Up