Purpose - Driven Management : A Salve for Business Misalignment
By, Derrick Poon Young- President and Principal Consultant, Derpon Consulting International
A former Olympic track sprint coach, Cecil Walker, once said to my team mates and I during a run-up training session to the national trials: “Never allow yourselves to be bewitched by your competitors. Instead, focus on your fundamentals and align them at the right time.” What he conveyed to us at the time was to be purpose-driven in aligning your talents with your goals, values and aspirations. His signature advice can be applied surgically to many businesses across size, maturity and market segments, particularly in an era of mass digital transformation and market disruption wrought by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and all the noise surrounding it.
Purpose-driven management can benefit any company by inculcating a habit of proper strategic planning, performance measurement and careful pruning and winnowing of the plethora of goals, objectives and laundry lists that, over time, can become vexing because of competing requirements for internal resources. Such a scenario can also be confusing to staff and stakeholders as wistful business goals, objectives and laundry lists could propagate a lack of focus and clarity. Insert an unadulterated romance with AI adoption into the mix and you can have the unintended creation of a near-perfect alchemy of off-the-cuff decision-making and less rigorous business anticipating that would be detrimental to your business and inimical to desired performance.
Clarity of focus and a purposive approach to establishing realistic and implementable business strategies can lead to improved employee and client engagement; transform doubt by customers into confidence and renewed or extended loyalty to your brand and; improve financial performance. Purpose-driven management can also help companies and organizations navigate complex social and environmental challenges, such as climate change and social inequality, by helping to refine business operating cultures all the way to remodeling procurement practices and supply chain structures. All of this can be done while creating value for all stakeholders.
The current business landscape can be either harrowing to some companies and organizations with so much apparent disruption across industries or, it can be tantalizingly opportunity-laden for other entities that are not risk-averse, since confusion and instability can create the conditions for innovation and growth. In-between these two scenarios, sits optioning. Purpose with conviction can pacify indecisiveness related to real or perceived risk and drive informed decision-making. It is within the space of market confusion that purpose-driven management can be a salve for potential business misalignment, trepidation and fear-induced organizational decision-making paralysis. Purpose is a key genome marker of successful businesses. AI may be the talk of the town…but it is purpose-driven management that propels companies and organizations to be positioned for success.
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Derrick Poon Young
President and Principal Consultant
335 Hamilton Avenue South, Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 1C4 Canada
(613) 618-5302
dpoonyoung@derponconsult.ca