What is the power of an HR team having a purpose?
When people think of the word “purpose,” they often think of individual purpose. When you work toward and live your purpose, you feel positive emotions (even if your purpose involves hard or fraught work, such as volunteering at a domestic violence shelter). Living your purpose makes you feel as though you are doing something meaningful.
Because purpose is associated with emotions, many HR teams dismiss exploring purpose at work. “Why bother with that?” They assume that strategy and daily activities are purely intellectual realms. However, integrating purpose into your teamwork can bring about tremendous results.
Where Can Purpose Help HR Teams?
HR leaders and professionals often struggle with three major challenges:
- Urgency Overload: Constantly putting out fires. HR teams can get stuck in reactive modes. Missing opportunities to lead strategically.
- Lost in the Shuffle: Without clear direction, HR can lose its voice and fail to lead in the areas where it can have the most impact.
- Siloed Focus: HR teams frequently focus on reporting and administrative tasks, working below their full potential and limiting their strategic influence.
The challenges above are further complicated by a paradox inherent to HR. HR professionals often work in the background, supporting the business without receiving much acknowledgment. Often, you hear from employees only when something goes wrong. This dynamic can lead to burnout, as the relentless pressure of day-to-day tasks makes it hard to focus on the big picture.
But when HR teams operate with a clearly defined purpose, they move away from constant firefighting and toward having their own influence and voice in how they spend their time. They move from being order-takers to strategic partners in the organization.
Clarifying Purpose to Refine Strategy
A clear team purpose allows HR professionals to evaluate and refine their activities, ensuring they focus on the unique work only they can and should do. For instance, I once worked with CVS during a $180M outsourcing deal with IBM. Both companies had rotating leadership and account executive representation until we came together to define the collective purpose of these two teams that had to join forces. After using the questions below, the teams aligned on a shared purpose of, “HR Easy.”
This shift allowed them to streamline processes and better serve employees. For example, when presented with a few options, all with pros and cons, the teams could use the question “does this support our purpose to make HR easy?” as their north star. Framed in this way, the activities that didn’t serve their purpose became much more apparent, and they were better able to use their time.
Emotion and Strategy: A Crucial Partnership
Great teams not only think but also feel their way through complex decisions. They tap into their emotions as a check-and-balance system that helps them stay grounded and aligned with their purpose. Emotions access the limbic systems before it routes our thoughts through the prefrontal cortex, our executive functioning processor. We become clearer and more specific with how we frame the paradoxes.
That’s why it’s important to encourage your team to explore not just the logistical or operational challenges you face but also the emotional tensions. Addressing these emotional undercurrents brings clarity and helps teams advance their purpose with greater authenticity and power.
One of the fundamental questions I ask HR teams is: What is the work that only we can and should be doing that will make us proud? Pride in one’s work can be a powerful differentiator between average and exceptional performance.
A second question is: What paradoxes or tensions must we address to advance our purpose? Often, leaders focus on either/or dilemmas, but when we explore the emotional tensions and opposing thoughts, we unlock new possibilities. For example, your HR team might feel excited by the prospect of having more say in a larger initiative, and also feel nervous because they are entering unfamiliar territory. By identifying and exploring the paradox, your team can work together to brainstorm ways to make the new territory feel safer or more contained.
Focusing on Results, Not Just Actions
Once HR teams define their purpose and navigate the emotional landscape, the next step is to focus on results rather than actions. Many teams get bogged down in the minutiae of action items. Instead, by aligning around key results, they can remain agile and adjust their approach as needed while staying focused on their ultimate goals.
For example, if the desired result is to improve employee retention, the team may choose various actions to achieve that—such as updating benefits, improving work-life balance policies, or enhancing career development opportunities. The specific actions may evolve, but the key result remains the guiding star.
A Dynamic Game Plan
Most strategic plans are static documents that rarely get revisited. The opposite is true for a purpose-driven game plan. This approach is dynamic by design, evolving alongside changes in the world, technology, and business needs. Teams should regularly check in to assess what’s working, celebrate successes, and adjust the plan as necessary to stay on track.
Reflection and celebration are critical components of this journey. By scheduling regular team check-ins to review progress and discuss obstacles, HR teams ensure that they stay aligned with their purpose.
Where Do You Start?
Articulating team purpose is not completed overnight, but you can get things started with a few questions. At your next meeting, try exploring:
- What is the work only we can and should do?
- What paradoxes/core tensions do we need to address to advance our purpose?
- What are the key results that will help us achieve our purpose?
The more specific answers you can generate, the better. By digging into the above, you can start harnessing the power of your team’s unique purpose.
When more teams embrace their purpose, the entire organization thrives. Purpose-driven teams create a ripple effect of positive change, leading to better outcomes for the business and its people.
Laura J. Stone works with executives, teams and high-potential leaders to increase their strategic and stakeholder impact so that they can achieve results that make them proud. Her clients include Danone, TJX, Bacardi, Unilever, CVS, Iron Mountain, IBM, Pfizer, Fidelity and Toyota. Learn more at https://laurastone.com.
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