Organizational Greater Purpose - Creating Resilience,

Compassion, and Human Connectedness 

Organizations led by a greater purpose seem to enjoy a deeper sense of commitment,
connection, and compassion among its members. Why? Just as an organizational higher
purpose can positively impact the vision and mission of the organization, it is also likely that
such a purpose, when lived out and supported by the organization, can have a positive impact
on members of the organization by fostering the necessary elements for members to more
deeply and authentically engage one another. How might this occur? By creating a set of clearly
articulated and applied values that can be grasped and conceptualized as well as resonate with
members of an organization, it sets in motion the following:

 " Individuals who aspire to be members of an organization that espouses a greater

purpose as well as the underlying values, experience the organization more deeply
and often more powerfully. These individuals reflect on their experience with the
organization by answering the following:
o Is this real? Are the members' behaviors authentic and congruent with their
articulated greater purpose? 
o Do I want to be a part of this? Does this resonate with my unique values
and passions? 
 Individuals who answer affirmatively to the above questions and are hired into the
organization are likely to possess a greater sense of connectedness and acceptance
from the organization from the onset as there is a shared purpose amongst the
members. They tend to identify more strongly with the organization of which they are
a member.
 Identification and connectedness promote trust and provide the necessary foundation
for the members to learn and explore. 
 A broader range of humanness ensues as members engage in deeper interpersonal
relationships within the organization. In what other ways are we alike or different?
Curiosity and self-exploration are present.
 Compassion, empathy, and greater acceptance of themselves and others within the
organization are fostered as differences are explored and discovered. 
 Members begin to act in similar ways towards the "outside world," engaging in acts of
compassion and exploration, both formally and informally.
 Internally, members share and discuss their interactions with the "outside world" and
reevaluate/reinforce their own sets of values and purpose. 
This process performs two critical functions for an organization and its member in an ever-
changing world. First, it provides a place for members to feel deeply connected and attached to,
a place of stability and support. Second, it provides members a way in which they can interact
with each other and with non-members that is more consistent with their ideal self-image - they
behave in ways that allow them to see themselves and what they do as "good." These two
critical functions produce the underpinnings of resiliency and compassion in difficult and trying
times. Organizational members have a place to which they can retreat and a way in which to
make sense of, and interact with, the world when uncertainties and instability abound. 

In times of rapid change and organizational insecurity, organizations that possess, articulate,
and support an organizational greater purpose enjoy higher degrees of stability, resilience, and
human connectedness. This foundation of hope and sense-making allows members of these
organizations to spread compassion both inside and out at a time in which when the world
needs it most.