Organizational Governance

Navigating Disruption and Driving Impact with Social Purpose

Here are 7 practical tools and frameworks to help your business realize the potential of its purpose — and be a beacon of hope in a time that sorely needs it.

Brand Provided | By Coro Strandberg | Published 4 days ago | About a 5 minute read

Image: Freepik

The business world is facing a profound moment of disruption. As economic and political chaos mount, many businesses are questioning how to remain relevant and resilient in this rapidly changing landscape. With so much turbulence, they’re scrambling to find a compass to help them navigate the day to day. In times like these, having and delivering on your social purpose becomes that compass.

Defining and embedding a social purpose for your business — a purpose that creates a better world in a way that is relevant to your business and your stakeholders — acts as your North Star. It’s the guiding light that keeps you steady and centred on your foundational values, no matter how choppy the waters get.

And research shows that purpose-led companies are better equipped to adapt to changing market demands, build deeper relationships with customers and stakeholders, and attract top talent who share their vision (anecdotally, businesses with a social purpose attract nearly double the number of quality applicants). As we saw during the COVID pandemic, a clear social purpose fosters trust — essential for navigating turbulence. Now is the time to double down on fulfilling your company’s purpose commitment, ensuring you both create and reap the inherent social and business benefits.

However, business schools fail to teach purpose delivery — leaving company leadership to figure it out on their own. So, here are some practical tools and frameworks to help your business realize the potential of its purpose — and be a beacon of hope in a time that sorely needs it.

Tools to embed social purpose in business

By leveraging these tools, businesses can:

Turn social purpose into everyday practice rather than leaving it as an abstract concept
Engage leadership, employees and stakeholders around a common purpose
Integrate purpose into products, services and decision-making frameworks

Here are seven tools to help businesses advance their social purpose journey:

1. Social Purpose Practices Toolkit: 40 Implementation Examples from 15 Social Purpose Companies

Companies often ask: What does embedding purpose look like in practice? This toolkit showcases 40 concrete ways that leading businesses have put social purpose into action. Featuring case studies from 15 social purpose companies, it provides examples across leadership, operations, culture, innovation and stakeholder engagement. It serves as a roadmap for organizations looking to move from theory to practice.

2. Social Purpose Product Transition Plan Tool

For companies committed to social purpose, the next frontier is ensuring their products and services align with their purpose. This tool helps businesses assess their offerings and then transition to purpose-led products and services. It provides a framework for identifying purpose-aligned innovation opportunities, redesigning existing products and engaging customers in the transition.

3. Social Purpose Decision Lens Tool

Decisions shape the trajectory of a company, but how often are they made with purpose in mind? The Social Purpose Decision Lens Tool helps leaders evaluate strategic decisions through the lens of their company’s purpose. Whether it’s launching a new initiative, entering a partnership or investing in growth, this tool ensures that decisions advance — rather than undermine — the company’s broader societal goals.

4. Employee Purpose Engagement Checklist

Embedding social purpose isn’t just about leadership — it’s about bringing employees along on the journey. This checklist outlines ways to engage employees at all levels, from onboarding to professional development, from internal communications to performance reviews. Companies can use this tool to ensure that employees understand, connect with and act on their company’s purpose.

5. Employee Social Purpose Lifecycle Tool

Employees want to find meaning in their work, and this tool provides a structured approach to embedding purpose into the employee experience. It maps out key touchpoints — from recruitment to retirement — where companies can reinforce social purpose and foster a purpose-driven workplace culture.

6. Social Purpose Departments Checklist

Social purpose must be embedded across all departments. This checklist helps companies assess how different business functions, from finance to marketing to operations, can integrate social purpose into their strategies, policies and day-to-day activities.

7. A Guide to Executive Social Purpose Roles

Leaders play a critical role in advancing social purpose. This guide outlines the social purpose responsibilities of executives across different functions — including finance, HR, marketing, operations and risk management. It provides insights on how leadership teams can champion purpose and integrate it into corporate strategy and decision-making.

First steps

If you’re wondering where to start or how to advance, consider taking the following steps:

Identify gaps and opportunities. Use the Social Purpose Practices Toolkit to benchmark your current practices and identify areas for improvement.
Engage leadership. Introduce the Social Purpose Decision Lens Tool to your leadership team to align strategic decisions with purpose.
Engage HR. In collaboration with HR, use the Employee Purpose Engagement Checklist and the Employee Social Purpose Lifecycle Tool to bring purpose into daily operations, workplace culture and the employee experience.
Engage operations and marketing. Apply the Social Purpose Product Transition Plan Tool to evaluate and evolve your offerings.
Drive impact. Integrate social purpose into departmental mandates using the Guide to Executive Social Purpose Roles and the Social Purpose Departments Checklist.

Navigating today’s economic and political turmoil is no small feat. In times like these, having a clear and authentic social purpose serves as your compass. To drive meaningful impact and build lasting community, it is important to ensure your purpose goes beyond being a symbolic statement and is cascaded throughout your operations and relationships. In doing so, you’ll become a lighthouse — attracting others to your safe shores.