The "Discover your Purpose" -Unilever Workshop

 

Purpose Driven Initiatives- A Fulfilling Culture

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"Unilever, a global leader in consumer goods, exemplifies the commitment to purpose driven initiatives. Unilever's goal is to embed its purpose "to make sustainable living commonplace" into every layer of the organization. The "Discover Your Purpose" workshop launched in 2018 is one of the way they have done this by encouraging employees to explore and connect their own personal purpose with Unilever's purpose. By 2023, over 57,000 employees had participated in these reflective workshops designed to help employees explore their strengths, values, and aspirations while aligning them with Unilever's purpose."

                       

🌍 Review: Unilever’s Purpose-Driven Leadership in Action

Unilever's Discover Your Purpose initiative illustrates how purpose-driven practices can be institutionalized to strengthen organizational culture. Unilever’s “Discover Your Purpose” initiative illustrates how purpose-driven practices can be institutionalized to strengthen organizational culture. From a human resources (HR) perspective, purpose workshops are not simple development interventions but strategic levers for shaping employee attitudes, behaviors and identity. resource (HR) perspective, purpose workshops are not merely developmental interventions but strategic levers for shaping employee attitudes, behaviours, and identity. According to Schein (2017), organizational culture develops when shared values ​​and beliefs guide how employees perceive and respond to workplace realities. organisational culture develops when shared values and beliefs guide the way employees perceive and respond to workplace realities. This study evaluates Unilever's goal-oriented concept through the lens of building an HR culture and considers its potential application in the Sri Lankan garment sector, known for its high labor intensity, export dependence and persistent challenges in maintaining engagement and retention. This review evaluates Unilever’s purpose-driven concept through the lens of HR culture building and considers its potential application within the Sri Lankan apparel sector, which is known for its high labour intensity, export dependency, and persistent challenges in sustaining engagement and retention. 

Goal-focused interventions contribute to culture building by aligning individual motivations with the organization's mission. Purpose-centred interventions contribute to culture building by aligning individual motivations with the organisation’s mission. For HR, this alignment improves employee engagement, their intrinsic motivation and their cohesion around shared values ​​(Ulrich & Dulebohn, 2015). enhances employee engagement, intrinsic motivation, and cohesion around shared values (Ulrich & Dulebohn, 2015). Workshops such as Unilever’s “Discover Your Purpose” encourage reflection on personal strengths and aspirations, which HR can integrate into systems such as recruitment, onboarding, performance management and career development. embed into systems like recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and career development. When these practices are aligned, they reduce the gap between espoused values ​​and everyday behavior, thereby increasing cultural integrity and trust. everyday behaviour, thereby increasing cultural integrity and trust. In the Sri Lankan garment industry, such initiatives could generate significant benefits but require contextual adaptation. apparel industry, such initiatives could yield meaningful benefits but require contextual adaptation. The sector’s workforce, dominated by shop floor workers and line supervisors, often faces limited opportunities for reflective learning or personal development. shop-floor employees and line supervisors, often faces limited opportunities for reflective learning or personal development. Therefore, human resources professionals must design interventions that are targeted, short, participatory and adapted to operational realities. Hence, HR professionals should design purpose-driven interventions that are short, participatory, and relevant to operational realities. Additionally, as Armstrong and Taylor (2020) point out, culture-building interventions are only successful when reinforced by leadership behavior, consistent HR policies, and fair working conditions. Moreover, as Armstrong and Taylor (2020) emphasize, culture-building interventions succeed only when reinforced by leadership behaviour, consistent HR policies, and fair working conditions. Therefore, linking goal discovery to concrete human resource outcomes, such as reduced turnover, improved quality, and stronger supervisory relationships, can make the initiative credible and sustainable. purpose discovery to tangible HR outcomes—such as reduced turnover, improved quality, and stronger supervisory relationships—can make the initiative credible and sustainable. 

Purpose-driven HR practices such as Unilever's workshops provide valuable insights into how large organizations nurture engagement and meaning. like Unilever’s workshops provide valuable insight into how large organisations nurture engagement and meaning. However, in the Sri Lankan apparel context, their success depends on location, consistency of leadership and integration with broader HR systems. localisation, leadership consistency, and integration with broader HR systems. When implemented correctly, purpose-driven initiatives can improve organizational resilience and employee engagement, but only if they are accompanied by favorable working conditions and visible support from management. properly implemented, purpose initiatives can enhance organisational resilience and employee commitment, but only if accompanied by supportive workplace conditions and visible management endorsement.

References

Armstrong, M. & Taylor, S. (2020) Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 15th ed. London: Kogan Page.

Schein, E.H. (2017) Organizational Culture and Leadership. 5th ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Ulrich, D. & Dulebohn, J.H. (2015) ‘Are we there yet? What’s next for HR?’, Human Resource Management Review, 25(2), pp. 188–204.