Why is it important?

The importance of understanding and constantly anchoring to your purpose can't be overstated. It helps you to focus and continually recalibrate your energies on the reason you exist and inspires colleagues to work brilliantly together with shared resolve.

Becoming purpose-led throughout your organisation means creating a golden thread from this overall purpose to everything you do, increasing focus and motivation on the impact you exist to deliver.

Strategy helps your organisation move forward and achieve its goals. A good strategy will flow from your purpose and be informed (and co-produced where possible) by those for whom you exist. Your strategy, and its strategic vision, will define your destination and guide you there. It will help you make key decisions about where to focus energy and resources.

A great strategy will enable you to stay relevant and resilient through uncertain times, set out ambitious impact and outcomes, and help you achieve that impact for your clients and communities.

Clear direction

Improved outcomes

Greater relevance

Enhanced resilience

Common Challenges

It's easy to underestimate the importance of defined purpose, or to assume it's shared by all. In reality, people hold different versions of this in their heads, leading to different decisions about what's important and subtle mismatches of priorities.

If we are collectively clear on why we are doing something, huge time and energy is saved in efficient decision making and joined-up working. Defining purpose isn't just about the organisational level but how this flows through to departments, roles, services, projects, decisions, tasks and communication.

Strategic challenges include a lack of capacity internally to develop strategy, or having one that it is too detailed or too high level; it might be too focused on the day to day, or it could be so visionary it just isn't achievable!

Whatever the reason, a lack of effective purpose and strategy can result in:

• The organisation not working to the same aims

• Time and money wasted on things that are not priorities

• Potential conflicts with how to use resources

• Inward looking thinking and missed opportunities

• Organisational stagnation, not growing or changing

• Reduced impact for your clients and communities

Purpose

Whole Stories can deliver a standalone purpose-definition workshop, or incorporate with other stages such as values-definition or the overall strategy development process.

We also offer unique short practical workshops designed to equip you to become truly purpose-led throughout your organisation by embedding purpose into:

• organisational functions

• job roles

• performance development

• recruitment

• communication

• change management

These workshops can also cover embedding your values and inclusive practices, helping you achieve a purpose-driven inclusive approach.

Strategy

Whole Stories bring a professional futures strategy framework from which to facilitate strategic conversations and to co-design your strategy with you.

A typical process would include:

• Meeting with you to understand your context and challenges

• Delivering collaborative workshops to take you through a process of strategy development which will include contextual analysis, consideration of capabilities and envisaging the future

• Conducting stakeholder engagement and/or co-design to ensure your strategy is informed by everyone it impacts

• Producing a vision, strategic cornerstones and goals

• Delivering a written strategy

The process is flexible depending on your needs but will always ensure the final product is one you own and is informed by your colleagues, clients and communities. If it sounds like this approach could work for you, please do get in touch to discuss

How Whole Stories can help

It was a pleasure working with Erin on Warm Welcome Campaign's new purpose, vision, and strategy. Creating a new strategy can be daunting, but Erin's expertise ensured a smooth, fast-paced learning path with the ideal combination of support and challenge. It was exactly what we needed to stay on track. Erin's knowledge, vision, and engaging style made for an easy journey, taking the pain out of the process and turning it into a fun and rewarding adventure

- Myra Johnson, Director of Communications at Warm Welcome Campaign

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Let's work together

Erin Caseley, Director of Whole Stories Leadership

erin@wholestories.co.uk

Whole Stories Leadership Limited | Company number 15618372