afternoon and welcome to solve casts. My name is Linda Hodo and I'm a solved castor. And your host for today's topic. Today's topic is the four steps to becoming a purpose driven organization. And our host today is Kimberly Jeter, who is the founder of the river Wolf group. Kimberly, I'm going to hand it off to you.
Great. Thank you so much, Linda. I'm excited to be able to talk about the power of purpose in business and how businesses can have a transformational impact in society.
Tell me, we talked about named this the four steps. So what would you say is the first step in becoming a purpose driven organization?
The first step is really about authenticity and having an organization be true to, why it was started, how it was created and really live that purpose, but incorporated into its DNA and have it drive the decisions and have it drive the impact it wants to have in the community. Now,
Sometimes it's a little bit more difficult to do than we think it is, but how would someone check to see whether or not they're being truly authentic?
I think right now, one of the first steps to really look at, in terms of authenticity is around diversity inclusion. A lot of companies have made commitments. There have been $46 billion in commitments around diversity inclusion. So I think that's the first part to check is how are we treating our people? What is our diversity look like from our frontline employees all the way up to the board? How are we distributed? How are we paying our employees?
Are we paying equitably across gender, across ethnicities and really using the data within the organization to do that first self-check.
That's really good. Particularly now in the world we're living in right now using DNI as an example is that solutely perfect. But now that we have authenticated ourselves and we checked our authenticity, what would be the second step to take us to the next level to becoming purpose-driven?
Purpose driven, really working on your internal processes and procedures and also your external alignment. So internally, do we have the right systems in place to move people up through the organization? Do we have the right data and metrics in place and the right tools and processes, and one example, taking the diversity inclusion again? And looking for that external lens is being able to take a look at our supply chain. So now I said our people, we're good. We're working on our diversity here.
What are we doing about our supply chain is our supply chain diverse? Have we even looked at and considered diversifying our supply chain? Are we looking at the demographics and the communities that we serve? Are we creating. Opportunities for small businesses, are we setting up our prequalification systems and our certification systems to help us capture the data around diversity and help us show the investments that we're making in the community and the economic impact we might be having.
This is really good. I really appreciate the systemic view that one would need to look at to become purpose-driven. But what if they don't even know what they don't know? So they don't know the questions that they may have to ask themselves. Is there anything to assist them as organizations?
Yeah, I think, the most important thing for an organization, we're looking at our purpose internally and externally as he needed the roadmap and strategy, what is the roadmap and strategy that's going to help us, look systemically, make sure we're making the right investments in the empowerment empowering people across the board. And one of the tools that you can really use for that is created by B-Corp.
And they're an organization that really focuses on creating business as a force for good and driving value for the employees, the communities and the environment, and they have an impact assessment.
So it's at bimpactassessment.net, and it has a whole host of questions that you can use in your roadmap around governance, around the employees, around environment, around supply chain, and for really motivated companies with curious employees that can use that as a jumping off point for other tough questions, they might have to ask internally,
Is there any fee to taking that assessment
at all? So the assessment, no, anybody can go and use it. You can even use it as a starting tool to check the us diversity in your supply chain and give it to your suppliers. Have them take that test as well. There's no fee to use the assessment. If a company wants to be a certified B Corp and say we've met the gold standard, we have the policies in place for making the impact.
We want to have, then they pay for a certification process with B Corp and then they get audited and certified annually.
Does that kind of investment does research show that it really pays off in terms of their bottom line?
I think it pays off in terms of giving organizations, the structure and the validation that they need. It also gives organizations, a community of other organizations that have committed to driving impact and change being a purpose driven organization, whether you're a certified or not, but really focusing on the benefits you're creating for your employees and your communities has real financial and social value.
Purpose driven organizations are known to grow three times faster than organizations of similar size. There's demonstrated impact that employees and purpose-driven organizations 90% of them say they're willing to go the extra mile for their organization. And we know employee engagement is a problem across the board. And then a lot of consumers are making choices and decisions around what a company is doing. So there's consumer pressure.
And then there's also investment pressure from companies like. BlackRock that are saying it's important to create stakeholder value. And we want to see, that you're thinking about your impact on the climate. And we also want to see your talent diversification strategies in the future. So there's a lot of reasons to be purpose driven, but the main ones are going back to that being authentic.
If you're doing it to get awards and certificates, that's probably not authentic, but if you're really driving, doing it to. The move the needle and make an impact in your community while creating value for your business and your employees, then you're on the right track.
That's fantastic. Kimberly, tell me what would be our third step. What would ratchet it up to the next level?
Starting small and growing. I, so starting with a pilot program, you're going to have so much information and feel overwhelmed and there's going to be a lot of work to do for any organization at any stage. So picking one thing that you're really going to drive home and pick as your target for the first year, maybe it is that internal alignment piece. And then probably take a year. And then as you go and then say, I'm going to grow, and this is the path. This is how I think I'm going to grow.
And then just grow and continue to evolve your program over time.
These are all good steps. So number one become authentic and you've told us how number two would be really assessed. It's all about the metrics measure, what matters. And then of course, number three, you're talking about some of go slow to go fast because at the end of the day, you are going to have an outcome. So what would be number four?
Evaluate fast pivot and learn again, going back to the metrics, all of this has to be, evaluated. Are we achieving the impact that we desired to have, if not, why not? And really using those metrics and having honest conversations and having the courage to fail. It's going to be a bumpy road. You're not going to get everything right the first time. And that's okay. And that's what being an authentic, person and a corporation is all about, right? It's our learning journey and our growth.
So really that, that focus on evaluation and learning, and then being able to pivot when needed is important.
And that's really good because I think a lot of people don't necessarily learn as they go. So it'd be important to constantly evaluate it, the learning loop for them to do so for people who want to learn more about this thing called a purpose driven organization, what would you refer them to? When we've got more time? We've got about a minute to go.
Check out a B Corp and look at their information. Go ahead and go to B impact assessment.net play with the tool and see if it sparks new questions for you. And then also go to the B Corp directory and look at other organizations around the globe. That are certified. You'll find small caspase and mom and pop shops in Italy to companies as big as Patagonia. So a good diverse range of businesses. So there might be an inspiration organization in there for you.
You've certainly been an inspiration for us today, Kimberly. So I really thank you for participating in a soft cast and have a good day. Thank you
too.