Improve Company Direction and Purpose: 20 Leadership Actions

Best Practices to Improve Company Direction and Purpose
Leading people effectively is nearly impossible when they lack clarity or alignment on where they are headed — and why reaching that destination matters. Clear direction provides the foundation for individuals and teams to make sound decisions, collaborate seamlessly across functions, and act cohesively to advance the organization’s strategy. A compelling purpose gives work meaning, motivating people to go beyond the minimum and truly drive results.

Strengthening company direction and purpose is also central to achieving organizational alignment — where the three pillars of strategy, culture, and talent intersect to elevate performance at every level. When these elements are intentionally aligned, individuals, teams, and the organization as a whole operate more efficiently, make better decisions, and sustain momentum toward shared goals. The payoff is tangible: alignment and purpose don’t just feel good — they drive measurable results.   Our organizational alignment research found that aligned companies

• grow revenue 58% faster
• drive 72% greater profitability
• satisfy customers 3.2-to-1
• improve leadership effectiveness 8.71-to-1
• engage employees 16.8-to-1

And according to recent McKinsey research, 82% of employees believe it’s important for their company to have a meaningful purpose to drive strategy, engagement, and decision making.

Top Leadership Actions to Improve Company Direction and Purpose
The most effective leaders understand the theory, yet our?leadership simulation assessments?reveal that many struggle to translate it into concrete actions that enhance company direction and purpose on the path to organizational alignment. The challenge is understandable — the number of potential leadership actions, coupled with the need to implement them thoughtfully and measure their impact, can feel overwhelming.

To make it manageable, we’ve compiled twenty leadership actions (in no particular order) drawn from client experience that can strengthen company direction and purpose. The real impact comes from pacing these actions strategically and adapting them to your organization’s unique strategy, culture, and circumstances. Review the list, identify the actions that resonate, and prioritize those that best support the company direction and purpose you aim to establish.

1. Ask leaders to create a 1-page team charter for their team that aligns with the overall Company Mission, Vision, and Corporate Values so that there is a clear line of sight for how each person contributes to overall success.
2. Take your Strategic Vision beyond the communication stage by defining specifically how it impacts decisions, behaviors, and performance expectations.
3. Interview key customers and identify five strategic priorities that help connect internal actions to the most important customer wants and needs.
4. Hold employee town hall meetings to purposefully challenge “What is being done,” “Why it is being done,” and “How it is being done” — the goal is to clarify and change things to increase strategic clarity and buy-in.
5. Hold CEO-led strategy workshops, bringing all managers together to discuss and understand each division’s strategy and goals, and how they align to support the company vision and strategy.
6. Create “strategic thinking” councils to engage staff in dialogue about institutional priorities, future opportunities, and barriers to success.
7. Rank all current initiatives based upon their alignment with the company’s direction and purpose and then rationalize them accordingly.
8. Assess your organizational culture and create a set of clear behavioral objectives that reinforces how work needs to get done to support the strategy.
9. Increase the transparency, frequency, and methods of evaluating and communicating key performance metrics and KPIs across all levels of the organization.
10. Cascade goals across all levels of the organization.
11. Create rewards for teams and individuals based on measurable contributions to goals that are meaningful, predetermined, and proportionate.
12. Adopt a performance management process that includes meaningful feedback and dialogue about progress towards desired individual and team goals and behaviors.
13. Adopt several “big picture” goals that promote cross-functional collaboration to achieve.
14. Open meetings with progress updates on team goals to keep them top-of-mind and relevant.
15. Emphasize the company vision and why it is important at the start of important meetings.
16. Hold intensive “leadership summits” to gain understanding and buy-in to the strategy and corporate values, with the expectation that leaders at all levels communicate the vision and values frequently and consistently.
17. Highlight compelling examples of the company authentically demonstrating the company mission, vision, and values using social media and internal communication vehicles.
18. Make the mission and vision key components of your employee hiring and onboarding processes.
19. Have the CEO conduct “roadshows” to get out and create more clarity and excitement about the vision, including stories of success and progress.
20. Link discussions about the strategy and goals directly back to the vision, to create line-of-sight between the near- and long-term priorities.

The Bottom Line
Company direction and purpose are critical drivers of alignment and performance. Identify the actions that best fit your organization, then tailor them thoughtfully to your unique strategy, culture, and circumstances to maximize their impact.

To learn more about how to improve company direction and purpose to rally your teams, download 7 Proven Ways to Stress Test Your Strategy to see where you stand.