How purpose can help attract the leadership talent you need right now.

Corporate boards in Germany and abroad are increasingly embracing the corporate purpose concept.

Purpose-driven organizations who think and act beyond the bottom line have proved to do better in business. Recent Deloitte research shows that high-purpose brands can double market value four times more quickly.

But what does this mean for today’s senior leaders? How does corporate purpose motivate them? How does it impact their job, and their compensation? And what does this world of purpose mean for finding the best leadership talent?

Talent magnet 

Certainly, when C-suite leaders were asked about the impact of purpose, they saw a clear effect on talent - 79% agreed that a clearly communicated purpose supports talent recruitment, engagement, and retention.

It is employees who are certainly driving purpose up the agenda.

Recent Gartner survey figures found that three out of four employees expect their employer to take a view on the societal and political debates of the day. But how about the C-Suite leaders themselves?

Personal motivation

In short, senior leaders are little different from the rank-and file-employee in understanding and appreciating the importance of purpose. It is a powerful driver of personal motivation since it’s far more aspirational and personally rewarding to lead an organization that makes a real difference in the world. It’s something that some hiring teams don’t quite appreciate.

So, beyond remuneration, senior candidates are increasingly interested in an organization’s purpose and mission. Ultimately, they want to know if there is a cultural alignment with their values, as well as growth, development and advancement opportunities. These are powerful reasons to accept a new job, or to leave a current one.

A developing picture

Leaders know only too well that they have a role to play in defining, achieving, and sustaining purpose. But how to do this is an evolving issue.

Some are in uncharted waters, debating whether purpose should be baked into the company via conventional organizational channels, or they should go ahead and employ a Chief Purpose Officer, or at least have someone at board level taking responsibility for defining and driving purpose.

There is certainly agreement that however things are arranged, each member of the C-suite has an important role to play in defining and implementing purpose, with the CEO being the most critical to success.

Connecting purpose with incentives

On the surface, this all seems fine, but dig a little deeper and certain contradictions begin to appear.

You would expect that if purpose was that important to leaders’ roles, it would be a way to incentivize them financially.

But as Deloitte found, there was a disconnect between successfully driving purpose and a leader’s incentives.

In fact, whilst most of the C-suite leaders (70%) agreed that their role is highly impacted by their company’s purpose priorities, only a third (33%) reported that their compensation is tied to their performance against those priorities.

Surely, this is not just a missed opportunity to ensure that purpose is driven more effectively at every turn, but a chance to use that compensation arrangement to attract the right candidate.

Person first, skills second.

“We at Odgers Berndtson are dedicated to a comprehensive evaluation process that takes into account both the skills and purpose of potential candidates. While we acknowledge the undeniable importance of skills and experience, we understand that aligning a candidate's values with the values of the organization they are being considered for is vital for long-term compatibility. By gaining a thorough understanding of each candidate, we can ensure that their character traits and purpose are in harmony with the ethos of the companies we serve”, says Ewald Manz, Partner at Odgers Berndtson Germany.

This approach also serves to build more diversity into a leadership group which is proven to be good for better decision-making.

Our LeaderFit profile model can help us do this since it  combines personality data, behavioural patterns and leadership experts’ judgement to paint a picture of individual performance in targeted senior roles.

We have experience of assessing and developing leaders across publicly traded companies, privately funded companies, and government/not-for-profit organizations.

And our advice and ideas on aligning compensation with purpose can add another dimension to your search for the right person.

If you want to discuss your organization’s current talent plans, or your individual career trajectory and ambitions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’re keen to hear from you.