How to lead your team like a social movement!

Next-generation CEOs are leading social movements, not companies. They understand that business must play a central role in re-balancing society, given its immense influence and power.

Evidence highlights the significant impact of social movements on business practices, such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria, and also that we are now in a groundbreaking era where integrating a social mission into a company’s core isn’t just commendable—it’s essential for survival and success.

But can the visionary CEO go even further? In this article we explore how to infuse a company culture with the passion and purpose that define a social movement and ask the question, could this cultivate business as a new force for good? Could you lead a social movement?

What is a social movement?

A social movement is a powerful form of collective action aimed at enacting significant and lasting change in society. By harnessing their strong ideology (shared values), a strong sense of organisation, and sustained activism, social movements have been instrumental in shaping the world we live in today.

 “Social movements can be viewed as collective enterprises to establish a new order of life.”- Herbert Blumer

In the context of business, this idea may provide a powerful framework for setting direction, building culture, and inspiring collective action within an organization, ensuring that every team member feels their work contributes to meaningful change.

Setting the Direction

According to the Greiner Curve of organizational growth, the first critical milestone for uniting a business around a shared way of operating is establishing its direction. It lays the foundation for effective leadership. If we think about what direction means to a business, it offers three components:

1. 1. Meaning (defining purpose and vision)
   2. Structure and Clarity of goals and roles (defining the mission and strategic objectives to reach the vision)
   3. Appropriate measures of success (allowing for recognition of effort).

In essence, the high-level strategy that includes Purpose, Vision, Mission and Values is the vital first step for any company looking to grow with the cohesion, alignment and motivation of a social movement. The purpose must tap into everyone’s sense of why your company exists.

As demonstrated in this HBR article, this could also form the primary mechanism of any culture change initiative in a larger organisation.

Practical steps to leading your team as a social movement

So how does all this translate into making a difference day to day?

A key element is to tie the company objectives clearly to the work at hand, so everyone has a clear line of sight into how their contribution makes a difference. It is relatively easy to set the direction and set challenging goals. However, to link this to the significance of each individual’s contribution, and capture their commitment through recognising their strengths, passion and individual sense of purpose, takes much more energy, empathy and commitment to your people.

Ultimately this is an expectation employees hold. To choose day-on-day to actively engage in the company’s mission relies on a personal sense of ‘meaning’ to inspire that effort, otherwise that energy will be guarded and eventually redirected elsewhere.

Here are seven Practical Steps to leading your movement and effectively foster that engagement:

1. Become an expert in motivation. Fostering a sense of motivation like that found in social movements requires you to understand your people. So, start by understanding yourself. Become an expert in your own motivation. Effective leaders inspire a sense of purpose in their people every day, fostering an environment of autonomy, recognition, structure, and focus. These elements become levers that build trust, energy, and commitment. Mastering this approach is an art form that becomes clearer when you discover your own levers and passion, creating your call to action. Ask yourself – Do I understand the levers that give me energy (and motivation) and have I built structure into my day to honour this?

2. Create energetic spaces. The quality of your meetings is foundational to building a social movement. You must provide the resources and space to honour the creation and significance of the company’s direction; allow the team time, space and the safety to engage in strategy and innovation that contributes to the cause. The quality of these spaces will determine the quality of the relationships developing within the team. Ask yourself – Do we meet regularly to discuss our direction? In meetings, do we honour our values and the nature of the working relationships we want to create? Are our meetings uplifting and energizing, or draining and unproductive?

3. Anchor the team’s goals to WHY you do what you do. Through a successful system of goals (and roles) linked to strategy, each individual can see their contribution to impact. A team’s purpose, as well as each individual’s sense of purpose, can be neatly linked to company goals. OKRs can be a useful model to provide such a structure. In coaching your team, you might ask questions such as: What is important to you in your work? What is it that you uniquely contribute to our work? How can/does what you do make a difference?

4. KPIs are for continuous improvement and celebration.
    a) A competency model (e.g. KPI’s Key Performance Indicators), can be developed collectively as a means to continuously improve and evolve the company, rather than just targets for managerial control. They can provide data on how the company is having an impact, as well as how well a team is delivering on its responsibilities. They can provide a source of personal motivation, e.g. “I’m making a difference, I’m beating my personal best, I am learning”.
    b) Celebrate the wins against KPIs. Successful leaders of movements highlight effective action and help people feel competent. They also highlight action true to values, they model and focus on behaviours they want to see more of within the company culture. The KPIs support the recognition of effective, clear, measurable, recognizable action, essential to all Social Movements!

5. Accountability is to the team and the values and greater cause it serves. This is explicit and understood by everyone. This is operating at a higher level of accountability compared to that answering to ‘management and targets’. This is a crucial element of a movement and primes any decision the leadership and wider team are making.

6. Put people at the centre of your strategy. Growing your movement is about growing your team and your community. Your customers are engaged in your business too. You are building a loyal and passionate employee and customer base committed to the company’s cause. You are flexible and responsive to societal needs and challenges, maintaining that agility in your company. See the users of your products and services as the owners and let them steer the course.

7. Release control. Social movements are about change and they spring from the ground up. Let go of this as your legacy, it belongs to the people. Let go of traditional practices and embrace the new. Allow the freedom and autonomy within the system for it to find its course, thereby empowering all.

The Leader’s Responsibility

As a leader of a growing company, your primary responsibility is to ensure meaning and direction in the workplace. A 2018 HBR article noted that “meaning is the new money,” with 9 out of 10 workers willing to trade higher pay for a stronger sense of purpose. In the early stages of growth, this is achieved through a clear purpose, vision, values, and culture, which will shape your brand and organizational identity.

This is continually channelled into tapping the hidden talent and potential in every individual to harness both the full potential of the workforce and the collective intelligence of your team. This then frees you up to be the inspirational leader a social movement needs, nurturing accountability and responsibility throughout the team.  

Forward thinking CEO’s understand that businesses play a vital role in addressing societal challenges and rebalancing our communities. By adopting the characteristics of a social movement, companies can create a cohesive, motivated, and socially conscious organization that not only thrives economically but also contributes positively to society.

Do you see a revolution in realising human potential? Are you building your company like a social movement? How do you think your company culture could set a positive example to society? What examples have you seen of companies spearheading a social movement?

Please share your tips and insights in the comments below.