Earlier this year we were invited, among other major brands in Europe, to participate in an initiative run by University of Oxford Said Business School (UK) and Berkeley (US) called ‘Enacting Purpose'. The output of this work was then published online in late August. This report defined Purpose as being the key driver for sustainable profitable growth for businesses.

Like many organisations we’ve set mission statements – the What, values – How our organisation behaves, a vision – the Where we have impact; but we had not worked out our North Star (Purpose), the Why, which frames our actions and helps us head towards a more sustainable and profitable future. The launch of the report marked the start of our own journey to uncover our own Purpose and started by inviting all colleagues at Premium Credit to play a part.

We are a fintech company, leading in our chosen markets to ensure customers have relevant finance options within digital seamless journeys. Having an easily digestible statement that captures our purpose, that gets our people aligned and proud of their daily contribution, is vital. Out of this, comes something hugely valuable to our customer and partners.

As stated in ‘Enacting Purpose’, we believe that to become a purpose-led organisation, this statement couldn’t be just another hollow company strapline, shared with all but lived by few. Therefore, to embed our purpose we needed to engage and invigorate our workforce by asking for their contribution.

We built an ambassador structure called Pacesetters who facilitated all-colleague sessions called Home Teams. These sessions allow every voice to be heard and create a sense of joint ownership- not just something driven down from the Executive table. This cultural shift is central to the purpose work, galvanising the teams and generating a huge amount of enthusiasm.

We’re still in the middle of this journey that we know will set us up well for the future, and we will bring you an update on our journey in the coming months. However, it’s amazing to consider that this process started with a simple question that all colleagues were asked to consider… ‘What gets you out of bed in the morning?’