Working for a higher Purpose

Studies show that giving your people a real purpose to there work lifts engagement and productivity. A great example of a company in Christchurch that has a meaningful purpose is Isaac Construction. By combining conservation with construction they are making a real difference not only for the people in their company but for the people in New Zealand.

Thanks to the hard work of the team at Isaac Construction New Zealanders will have a much better chance of ever seeing endangered species. The company funds The Isaac Conservation Trust which has just built a skinkery – that is a home and habitat for rare Grand and the Otago Skink- and the first skinks have just been transferred into their new home at Peacock Springs just outside Christchurch.

The Grand and the Otago Skinks are from the Hawea-Lindis area in Otago and are now part of a captive breeding programme. The skinkery replicates the skinks natural habitat by including huge rocks and native plants in the cages. The skinks will be kept warm by “under-rock” floor heating. I was lucky enough to be able to hold one as we helped them out of their plastic boxes and set them free to explore their new home.

I grew up in this part of New Zealand and remember searching for these reptiles in my youth so have a natural affiliation with the work that The Isaac Conservation trust is doing and we are really enjoying working with their company

The Isaac Wildlife Trust has been working with the Department of Conservation and has been successfully breeding endangered birds at Peacock Springs for many years. But now they have a new challenge- the Grand and the Otago Skink!

So when you ask the team at Isaac Construction what they do. Instead of just laying roads and asphalt the help fund the protection of New Zealand's endangered native Floura and Fauna.

Isn't that a whole lot more reason to get out of bed each morning. They think so.

So.... what is your company really passionate about and what is your higher purpose. If you don't have one you should get one.

How to enhance someone's experience of life

You know that sometimes when you come to work something extraordinary happens that reminds you of why you are passionate about what you do.

Our company purpose is "to enhance people's experience of life" and I have just finished a meeting with a client that reminds me of why I am so passionate about making that happen.

When we started working with her company she was working extremely hard, had great difficulty in taking time off and the business stress was affecting her relationship. It was a good company that was limited in its ability to grow.

3 years on and with less than 2 weeks notice she was able to leave the country and spend time with her daughters in Egypt. She has also sailed around the world with her husband and is a glowing representation of someone having fun who owns a business. So what changed?

It all started with a plan, this gave the ability to put in some key metrics to measure but this doesn't sound so different. In fact they had a lot of this in place before we started working together. What was different was that they were held accountable to execute their strategy, weekly meetings happened regardless and tangble outcomes were agreed to be delivered upon and issues were brought out when they happened, and there butts got kicked if they didn't do it.

This drove stronger communication, better visibility and most important of all accountability around execution of the plan. Execution has always been the most difficult part of achievement but also the most important. Tom Peters calls it the missing 98%.

The four fundamentals things to achieve greatness and freedom in business is:

- Write down a exciting compelling goal that engages your people
- Put it in a clear plan that everyone in your business can see everyday
- Have a clear and visible system of measuring results
- Have a system of accountability

I guarentee that it is this simple but it doesn't happen overnight. This story is an example where this stuff was put in place and three years later achieving a freedom goal that she thought would take 10 years.

Have we enhanced her experience of life.....absolutely
Am I excited about it ..... absolutely

Core Values- More than a List!

Core Values are things that many organisations tend to list, frame and hang on the wall. True Core Values are lived daily in the Company and are referred to used continuously. Staff are recruited from them, appraisals are done from them and if required staff are dismissed if they breach one of them.

Our Core Values at Results.Com are;

• People First
• Go the extra mile
• Live what we teach
• Abundance mentality
• Make a difference
• Passion for learning
• Straight talk

Our Core Purpose: To enhance peoples experience of life.

What are yours? and what do you do with them? Are they alive in the organisation? Why are they important?

Karl (see our website)