Building next better program to transform organizations.

The aim of this program is to transform existing organizations for the economy of the 21st century.

We follow a systematic approach to make the leap to a positive impact on society. It’s for companies and teams who want to go ‘Beyond Purpose’, but do not yet exactly know how to get there. The starting point is that the sum of all behaviours is what counts, both inside your company and within the ecosystem around your organisation.

But first, let’s get clear what purpose is all about? How do companies discover, define, design and deploy it? How can companies reverse-engineer it into their DNA in an authentic and meaningful way? How to measure the ROI of Purpose? And how can leaders harness its power to create solid business models and innovations that drive both financial success and social impact?

People on the purpose bandwagon show an immense desire to do meaningful work with compassion and empathy. B Corps such as Patagonia, Tony Chocolonely and Danone lead the way and follow a blueprint to transform and grow their organizations into powerfull forces for good.

Are you aspiring to:

  • Win over consumers who want to buy from brands who give a damn?

  • Attract and retain employees who want meaning and purpose in their work?

  • Excite investors who want to make money while positively impacting people and planet?

Then you must build purpose in your organisation inside out. By activating a new kind of thinking, top-down and bottom-up. By giving better shape to a new brand expression without woke washing or overpromising. And unleash a purpose-driven flywheel of innovation, motivation and growth ready for the next generations of Millennials and Generation Z.

Transformation in 7 steps

  1. IGNITE

    Make employees curious about the intervention. Inform them about the importance of the transformation. Why it is necessary and that everyone can think and act together. That it's fun and good for everyone's development and for the collective. The goal is to get as many people as possible to join. Don't take it lightly; here lies an enormous internal communication challenge. With a town hall speech and a poster in the elevator, you won't get there.

  2. SCAN

    Give everyone the opportunity to share their feelings, thoughts and ideas about how the brand and culture are perceived in this present moment, and how one would like this to be different in the future. Such an (online) scan should never resemble the standard surveys traditionally thrown at employees. Employee Satisfaction Surveys are most of the time deadly boring. Do it differently, more creatively, more interestingly. You are transforming and that takes a fresh approach. With the 23plusone method and the SDGs, such a scan not only touches the head but also the heart of the participants. In addition to the internal organization, external stakeholders must also be involved such as customers, prospects, partners and possibly the public.

  3. DISCOVER

    Don't make the mistake of sending out the results of the scan with a management summary. You should draw conclusions together after you have interpreted the results together. That's not necessarily a tedious and difficult process. Digital tools can help you with that. Co-discovering the insights brings bottom-up feelings and ideas and top-down vision and strategy closer together. This makes it increasingly clear how the organization can better contribute to the challenges of the 21st century.

  4. EXPLORE

    Explore the contours of the new future in sessions with employees from all parts of the organization. It is important to first create scenarios of the transition to a new economy. Spending time and attention on different ideas, the richness of visions, is beneficial for the follow-up process, both in terms of content and acceptance. In any case, don't be afraid of resistance. It is part of the transformation and gives you even more reason to enter into a dialogue. Test the scenarios by presenting them to colleagues and key external stakeholders. After all, you are part of an ecosystem, and you cannot do it alone. Ultimately, based on all validated input, the leadership team can broadly confirm the future plan.

  5. CELEBRATE

    Share and celebrate the new sustainable future story and plan with the entire organization and external stakeholders. Prepare formal and informal leaders at all levels for this, so that they can convey the story well, set positive example behaviour and have the tools to carry out the transition with employees. There must still be enough room for your own interpretation. Internal communication helps to translate the new story and plans into visual and verbal means. Not just once, but in a recurring, recognizable pattern. You celebrate together, so involve everyone who is needed to realize the new future. And … don't make it too hard, the connection is sometimes more important than the direct result.

  6. EMBRACE

    Organise workshops with all your teams to mutually agree on new behaviour and activities to further flesh out your new impact strategy. As a leadership team of the organisation, you actively discuss the importance of the transformation and endorse new activities of the operational teams. With internal and external communication, you give increasingly more and more expression, content, and proof to your impact story.

  7. MONITOR

    Now it is time to plan and organise regular qualitative sessions and quantitative surveys to monitor and adjust progress. Best is to appoint an impact board to discuss progress and initiate new activities in the spirit of the desired future.

DESIGN THINKINGIt starts with empathy and understanding the needs and desires of people. Before looking for a solution is sought, the problem is first thoroughly explored.Then follows a process in which solutions are outlined by prototyping scenarios and by testing at each stage to diverge and converge. That is, before choices are made, there are always many ideas first collected and assessed.DEVELOP TOGETHER VISUALIZELINK TO BEHAVIOUR-TAKE YOUR TIMEYou have to have a good dose of patience, and be prepared to deal with resistance. In the end, time does its job and people will become attached to a new reality.Culture branding principles for transformationAs many people as possible are allowed to participate, think and give their input. Alone you go fast, but with each other, you go far. So better to inform people in advance than to impose something on them afterwards. People often only invest time and energy in a project next to their daily work when it's fun. Make the subject not too big and heavy, but keep it light and playful and outline the positive outcome. Create desire!Verbal solutions are difficult to assess because words often have different meanings. We easily get into a Babylonian confusion of tongues. Moreover, words are cognitively rational, while visual triggers hit the emotions more directly. Make sure people ideas are literally in front of them. Possibly adjust the contextual environment if you want to change.Don't make the mistake of only linking the meaning to your marketing communications. It is much more important to encourage people to adopt new behaviour and activities in the business processes. Organizational culture is much more powerful than any external advertising message. Or in other words: turn every employee into a brand ambassador.

Interested to learn more about a Building Next Better Program for your organisation?

Alexander Koene