Profit. By definition, every business must have it. But by the same definition, profit cannot differentiate your business from any other business. While profit is a necessity for business, profit is simply not enough of a reason to be in business. There’s always something else, something more that motivates you to create and grow a business.
What about employees? While their basic motivation to work is to provide food, clothing, and shelter for people they love, because they are paid essentially for their time, the profitability of the business is not what motivates them to give their best each day they come to work. There’s got to be something else, something more that engages their hearts and gives them passion for what they do – and keeps them committed to doing it where they are.
The motivation of an employee working for a non-profit organization is not much different. In fact, non-profit employees are often more motivated because they know there is a reason unrelated to profit for them to work. In fact, profit, as a primary motivator, can actually demotivate employees who may question the value of committing their careers to creating more wealth for business owners who they perceive waste or don’t need it.
A lack of mission beyond the necessity of making a profit can also lead to a lack of employee longevity. If it’s all about profit for the business, then it becomes all about the money for the employees, and there’s no reason for them to remain committed to you. Mission beyond profit gives employees a reason to stay, even in the face of more financially attractive offers.
Intuitively, you know this is true, yet how many times a day do employees hear the message, in one form or another, that profit is important? By contrast, how many times a day do they hear the priorities that make your business unique are important? The priorities that differentiate your business from every other? The priorities beyond profit that you care deeply about – that get you up every day?
A legacy is more than profit. Many great men and women in history amassed great wealth, but that is not what made them great. Obituaries don’t list net worth. Every child would trade time with his parents for any amount of dollars or the things dollars can buy.
Mr. Dean, principal of Integrative Business Solutions, LLC, can help you sift through the daily smog of running your business and help you discover the essence of what you and your team can do better than anyone else. He can then help you develop a plan to grow, improve, or refine what you do in order to provide you and your business a lasting legacy.