When an industrial organisation’s purpose is tested every day by operational pressure and performance metrics, it must be constantly reinterpreted and reinforced to deliver positive business impact.
Despite global industrial brands clearly articulating their purpose in leadership presentations, annual reports, and recruitment materials, it’s not always acted upon throughout the organisation. While 85% of executives in a McKinsey & Co. study said they were living their purpose at work, only 15% of frontline managers and staff agreed.
This misalignment rarely stems from a lack of awareness or engagement. Most employees know what their organisation stands for and want to do good work. The friction occurs when statements expressed at a strategic or aspirational level face operational and commercial pressure, which differ according to function, level of authority, and region.
At leadership level, the principle might feel self-evident but on a factory floor with high productivity targets or within a procurement team managing a tight budget, decisions often involve trade-offs. In those moments, purpose becomes a judgement call and where messaging and metrics diverge, employees naturally follow what is visible and reinforced.
How meaning is formed inside organisations
Employees observe what is rewarded, what is tolerated, and what leaders emphasise under pressure. They listen to how managers justify compromises and notice whether purpose is invoked consistently or only when convenient.
Embodying purpose, therefore, requires more than understanding how it relates to your individual context. It requires permission – explicitly and implicitly – to act in ways that align with stated intent, even when doing so introduces complexity or short-term cost.
We see that in our own work at SE10, where our purpose centres on driving positive change in industrial sectors through powerful storytelling. Producing compelling content and media pitches sometimes means challenging unclear information and asking additional questions even when we know time is short. This might delay publication or skew metrics, which feels at odds with keeping clients happy. However, our commitment to journalistic integrity is what underpins our credibility and long-term business success.
Internal communications as a sense-making function
This is why purpose cannot be embedded through campaigns alone. Internal communication is not about explaining purpose or persuading employees to believe in it. It is about helping teams to interpret purpose according to their operational reality, particularly where tensions exist. That requires dialogue with employees and equipping managers to connect strategic intent with practical decisions among their teams, rather than smoothing over complexity.
Internal alignment is the foundation of external credibility
It’s also important to remember that internal alignment on purpose doesn’t exist in isolation. Employees encounter media coverage, discussions on social platforms, and increasingly AI-driven search results – and they are not only recipients of narratives but participants in them. As a result, they are usually the first to notice any discrepancies between what their organisation says publicly and what they experience internally.
When fractures emerge, they influence how employees apply principles and interact with customers, suppliers, and other partners. Such inconsistencies aren’t necessarily extreme enough to escalate into headline-grabbing controversies. More often, they manifest as hesitant decision-making, mixed messages, or uneven application of principles that gradually erode external stakeholder confidence.
For global industrial organisations, the challenge is, therefore, not simply to define a compelling purpose. It is to steward shared meaning across roles, incentives, and pressures over time, recognising that alignment must be actively maintained, not assumed.
If our previous article examined how purpose travels across borders, this piece has focused on how it travels across hierarchies and operational contexts. The next question is how organisations ensure coherence as purpose is interpreted continuously — across markets, channels and an increasingly AI-driven information environment.
At SE10, we work with industrial organisations to ensure that purpose is not only articulated clearly but understood and applied in ways that withstand operational reality. Because credibility on the global stage begins with coherence at home. Get in touch to start a conversation.
Hannah Kitchener
Associate Director
About the author
Hannah is an associate director in the UK, leading strategic campaigns for industrial clients across the EMEA region. A professionally qualified journalist (NCTJ), she combines specialist sectoral knowledge in construction, energy, and materials handling with a strong network of trade media contacts to secure valuable coverage. Her expertise in inter-cultural communication, honed by degrees in modern languages and translation, is key to executing campaigns that succeed across diverse European markets.
