Your Purpose: No Small Potatoes (Part 2)

In my last blog, I talked about the value of articulating your authentic, heartfelt and connected purpose, and the experience of working with the Little Potato Company.  Today, I’m pleased to share a recent conversation with CEO Angela Santiago on their process to find purpose – and the difference it makes in her company.

Save the Potato, Feed the World Better

The Little Potato Company’s Purpose

Q: How did you find your purpose as a company?

A: The germination of the purpose was my responsibility. It was clearly in my heart and my soul.

It took years to form, although it was always underlying. When my Dad and I started the company, we and other people we attracted always wanted to make a change somehow. It just wasn’t written down…it’s just something that we did. Then, as we got more employees, it was obvious that we needed to communicate more about why we do what we do.

Q: How did you go about that?

A: We started with the core values of the company, and Kevin led our core leadership group through an exercise that was fantastic. Then over the next year or two, we started having conversations: Why we are here? Why do people get up every day and choose to come to work here?

Save the Potato, Feed the World Better.

Save the potato: I knew what I meant by that, and had a vision and story behind that – and many people understood it when it was explained to them one-on-one to people. The potato was in decline…people are eating less and less, so we were here to elevate it. They could hear my passion. We just had to figure out a way to communicate it so that it that makes sense to people.

Where we got stuck was feed the world better. I sat down with a creative director who said that when you really know what your purpose is (even when you don’t have the right words) you have to stick to it. The purpose comes from your belly and your heart - an inner thing that comes out - and often it’s not done perfectly with words.

So we made a video – and the feeling and emotion behind the visuals came to life. It became a form of communication to employees and the outside world.

Q: How do you use the video today?

A: It’s part of our orientation package - with our core values - for new employees, and presentations to customers. It’s the first thing we talk about because when you feel you are part of something that has meaning - that will have an impact - your motivation to work at that place is far greater than a pay cheque. We start our meetings and presentations with it - to show people who we are. It’s an emotional connection you can have with partners, and employees and customers – an emotional connection to our brand – and people want to be part of it. We are proud of our values and our purpose, and we want to share it with everyone.

Q: How does it help you as a leader - and the company overall?

A: Purpose and values never change. They are the constant in an organization, no matter what happens. Other things change and flow all the time – like priorities and revenues – as you adapt to the market. I think there’s a sense of security when you can provide that for people - that no matter what changes in numbers or priorities, no matter how big we get, the core of our values and purpose don’t change.

Q: How did clarity on your purpose change what you do?

A: Well, it brings you to action. You have to ask how you are going to live this. You have all sorts of action around revenues, and you have to be as intentional and deliberate as with any other plan. Just as you come up with a strategic plan, a sales plan and a marketing plan, you have to have a culture plan.

For example we had donated to the Food Bank sporadically but we became more committed. Now, we plan to in every city we manufacture, or have 3rd party warehouse inventory we deliver every week, regardless of whether we have extra inventory. We also do other initiatives with Food Banks, and all our employees volunteer.

We are approached all the time to help with charities, and what we do flows right into, and aligns with our purpose. It makes it easy to choose, and to know when to say ‘no’.

Q: How does your purpose influence your brand?

A: It’s in how we position it. A lot of our brand is positioned on elevating the potato. It’s a very humble vegetable that will never brag about itself, so that becomes our job. We elevate it to a level people never thought of. We use pretty packaging, we make it convenient and easy to eat. We focus on the nutritional aspect of this vegetable that is so good for you.

Our purpose is stamped all over our brand.

Q: How does it make a difference?

A: I definitely feel that, since we articulated the values and purpose, there’s a stronger sense of community and family – that something brings us all together.

And there are conversations we don’t need to have now because they are not our values or our purpose. There’s a lot more focused planning and discussion corporately because we have a clear purpose and clear values.

Q: What does going through this process mean to you, as a leader?

A: I felt this was one of the biggest and longest impacts I could have on the company. I won’t be the CEO forever, and being able to take part of your soul, and have it be part of a company - that now lives on without you - I thought was pretty important to do.

This is what people were asking – needing from me. Our employees give to me daily - by working for the company, by choosing to come here, by putting their heart and soul into their work. My employees are a gift to me. This is a gift I could give to them.

Angela Santiago is CEO and co-founder, with her father Jacob van der Schaaf, of the Edmonton-based Little Potato Company.

The Little Potato Company passionately focuses only on little Creamer potatoes. Creamers are highly nutritious, fully mature and naturally delicious small specialty potatoes coveted by foodies and chefs alike. Their exclusive and colorful Creamer varieties are available in produce sections across Canada and the U.S., where 2.2 million servings will be enjoyed this year alone.

The Little Potato Company believes in feeding the world, better. This extends beyond their focus on creating specialty Creamer potatoes to helping parents and kids cook together through their “Little Chef” program, and supporting Food Banks and other food and family-based community programs.

The family-owned company celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2016.

• Visit littlepotatoes.com to learn about their company.
• Click here to watch their company purpose video.
• And here to learn about their core values.