Purpose to Practice

“As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward.” — Vincent Van Gogh

What Purpose-to- Practical (P2P) is all about

The concept of “Purpose-to-Practice” (P2P) is a framework designed to help organizations and teams clarify and operationalize their purpose in a practical, actionable way. Developed as part of Liberating Structures, P2P encourages participants to co-create five foundational elements: Purpose, Principles, Participants, Structure, and Practices. This structure helps align a group’s intentions with concrete actions, fostering a resilient and adaptable initiative.

The first step in P2P is to define the Purpose, which answers why the work is important to each participant and the broader community. This clarity then informs the other four elements:

Principles: The essential guidelines to follow for success.
Participants: Identifying who should be involved to achieve the purpose.
Structure: Deciding how the team should be organized to effectively work toward the purpose.
Practices: Specific actions and offerings to deliver on the purpose.

By involving all stakeholders in these steps, P2P helps integrate purpose directly into daily practices, making it easier to stay aligned and motivated. Purpose-led organizations benefit from enhanced engagement, innovation, and overall growth, as purpose acts as a foundation for not just what they do, but also why they do it, providing a source of meaning and motivation for employees.

P2P can embedded in multiple diverse environments

Purpose-to-Practice (P2P) is indeed versatile and adaptable across various environments, from corporate settings to community projects. Its structure makes it a powerful tool because it focuses on integrating purpose directly into practice. By involving all stakeholders in defining core elements, P2P fosters alignment and collaboration, which helps sustain momentum and resilience in different contexts.

For instance, in a corporate environment, P2P can help teams clarify their goals, align on principles, and establish actionable practices that reflect the organization’s purpose. Similarly, in non-profit or community initiatives, P2P can guide stakeholders through a collaborative process to build a shared sense of mission and define how they’ll work together to achieve it. Because it is participatory and emphasizes collective input, P2P can be customized to fit the unique needs and culture of any group, making it ideal for diverse settings.

This approach allows organizations and teams to stay focused on purpose-driven action, which can ultimately lead to more impactful and meaningful work.

Stakeholders/ customers and the team should attend all together

bringing together stakeholders, customers, and the team for a Purpose-to-Practice (P2P) session can be highly beneficial. Including all parties fosters a collaborative environment where diverse perspectives can be shared, which enhances the quality and alignment of the initiative’s goals. Here’s why this inclusive approach is valuable:

Shared Understanding and Alignment: When stakeholders, customers, and team members come together, it helps ensure everyone has a common understanding of the purpose, principles, and goals. This unified approach aligns the vision and ensures that the resulting practices reflect the needs and expectations of all involved.
Increased Buy-In and Commitment: When participants contribute to defining the initiative’s purpose and practices, they feel more invested in its success. This involvement encourages buy-in from all parties, as they can see their input reflected in the outcomes.
Enhanced Creativity and Problem-Solving: Diverse groups bring varied insights and ideas, which can lead to innovative solutions. This collaboration can help anticipate challenges and generate creative approaches that might not emerge in a more homogenous group.
Building Trust and Transparency: Including stakeholders and customers in the process builds transparency and trust. They gain insight into the team’s workings and decision-making processes, which can strengthen relationships and set the foundation for smoother collaboration.

While this approach is ideal, there are practical considerations, such as the size of the group and scheduling. In larger initiatives, you might consider a more phased approach, where representatives from each group participate directly while keeping others informed of progress.

P2P & OKR

The structure of Purpose-to-Practice (P2P) is somewhat similar to the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) framework in that both involve clear, actionable elements to guide a team toward achieving a shared purpose. Here’s how the structure and routines in P2P compare with OKRs:

1. Purpose and Objectives

In P2P, the purpose defines the “why” — the overarching reason for the initiative’s existence. In OKRs, this is mirrored by the Objective, which is a clear, qualitative goal that inspires the team. Both frameworks start with a purpose or objective, establishing the core motivation and what the group aspires to achieve.

2. Principles and Key Results

P2P includes Principles, which are the essential guidelines or values that guide the team’s actions and decisions. While OKRs don’t explicitly focus on principles, the Key Results provide a way to measure success toward the objective. Principles in P2P serve a similar purpose to Key Results in OKRs by providing guardrails that ensure actions are aligned with the overall purpose.

3. Participants and Routines

In P2P, Participants specify who should be involved in the initiative to achieve its purpose. This part emphasizes inclusivity and the roles needed to meet the goals. In OKRs, teams may identify contributors or “owners” responsible for achieving specific Key Results. Although OKRs don’t focus as much on roles, the assignment of ownership encourages accountability, similar to how P2P includes key participants.

4. Structure and Cadence

The Structure in P2P defines how the team is organized and how control is distributed to best achieve the purpose. In OKRs, teams often set a cadence (e.g., quarterly or annually) for setting and reviewing OKRs. This routine ensures that objectives and results remain relevant and that progress is continuously tracked, which aligns with P2P’s approach to adapting the structure and routines as necessary.

5. Practices and Review Cycles

The Practices in P2P are the concrete actions, activities, or offerings that help the team achieve its purpose. OKRs include review cycles or check-ins, where teams discuss progress on their Key Results and adjust as needed. P2P emphasizes practices that are adaptable and can be revisited, much like OKRs are regularly reviewed to stay aligned with the objective.

In summary, both frameworks have built-in routines and structures for goal setting, measuring progress, and adapting based on insights. P2P’s routines are flexible, fostering inclusivity and adaptability, whereas OKRs are typically more results-oriented and quantitative. Using P2P alongside OKRs could be a powerful way to ensure that purpose and practical actions remain aligned with measurable outcomes, while also adapting to changing team needs and external conditions.

The agenda should be defined by the attendees

in a Purpose-to-Practice (P2P) session, having the attendees help shape the agenda is highly beneficial. This participatory approach not only increases engagement but also ensures that the agenda reflects the diverse perspectives and needs of everyone involved.

Allowing attendees to contribute to the agenda achieves a few key outcomes:

Relevance and Ownership: When attendees define the agenda, they can prioritize topics that matter most to them and the initiative. This leads to a sense of ownership, as they’re more invested in outcomes that they had a hand in shaping.
Inclusivity and Collaboration: Creating the agenda together allows for a range of viewpoints to be considered from the outset. This inclusion of stakeholders, customers, and team members helps build a comprehensive agenda that considers multiple facets of the purpose.
Alignment with Purpose: By involving all participants in defining what to discuss and work on, the agenda remains closely aligned with the shared purpose. This helps ensure that each part of the agenda contributes directly to the initiative’s goals.

In practice, this can mean starting with a broad framework for the session and allowing participants to suggest specific topics within each segment. Techniques like “1-2-4-All,” where individuals brainstorm, share in pairs, and then discuss as a group, can be used to refine the agenda collaboratively. This way, attendees guide the focus of the session, making the resulting action plan more relevant and actionable.

Start with a manifest, created by customers/stakeholders and the team

starting with a manifesto co-created by customers and the team is an excellent idea for several reasons. A shared manifesto sets a collaborative tone and establishes a common foundation for the initiative. Here’s why this approach is valuable:

1. Shared Vision and Purpose

Creating a manifesto together allows both customers and team members to articulate the shared purpose, values, and goals of the initiative. This provides a unifying vision that everyone can reference throughout the project, helping to keep efforts aligned and reinforcing why the work is meaningful.

2. Increased Engagement and Buy-In

When customers and team members collaboratively develop the manifesto, they each have a voice in defining what matters most. This process builds mutual respect and trust, as it demonstrates that their insights and needs are valued. The resulting commitment from both sides can lead to higher levels of engagement, with everyone feeling invested in the initiative’s success.

3. Clarifying Expectations and Roles

A manifesto can include guiding principles, roles, and expectations for both customers and the team. This clarity ensures that everyone understands their responsibilities, helping to reduce misunderstandings and improve collaboration. It also provides a reference point for decision-making, which is essential for navigating challenges that may arise.

4. Flexibility and Adaptability

Since a manifesto is typically a high-level statement, it provides room for flexibility. As the project progresses, the team and customers can refer back to the manifesto to ensure they’re staying true to their initial purpose and values, while also adapting to new insights. This adaptability is key to agile frameworks and iterative work styles.

Practical Implementation

To develop the manifesto, you could start with a workshop where all participants brainstorm their values, goals, and principles for the initiative. Techniques like brainwriting, 1-2-4-All, or Liberating Structures methods can encourage everyone to contribute. As a group, you can then synthesize these inputs into a concise, inspiring statement that reflects the collective vision. The manifesto can also serve as a foundation for the Purpose-to-Practice (P2P) process, guiding the creation of detailed actions and structures that align with the shared purpose.

This co-creation approach not only sets a solid foundation but also embodies the values of inclusivity and collaboration right from the start.

Sprint goal

A Sprint Goal is a specific, focused objective that the team aims to achieve by the end of a sprint. It serves as a guiding purpose, helping the team stay aligned on the primary outcome they’re working towards within that sprint. The Sprint Goal is set collaboratively by the team and the Product Owner during Sprint Planning and is based on the team’s capacity and the items selected from the product backlog.

Key Aspects of a Sprint Goal:

Clarity and Focus: The Sprint Goal gives the team a clear direction and focus, which helps them prioritize tasks. It answers the question, “Why are we doing this sprint?”
Flexibility: While the goal is specific, it allows some flexibility in how the team achieves it. For example, if certain tasks are more complex than expected, the team can adapt and choose alternative approaches, as long as they still work toward the Sprint Goal.
Alignment and Motivation: A well-defined Sprint Goal aligns the team on a shared objective, making it easier to collaborate and make decisions. It also provides a sense of purpose, motivating the team to work toward a meaningful outcome.
Measurement of Success: At the end of the sprint, the team can evaluate whether the goal was achieved. This helps them assess progress and provides a foundation for discussing improvements in the Sprint Retrospective.

For instance, in a software development context, a Sprint Goal could be something like, “Enable users to upload and share images on their profiles.” This gives the team a shared outcome to focus on, guiding their work through the sprint.

In a Purpose-to-Practice (P2P) context, the Sprint Goal would similarly be aligned with the purpose of the initiative, ensuring that each sprint contributes meaningfully to the larger objectives and principles set by the team and stakeholders.

Purpose is always a kind of “desire/wish/added value”,wsich makes the why transparent

Purpose is about defining a “why” that goes beyond basic functionality, addressing the deeper desire, wish, or added value that makes the work meaningful and motivating. Here’s a closer look at the role of purpose in making the “why” transparent:

Meaning and Motivation: Purpose clarifies why something matters, not just in terms of what it accomplishes but in the sense of its broader impact. For example, a purpose might be to “improve community well-being” or “empower users with better technology.” This focus on meaningful impact helps engage and inspire people to contribute toward a goal.
Transparency and Alignment: Purpose provides clarity on the added value an initiative brings, making it easy for everyone involved to understand the driving motivation. This transparency helps align team members, customers, and stakeholders, as they can see how their efforts contribute to a shared goal.
Guiding Decisions and Actions: A well-defined purpose acts as a compass, helping guide decisions and actions. When teams understand the “why,” they can make choices that are aligned with the overarching intent, even when facing challenges or ambiguities.

In agile frameworks, as in Purpose-to-Practice (P2P), the purpose sets the stage for everything that follows, from the Sprint Goal to daily activities. By making the “why” explicit, purpose adds depth and direction, ensuring that each step contributes to a meaningful outcome. This transparency is key to building engagement, trust, and a shared commitment to the desired impact.

Using Miro to enhance the communication, cooperation and therefore transparency

Miro offers Purpose-to-Practice (P2P) templates designed specifically to help teams and stakeholders collaboratively develop and align on purpose, principles, participants, structure, and practices. These templates are part of the Liberating Structures toolkit, which includes interactive methods for fostering engagement and aligning diverse perspectives.

For example, Miro’s Purpose-to-Practice template allows participants to add sticky notes for each category, cluster and sort them, and then prioritize and vote as a group. This collaborative process helps refine the purpose and create a shared understanding, similar to an agile approach like OKRs but with a greater emphasis on values and principles. Additionally, the template encourages teams to revisit and revise each step based on new insights, ensuring adaptability and continuous improvement.

Other templates in Miro, like the Purpose Map, can also help teams explore and clarify their purpose by guiding them through defining their “why,” “how,” and “what,” following frameworks like Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle and incorporating elements of the Japanese concept of Ikigai. These templates provide a structured yet flexible way to develop a purpose-driven foundation for any initiative or project.

Two Tempaltes to achieve the Vision:

https://miro.com/miroverse/purpose-practice-template/

https://miro.com/miroverse/the-purpose-map/

Scrum and P2P. Challenges and possibilities

wonder if a typical sprint planning session (e.g., four hours for a two-week sprint) might feel short for fully practicing Purpose-to-Practice (P2P). Since P2P involves defining purpose, principles, participants, structure, and practices, it usually requires more time than a standard sprint planning session allows. However, you can adapt P2P to fit within sprint planning by focusing on elements that align closely with agile goals while perhaps extending the time or splitting it into separate sessions.

Here are a few ways to integrate P2P within sprint planning without overwhelming the session:

1. Purpose and Sprint Goal Alignment

Dedicate the initial part of sprint planning to discussing the sprint’s purpose in relation to the larger project purpose. This helps the team stay focused on the overall “why” while defining a specific Sprint Goal.
You could start with the Purpose element to set the tone, ensuring it ties directly into the sprint’s objective, and then move on to traditional sprint planning tasks.

2. Separate Kickoff or Pre-Sprint Sessions

Consider hosting a separate workshop at the beginning of a new project or major phase. Use this time for a full P2P session to establish the foundational elements. Then, revisit these elements briefly at the start of each sprint during sprint planning to ensure alignment.
For example, you could hold a half-day or full-day P2P workshop to cover Purpose, Principles, and Participants thoroughly, and then touch on Structure and Practices as needed in sprint planning.

3. Iterative Approach to P2P Elements

Rather than covering all five elements of P2P in one sprint planning session, you could focus on one or two elements each sprint. This approach lets the team gradually build and adapt their purpose and principles over time.
For instance, one sprint could focus on refining the Purpose and Principles, while another could emphasize the Structure and Practices. This allows the P2P framework to be continuously refined, just as the product backlog is updated.

4. Extend Sprint Planning Time When Possible

If the team finds P2P particularly valuable, consider extending sprint planning by an hour or two when kicking off a new project. This additional time allows for a deeper dive into P2P without detracting from the essential tasks of sprint planning, such as defining the Sprint Goal, estimating, and planning tasks.

Purpose-to-Practice can enhance sprint planning by ensuring that each sprint is aligned with a meaningful purpose and that the team has a shared understanding of the principles guiding their work. Balancing the P2P framework with agile practices may take some experimentation, but it can lead to a more engaged and purpose-driven team.

Scrum Restrospective

Using retrospectives as a preparation for Purpose-to-Practice (P2P) can be an excellent approach. Retrospectives offer a reflective space for the team to discuss what went well, what could be improved, and, most importantly, to align on future goals. Introducing P2P elements during retrospectives can enhance this reflection and help the team build a solid foundation for upcoming sprints. Here’s how retrospectives and P2P can complement each other:

1. Building Purpose Gradually

Retrospectives are a great place to introduce discussions about the team’s purpose and connect it to the broader project goals. By gradually exploring the purpose over several retrospectives, the team can align on their “why” without disrupting the flow of other Scrum events.
For example, dedicate part of a retrospective to discussing how the team’s work impacts stakeholders or aligns with the larger organizational goals. This initial exploration can set the stage for more in-depth purpose discussions when you officially kick off P2P.

2. Reflecting on Principles

You can use retrospectives to uncover and define the guiding principles that shape the team’s work. This is a natural fit for retrospectives, as the team can discuss what practices helped them achieve their sprint goals and what values they believe should guide future work.
By aligning on principles during retrospectives, you can create a shared understanding that serves as a foundation for a P2P session later on.

3. Connecting Retrospective Insights to P2P

Insights from retrospectives, such as challenges faced or improvements suggested, can inform the Structure and Practices elements in P2P. For instance, if the team identifies communication as an area needing improvement, this can directly inform how you structure roles and interactions in P2P.
In this way, retrospectives act as a preparation tool, helping the team gather information and build a mindset that will make a P2P session more impactful.

4. Maintaining Scrum Event Focus

While it’s beneficial to use retrospectives for some preparatory work, it’s important not to let P2P activities take over the core purpose of each Scrum event. Retrospectives should still center on sprint improvements, and sprint planning should remain focused on defining goals and tasks for the upcoming sprint.
Keeping P2P elements as supplementary discussions rather than the primary focus preserves the purpose of Scrum events while still fostering alignment with P2P.

Integrating P2P elements into retrospectives can enrich the Scrum process, giving the team a stronger sense of purpose and a clearer framework to build upon in each sprint. Over time, these preparatory steps can lay the groundwork for a full P2P session, allowing the team to seamlessly transition from sprint-based improvements to purpose-driven initiatives. This balance ensures that each event maintains its intended function while still fostering a deeper connection to the team’s overarching goals.