A strong sense of purpose.

It is not the words of a company vision that count, as much as the conversation that goes on around the water cooler about the purpose of an organisation. The notion of including all personnel in a conversation about business purpose is very effective.

Sam Palmisano, current CEO of IBM conducted a “Values Jam” on the IBM intranet over 3 days a few months after his appointment. This generated 40,000 “conversations” about purpose across the business, with Sam acting as both participant and final arbiter.

The outcome is a set of words that has stood IBM in great stead over the last 6 years, and all employees know, they have the opportunity to contribute.

Subsequently, the “jam” concept has been used by IBM to inform a range of other issues from their internal innovation “jam” in 2006 which resulted in 10 new businesses with $100 million in seed funding, to the 2008 “habitat jam” held on behalf of the UN.

These activities only work because they unleash the power of a common purpose in their participants, have you considered how to unleash the power of your networks?

About strategyaudit

StrategyAudit is a boutique strategy and marketing consultancy concentrating on the challenges of the medium sized manufacturing businesses that make up the backbone of our economy. The particular focus is on their strategic and marketing development. as well as the business and operational efficiency improvements necessary for day to day commercial survival. We not only give advice, we go down "into the weeds" to ensure and enable implementation.

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