The four questions stated in the Pyramid of Purpose must be answered in order. When creating the pyramid, it is important to consider your audience. That will help to determine the information that is put into the pyramid.

Level 1: Why? The answer to this question lies in the mission statement of the organization. Said differently, the strategies that are created should all be created in service of fulfilling the mission of the company. The language that is used in this step should be abstract.

Level 2: What? This stage concretely defines what steps need to be done in order to carry out the mission of the organization. In other words, the organization should list out the goals that will further its progress towards making its mission into a reality. The goals that are created should be practical enough that they can be attained with a reasonable amount of effort, and progress toward attaining that goal should be able to be monitored. When a goal is reached, it should be noticed and celebrated.

Level 3: How? This stage lists the exact steps that need to be taken in order to achieve the goals identified in the “what?” stage. This process involves determining what specific actions will be taken and when, as well as the resources that are needed. The language used in this stage must be very detailed so that every employee knows exactly what they need to do to contribute to the organization’s mission.

Level 4: Who? Finally, in order to answer this question, the organization must identify who will be responsible for completing each task. If those people are not yet in the company, a plan must be developed to bring them into the organization, which involves determining where they will be recruited from and what kind of experience is needed to complete these tasks successfully.

The new online Pyramid of Purpose template from Praxie helps strategy teams develop a simple, graphical depiction of an organization’s structure, strategy and business identity. All four levels in the Pyramid of Purpose originate from the Mission Statement, which can be used to support the creation of the pyramid. The Pyramid of Purpose is a strategic tool that can be used to plan and effectively communicate a business strategy across all levels of an organization. Each level of the pyramid represents a different question about the strategy that an employee could ask: why the organization does things in a certain way, what needs to be done to implement the strategy, how should those tasks be completed, and who is responsible for ensuring the tasks get done correctly? The Pyramid of Purpose Template is a useful way for business leaders to quickly and easily disseminate key information about the business’ overarching reason for being.

Unlike most traditional Pyramid of Purpose techniques, Praxie’s online Pyramid of Purpose tools allow any team or organization to instantly begin working with our web templates and input forms. Our digital platform goes far beyond other software tools by including progress dashboards, data integration from existing documents or other SaaS software, elegant intuitive designs, and full access on any desktop or mobile device.