04/05/2024
Purpose is essential. It drives, motivates and gives focus. But, how do you communicate it in your organization and turn it into action? Use the Pyramid of Purpose
The Pyramid of Purpose is a simple tool laying out the hierarchy of an organization’s strategic plan. The original version contains four questions: Why? What? How? and Who? While useful, it is incomplete. This is why I have extended it to the full “5W1H’ questions to further specify what is meant.
As the picture shows, the Pyramid of Purpose puts the 5W+1H questions in a particular order. There is a logic to this. From abstract to specific, the questions refer to the following:
WHY? This question asks for the overall purpose of the organization and the strategy, which is often reflected in an organization's Mission and Vision statements. It captures the organization’s primary reason for existence, why it does what it does.
WHERE? A demarcation of scope and location. As most organizations do not address the entire world, it is useful to specify for which (part of the) organization, industry, or region the Why? question applies. This includes describing who is affected, or which unit, department or region.
WHAT? Turning the overall purpose into clear and measurable goals and objectives. At this level it becomes clear what is meant with the overall purpose. Given that this may be different for different units and departments, the Pyramid may split from here on downwards so that the What? How? When? and Who? questions are answered differently for each of them.
HOW? At this level, you explain what needs to be done in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the previous level. This includes defining actions, initiatives, tasks, projects, or anything else that describes what needs to happen and change to achieve the objectives and thereby the organization’s purpose.
WHEN? Once it is clear what needs to be done and how, the next step is to define when. This concerns setting priorities and making decisions about what will be done and what not, and about when and in which order. It leads to a high-level long-term roadmap and a short-term concrete action plan that drives action throughout the organization.
WHO? The final question concerns the allocation of people and resources. This includes budgeting and reserving sufficient capacity for executing the plan that results from the previous levels. Without assigning clear tasks and responsibilities, nothing will really happen, making this last step as important as the previous five.
Time for some work: what does your organization’s Pyramid of Purpose look like?
