One team, one project, one world 🌎🌍🌏
That’s the promise from us at Work for Impact (WFI). A company focused on reducing wealth disparity in the world, whilst also living by our own words.
So if that’s the case, what does it mean to lead with purpose?
At Work for Impact it means building a culturally diverse company, which connects people from all across the world, who often natively speak different languages. It’s about being aware of the bigger picture. It’s one thing to say you ‘work with purpose’ but when this is challenged at multiple points along the way, how does a company stay on track?
And most importantly, how do they keep themselves on purpose? Well here’s how it’s done at Work for Impact:
Leadership
First things first, a company growing on purpose must always have great leadership and Work for Impact is grateful to have a fantastic CEO by the name of Geoff Hucker.
It’s from Geoff’s purpose driven history that the company is what it is today. Launching his first on purpose project, Beyond the Orphanage in 2007, Geoff has learnt how to lean all the way in with his teams and treat all with the same kindness.
In his first project, Geoff knew that to support, enable, and empower at-risk orphaned children to become self-reliant adults that it always came down to the best interests of the child. By keeping this goal at the heart of all decisions, it kept the project aligned with their purpose and on track.
This lesson continued into the ethos of Work for Impact, the second purpose driven project Geoff built. This time the purpose of ‘what is best for the world’ went alongside his further purpose of ‘connecting skilled freelancers with jobs at solely nonprofits, socially and environmentally responsible organisations, and innovative organisations that contribute to a better world’. Companies which are truly changing the world.
WIth all these in mind, Work for Impact is able to stay aligned at all points on our journey. With Geoff supporting the team by being fully present. Always available for 1:1’s when needed. WFI’s focus is on future problem solving, rather than an eternal blame game.
Accountability
Accountability is a bit of a buzzword, and can often be an exchange between an employee and a manager. At WFI, accountability means across business visibility on all key results and weekly objectives. This is delivered in a weekly meeting across the timezones.
As well as being clear about key results, Work for Impact is transparent regarding finances, acquisitions, future plans and ongoing growth of the organisation. We do this because we believe when a team is fully on board with the vision and invested in the decisions being made, it empowers them to thrive in their role, as well as remain aligned with the company’s purpose.
Engaged employees also are recorded to be both happier, and make the end customers happier. And something we like the most is how innovative they are and open to sharing they become when they feel on purpose.
Remote Team Building
The WFI ethos is about building your team out with a diverse set of remote, freelancers from across the world, so that’s exactly what we’ve done to build Work for Impact. Lead by example goes the saying, so we’re putting our money where our mouth is.
In fact, members of the WFI team hail from all across the globe including the PhIlippines, the UK, Cambodia, Iceland, The US, Hong Kong and Portugal. Yes, English is the spoken language of Work for Impact, but we love hearing our colleagues share their language and culture. Check out our tongue twisters to get a real taste of our flavour!
Our remote team also enjoys the benefit of being fully flexible, with Geoff (our fearless leader) encouraging us to work remotely. From a completely self-sustainable wood and cork house in the middle of the northern mountains in Portugal to working off road collecting GPS data for island maps. Our team has been there, done there and we encourage them to continue living life on their terms.
And it’s not all just work, work, work. We regularly host team building gatherings, featuring anything from an escape room, to kahoot quizzes. Once even a body percussion experience.
Of course being remote, we also meet regularly online and practice gratitude by celebrating our team’s achievements with #WednesdayWins shout-outs in the WFI slack channels. Small actions which keep connected as people, not just teammates.
Personal Development
Work is the place you spend a large portion of your time, so we aim to make sure our team doesn’t lose focus of their bigger purpose. In fact, Geoff actively encourages all team members to get involved in their local community each week. Volunteering or by other means. One WFI’er gets to spend 5 hours a week surround by dogs – no, we’re not jealous!
Not only that, WFI regularly offers a number of education and growth opportunities. Such as the recent Mental Health First Aid Training, where the team learned about how to non-judgmentally tackle a mental health situation at work or in life, for themselves and others. Essential skills which ensure the WFI team is always working from a non-judgemental space.
Giving Back (Being On Purpose)
And finally, one of the key areas for a purpose driven business is to make good on its word is to give back.
Work for Impact is built on the foundation of supporting a circular economy, and creating opportunities for roles regardless of location, age or ethnicity. To do this 6% of Work for Impact’s total revenue is donated to pre-approved charities (Check out our Charitable Partners here)
However, we don’t believe that it’s enough to give money, Work for Impact actively works on Corporate Social Responsibility efforts – our programme is called Pathways. The goal of Pathways being to improve the long-term employability of young people regardless of their background or education. Already launched in both Hong Kong and Nepal, supported by Google.
The Future of Work for Impact
Looking further into the future, WFI is focused on continuing to lead on purpose. As such, we’re currently working towards becoming carbon neutral, as well as building a framework to measure Impact that we and other companies can use to truly see how they are impacting the world with their company and efforts.
We know we won’t always get everything right, but as Geoff often reminds us, “When you fight for your food it tastes good”. We continue to learn from our mistakes and lead forward on the path towards purpose-driven business and support those who need us.
After all, the world of work is changing and we want to help people find work to change the world 🥰🌎