FRESH TAKES ON BIG IDEAS

Leaders who are effective communicators know how to offer compelling narratives about their organizations—ones that inspire employees, customers, and other stakeholders. That may sound like a straightforward task, but it really isn’t. 

CEOs must address multiple challenges on a given day. This means they may not have time to step back and consider the broader stakes. What is my organization’s North Star? How can I tell a story about the organization and myself as a leader that reflects our values and resonates with people, both internally and externally?

When working with CEOs, we offer a way for them to think about framing these questions that I call the “four W’s”: 

The “who” is the company’s identity—its personality, values, and culture. The “why” reflects purpose—what is our core mission? The “what” and the “when” correspond to the work plan and initiatives and the timing to execute them. CEOs want to quickly establish accountability and execute their strategy, which is obviously important for results. However, our observation after working with leaders is that passing over the first two W’s to focus on the last two can be problematic and misses a real opportunity. 

Organizational success comes from leaders spending more time upstream with the foundational questions of purpose and identity, which are particularly important for companies stocked with self-propelled talent. These are people who, when told where the goal line is, figure out how to get there. Purpose and identity are fuel for performance, and they’ve only gotten more important in an era of nonstop change and increased yearning for meaning in the workplace.

CEOs should want to inspire and motivate all their people. There’s an old story about John F. Kennedy touring the NASA facilities in Cape Canaveral. He noticed a janitor with a broom nearby. He asked what the man was doing for NASA, and the janitor replied that he was helping to put a man on the moon. He didn’t view his contribution as fractional; he felt he was doing his part so the overall mission could succeed.

“Purpose and identity are fuel for performance, and they’ve only gotten more important in an era of nonstop change.”

We’ve seen this same kind of widespread shared vision play out at successful hospital systems where all employees—not just the doctors and nurses—feel they are healing and caring for patients. When hospital leaders have a vision of patient care that is integrative, employee experience improves, as does customer experience.

These are examples of how the “who” and the “why” combine to give a strong sense of organizational identity. Identities, by their nature, are not partial; they are holistic. They don’t apply to only 25 percent or 50 percent of employees. It’s 100 percent or nothing. 

To spread their vision, leaders can spotlight people who are living the goal successfully. Senior leaders can reach out to those on the front line and say, “I heard you did this. Good stuff, keep it going, and thank you for setting an example.” Leaders can also teach. They can say, “Look, we’re continuing to get better at this. We keep getting closer and closer, but it’s the striving to be great that makes us great.” If they emphasize improvement, as well as performance, people will be more motivated to stretch and strive. 

Finally, leaders can serve as role models for this approach themselves. They should be curious, hunting for new ways of doing things. They can refine their own script, not relying on a stump speech that is provided to them and that they repeat over and over. They can evolve it as they learn, enriching their narrative with employees, suppliers, customers, and the board.

We suggest that leaders take the time to dwell on identity and purpose. If they skip over those things and focus only on operational factors, they leave a lot on the sidelines because people just aren’t going to be as excited and committed as they could be. This is particularly true in high-talent organizations, where people don’t necessarily listen to authority alone (the “do it because I said so” approach). What motivates them is having something that they believe in: an interpretation of who they are and why they’re here that resonates.

In any human endeavor, it isn’t just about a transaction but about depth of meaning. Reasons, values, mission, and how people see themselves—and why they do what they do—matter. We see this in our work with companies that could have gone down the path of making more money outside of their core mission, but they decided against it. And they’re thriving, whether it’s in entertainment or healthcare or other sectors. 

Finally, the four W’s are a useful mnemonic device for CEOs to quickly pull up and ask, “Am I leading in a way that works well across all of these? Or am I at 10-10-40-40?” Obviously, if they’re at 50-50-0-0, that’s also a problem. The point is to recalibrate and put more time and energy where it’s needed while vowing not to skip over “who” and “why.” Balance is the key.

ABOUT THIS AUTHOR

Kurt Strovink is a senior partner in McKinsey’s New York office.