Today, more and more organizations are seeking to move toward a purpose-driven business model to enhance their social and environmental impact. Among them: our customer elmy, a France-based renewable energy supplier that uses our tool Holaspirit to document roles, responsibilities and organizational goals.
Elmy is a 100% renewable energy company, present across the entire electricity value chain, from generation to supply. Founded in 2015, the French SME now has 180 employees, and is officially considered a mission-driven company ever since February 2024.
Why did elmy decide to become a mission-driven company, and how did it get there? Emilie Riou, Brand Manager, coordinated the project internally. Here’s what she had to say about this journey.
The next step to formalize our CSR commitments
“Since its founding, elmy has set itself the goal of accelerating the development of renewable energies in France. Becoming a company with a mission was a way for us to formalize this commitment in a sustainable way, and create a clear framework for our company and employees to move forward,” says Emilie Riou.
“Since we’re quite big on continuous improvement, we also liked the idea of having a mission committee that could help us challenge our mission and develop our practices. So, in September 2022, we decided to embark on a journey to becoming a mission-driven company.”
3 steps to becoming a mission-driven company
“To become a mission-driven company, you have to meet several criteria, including: having a purpose, setting goals, and setting up a mission committee.
At elmy, we wanted to conduct this process in a collaborative way, so that all our stakeholders could have their say. The first step in this process, and undoubtedly the most crucial, was to define our purpose.”
1. Define your purpose and mission statements
Create a working group and identify a service provider
“Before defining our mission, we formed an internal working group made up of our president, our marketing director, three employee-chosen representatives, and myself. With the members of this group, we then formed a circle dedicated to our purpose in order to steer our project internally.
What makes elmy unique is that we have an organizational model inspired by Holacracy, which distributes decision-making among several self-organized teams, also known as ‘circles.’ That’s why we call them circles—not teams,” elmy’s brand manager explains.
“To bring this project to fruition, we decided to enlist the help of two external service providers who worked hand in hand:
- Positive Company, a company specializing in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) certification
- Vivien Pertusot, a consultant for mission-driven enterprises.”
Qualitative interviews
“In October 2022, these service providers conducted qualitative interviews with key people in the company, including our chairman, members of the first circle (the equivalent of the executive committee) and a few key people in their field. They conducted a document review of our CSR commitments and values and did a little industry benchmarking in order to determine the current state of affairs.
In November, we administered surveys to all our employees, as well as to certain partners and customers. The aim was to understand their vision of elmy and obtain feedback to better inform our thinking.
In December, we analyzed and reported the results of these surveys. This gave us an initial frame of reference to define our mission,” Riou explains.
Group workshops
“In January 2023, we held an initial workshop to identify the key words and themes to include in our purpose statement. Shortly afterward, our service provider made us an initial proposal for purpose and mission statements, as well as statutory goals. It was a no-brainer.
Next, we organized a second workshop with representatives from each profession. This was to ensure they could identify with the purpose statement. At the end of this workshop, we reached a consensus.
Presentation and reflection
“Today, our purpose statement is to “fuse our collective energy to boldly bring about a fair ecological transition.”
- “Fuse” stresses the importance of our collective force.
- “Our collective energy” refers to the energy sector as well as our own energy.
- “Bring about” expresses our desire for everyone to pitch in.
- “Boldly” reflects our ability to innovate and experiment.
- “Fair ecological transition” encompasses all the dimensions (human, environmental, and so on) that have an impact on ecology—taking care not to leave anyone out.
Following the workshops, we presented this purpose statement to all our employees. We then gave ourselves time to reflect—to make sure we were comfortable with the wording and that our purpose statement was well-aligned with our strategies.
At the same time, we wrote up a manifesto explaining our purpose and mission statements, which we then shared with all our stakeholders.”
2. Set operational goals
“Once we had defined our purpose statement and statutory goals, we set sight on our operational goals. Unlike statutory goals, which remain fixed in time, operational goals are defined over a certain period. They enable you to clarify the actions you are going to take and the results you want to achieve to make your mission a reality.
Defining these objectives took a little longer than expected, as 2023 was a major recruitment and restructuring period for us. To ensure that all the teams were aligned, we waited for each one to create its roadmap for the coming year. As a result, we were able to finalize our operational objectives in January 2024.
3. Create a mission committee
“By the end of 2024, the next step is to create our mission committee. This committee will be responsible for overseeing proper deployment of the mission within our company. At each meeting, it will look in particular at how we have progressed toward our goals, what reflections are in progress, and what difficulties we’re encountering.
In France, the comprehensive Pacte Act requires this committee to be composed of:
- one or more employees from the company that are not part of the corporate bodies (for example, they cannot be a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission.)
- individuals (and not corporations and other legal entities)
Note that the CEO can be included in this committee, but only as a guest member. However, it’s up to us to decide who should sit on this committee.
At elmy, we aim to have as many internal as external members on this committee. However, the external people we bring on board will need to be familiar with our sector, have a business sensibility, and be able to represent one of our statutory objectives.
Once this committee has been set up, we’ll have our mission audited by an independent third-party organization (OTI). Finally, we’ll produce our first mission report to measure the impact of our actions.
A few tips for those wishing to get started
“If you’d like to become a mission-driven company as well, here are a few tips to help you:
- Ask yourself why you’re after this status. If your goal is just to enhance your reputation, then you’re better off not pursuing this path. On the other hand, if you’d like to make a genuine and positive impact on society and the environment, then there are very valid reasons.
- Leverage services from a third-party organization that has already worked with other mission-driven companies. Just make sure you don’t delegate everything, and stay involved throughout the project.
- Once your purpose and mission have been defined, implement a tool to help coordinate the activities of your mission committee. At elmy, we use the Holaspirit platform to ensure transparency of everything that’s related to our mission and organizational roles.”
A final word
Before you decide whether or not you want to become a mission-driven company, think about your reasons for doing so. If these reasons are valid, you can then follow the three key steps to get there: define your purpose and statutory objectives, set your operational goals, and create a mission committee.
As our client elmy has shown, becoming a mission-driven enterprise is a process that takes time and requires buy-in from all your stakeholders. So bear patience, and take time to create a purpose statement that aligns with everyone, and above all, communicate it well!
At Talkspirit, we offer tools that facilitate internal communication, streamline collaboration, and bring transparency to company roles, processes, and projects. Many mission-driven enterprises like elmy have adopted our tools, so why don’t you give it a try? Schedule a demo to find out how we can help you today! 👇
