…And they’ll stay with you forever.

What does fulfilment from your business mean to you?

Imagine a team of highly talented people. They are fully engaged, hyperproductive, and delivering awesome experiences for all your customers.

Now imagine this happening without you needing to be involved, and profitably! What would you choose to do with all your new freedom?

Both as customers and as team members, we are hungry for purpose! An awesome product or service alone is simply no longer enough!

Your #1 focus as a leader today, to attract and retain awesome people, is to give them what they crave.

More than 9 out of 10 employees are willing to trade a percentage of their lifetime earnings for greater meaning at work. (Better Up 2018)

So how do you lead with purpose?

Leading with purpose in a way that attracts and retains the people you need to create freedom for you is a simple formula: (C + I) × S = Freedom

C is for Culture

When your culture is strong your team becomes more engaged, and misaligned people self-select out.

Engaged team members are 12 times more productive than disengaged employees (for mid level roles)!

Your culture code consists of a few components. It includes a vision for the world and humanity. And it must be meaningful to your entire team (and prospective team members). This vision directs your purpose, your values, your brand personality and your key messaging.

Your purpose and values must be lived and breathed through all your actions. Authenticity is key. When you have it right, your brand becomes a crusade to join, not merely a paycheck.

We have a simple and effective framework to help you with this meaning and authenticity:

1. Articulate – Define the culture code for your organisation
2. Unite – Embrace your entire team in the process and journey
3. Protect – Develop your process to ensure you hire & fire for fit.

But great culture alone is not enough! (C (Culture) + I) x S = Freedom

I is for Impact

When your team are co-creators of positive impact at work as well as their job, they are 42% happier! When they are happier, everyone wins: you, the rest of the team, and your customers.

According to Harvard researchers, those who gave contributions of time or money were “42 percent more likely to be happy” than those who didn’t give. It’s called Helper’s high and it is real. We’ve felt time and again the palpable energy it creates for teams.

Making a positive impact integral to your business model not only bakes in this happiness for your team, it gives your market a noble reason to love you. By choosing you, your customers feel part of something bigger, and it becomes their story. They become your brand ambassadors, at no cost to you.

Choosing the right impact model for your business can be tricky. It must make sense for your market, for what you do and for your team. It has to be bolted in, not bolted on, or it will be seen as a marketing tactic, or worse yet, cause washing.

There is a simple framework for your impact model too:

1. Determine – Identify the simplest, most relevant positive impact for your business
2. Communicate – Set milestones, then measure and report to all your audiences
3. Celebrate – Mark all milestones with celebration, embracing your co-creators.

Great culture and impact is awesome, but without the next piece it will be slow going. (C (Culture) + I (Impact)) x S = Freedom

S is for Storytelling

One of the greatest and most painful business myths is “if you build it, they will come”. While it does increase your odds of success, you’ve still got to drive attention to what you build.

Human beings are story machines. It is the way we process the information we receive through our senses and experiences. We convert anything meaningful into a story to store for recall. And we disregard everything else.

A well crafted story makes this process a whole lot easier, as it is engaging and easily stored. Wrap it in meaning and emotion, and it can be remembered for eternity.

What this means for your business is simple. When you craft stories that share your culture and your impact, you make them easier to learn and recall. These stories help your team deeply and understand your culture and impact. It helps them live the brand. Then they can share the stories with their teammates and clients. This is how they spread in perpetuity!

Naturally we have a framework for effective storytelling too:

1. Collect – Gather stories from your team that embody your culture and impact
2. Create – Craft the 6 key stories for each of your audience types
3. Storytell – Become prolific storytellers through all your communications.

The greater your storytelling, the faster and easier you will connect people with your awesome culture and impact. It’s why storytelling is the multiplier that completes your freedom and fulfilment formula:
(C (Culture) + I (Impact)) x S (Storytelling) = F (Freedom)

Unleashing your team

Can you see how getting this formula right for your business unleashes the potential of your team?

To recap:

• With a strong culture, your team is aligned and fully engaged.
• The right impact model increases your team’s happiness and your customers’.
• And great storytelling makes it all perpetual, including endless referrals!

This is how you gain fulfilment and freedom from your business. Which comes back to the opening question: What does fulfilment from your business mean to you?

Is it the freedom to spend more time with your family, to travel, or to serve your community? Could it be that you are simply freed up to choose to do specific projects within your business?

Ultimately, getting it right gives you freedom to choose.

Where to from here?

We have a mastermind accelerator for Purpose Ready businesses needing help to become a good for the world brand. The frameworks above form part of our ElectroMagnetic Brand method. Its purpose is to help you create a brand that effortlessly attracts awesome people.

To find out if it is a good fit for your business, book your complimentary one-on-one strategy session with our team. Do that here.

Until then, be unapologetically awesome.

Warmly,
Luke & the team