Purpose Drives Action: The Why Behind The What

Everything we do at HARMAN is connected to our big picture so our team members are fully aware of “why" we do things. By understanding this larger purpose, employees are motivated to go above and beyond the simple task at hand. We strive to inspire action by connecting it to something more meaningful. But how do we do this?

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Transparent communication and effective storytelling are at the heart of our approach. As an example, a manager can ask an employee to cancel a business trip – this is a directed task. Or, a leader can communicate that by canceling a trip and holding a meeting remotely, an employee can make a significant contribution to the company's financial results. 

Putting something into context allows team members to understand their personal contributions – or the "why" behind the "what." As a leader, if you connect the things that you do…or the things that you want people to do...into a larger picture, an individual's intrinsic motivation to act will be significantly higher.

Everything we do needs to be embedded into a customer or strategic business unit (SBU) strategy. Spending more time articulating the thinking beyond a task creates a stronger sense of ownership and purpose for the team members. 

Being honest and open is important with both good news…and not-so-good news. Trust and transparency are critical in order to provide the big picture. Sharing the big wins is a big high, but sharing the challenges is also imperative so teams are compelled to come together and create purpose-driven solutions.

The Say-Do Ratio

Companies spend a lot of time articulating the importance of purpose in PowerPoint slides, LinkedIn posts, corporate websites, etc. That's the easy part. The hard part is truly delivering on the words, what I like to call the "say-do ratio." 

If this ratio is out of balance, people don't follow the cultural change because they don't experience it daily. The say-do ratio at HARMAN is truly in balance – we live out our Superpowers every day. We don't just talk about something; we walk the talk.

And that's not easy to do across six superpowers. Each one of our cultural identities below shape the way we want to act and work together. From Purpose Drives Action to  Act Like Owners, we do what we say on a daily basis and feel it from our leadership and colleagues.  

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From Project to Product

A massive consumerization is underway in the automotive industry. Design matters but connectivity is key. Consumers expect their cars to be smarter than their smartphones – and connected technology requires constant updates. 

As a result, we're shifting from being solely a project-oriented business to a company that rapidly brings new products to market. Our mission is to deliver "Consumer Experiences. Automotive Grade." 

HARMAN Automotive now has Ready products, or pre-validated items on the shelf, that lower the cost of ownership and enable rapid updates to make a car fresh again. This requires a fundamentally different mindset and approach within the industry. 

We don't just ask our team members to go sell our new products. Instead, we spend significant time communicating the purpose behind our product strategy -- "why" product is so important for us and the competitive advantage it fuels – which motivates more engagement and action from our teams.

Measuring success on our cultural transformation and business vision requires a strategy with a clear set of actions that deliver against a vision. Milestones with due dates and responsible team members allow frequent feedback on whether or not the strategy is working. For example: Are we making progress quarter after quarter or month after month on our EBIT figures?

It's important to assess both hard and soft results – from percentage of product revenue to employee perception. Does our walk match our talk? Through employee surveys, we can gain clear feedback on behavior and determine if we are truly living our Superpowers in our daily actions.

The Commitment

Purpose is one thing that unifies us as a company, from the C-suite to the factory floor. We're committed to inspiring people with a sense of purpose and "why" around everything that we do as we move forward. That's the most exciting part of this Superpower for me: purpose drives action and inspiration drives execution. 

About Me – More on Matthias Joos

A member of the HARMAN Automotive team since 2023, Matthias leads the European customer group including brands like BMW, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen and Volvo. He is known for his results-oriented transformational leadership paired with pragmatic business-driven speed.