Purpose At Work
What we feel. What we pretend. What we avoid.
Most organisations have a purpose statement. Fewer have a purpose that people actually believe in. Fewer still have one that shows up in decisions, not just slides.
I’ve seen all three. The well-intentioned video. The bold words on the wall. The internal campaign that lands with a shrug.
And I’ve worked with leaders who genuinely want purpose to matter. Not as branding, but as a guide.
So why does it often fall flat?
Because pretending is easier than practising.
It’s easy to say “our purpose is to make life better for our customers.” It’s harder to explain why we’re restructuring a team of people who’ve given everything to that exact goal.
It’s easy to say we’re values-led. It’s harder to look at a performance review process that rewards the wrong behaviour and change it.
Purpose isn’t soft. It’s demanding. It forces choices. Most companies don’t like choices that make things slower, more expensive, or less comfortable.
But here’s the thing. People know.
They know when purpose is window dressing.
They know when the ‘why’ behind the work isn’t real.
And they know when a senior leader says “we care about our people” but makes decisions that suggest otherwise.
That’s where internal communication comes in.
Not to polish the message. To hold up a mirror.
To say: if this is our purpose, how do we speak and act in a way that makes it real?
So, what does it take?
In my experience, it’s not about the perfect statement.
It’s about three things:
Consistency
Not in the campaign. In the culture. Are we living this daily, or only when the cameras are on?Clarity
Purpose isn’t poetry. It’s a lens. Can people use it to make decisions? Can it explain what’s changing and why?Courage
To say when we’ve drifted from it. To course-correct. To own the gap between what we say and what we do.
What this looks like in practice
A frontline manager who knows how to link team goals to purpose in plain language.
A leadership update that doesn’t just celebrate what’s going well. It explains why the direction matters.
An onboarding experience that’s more than an induction. It’s an invitation to something bigger.
Purpose doesn’t have to be lofty.
But it does have to be true. And that starts with how we talk about it on the inside.
Thinking about this?
I sometimes help organisations rethink how their purpose shows up in comms, culture and leadership voice. Say hello if you’d like to know more.
