The first question is the most fundamental: What do you need from me in order for you to do your best work?

The second question is built on the first: Do you have the opportunity every day to do what you do best?

The third question delves more deeply into personal motivation: Do you feel the work you do is important and has a meaningful purpose?

Sociologists have identified “meaningful purpose” or “significance” as one of the most basic and most important human psychological / emotional / spiritual needs.  Having a sense of purpose enables us as human beings to embrace difficulty and challenge, and overcome barriers to our efforts and initiative.  It enables us to have a “long view” of our lives and our daily activities.

When employees view their job as an opportunity to pursue a meaningful personal purpose, the result is a tremendously positive impact on their work and on the organization!

“Those employees who say that they live their purpose at work are six and a half times more likely to report higher resilience. They’re four times more likely to report better health, six times more likely to want to stay at the company, and one and a half times more likely to go above and beyond to make their company successful.”  Naina Dhingra – The McKinsey Podcast

Susan Peppercorn emphasizes the role of leadership in helping employees make this all-important connection between their work and their sense of purpose:

“Managers can play a meaningful role in helping employees understand how their roles contribute to the organization’s broader mission. But helping employees feel a sense of purpose must go deeper than this to tap into what’s purposeful to employees about their job and connects with their own values.”

What can a manager or supervisor do, to help make this connection?

If Peppercorn is right, managers can’t help employees make this connection unless they know their employees well enough to determine each team member’s values and sense of personal purpose!  That’s going to require meaningful conversations with each employee!

Think about the following conversation-starting questions to ask an employee:

• What do you consider important in life?
• What in your life gives you a sense of personal meaning or significance?
• What gives you a sense of purpose in your life?
• What kinds of things do you do that give you a feeling of significance or importance?
• What kinds of things do you do here at work that give you a feeling of significance or importance?
• Do you feel that your work is meaningful… that it is important… that it is worth the time and effort you put into it? 
• What part of your work do you consider most meaningful… most important?
• Do you think what we do in this organization is important?
• Do you think this organization has a meaningful or significant purpose?
• Do you believe your work is important to the success and purpose of this organization?

Naina Dhingra reminds bosses,

“There’s an opportunity to really pause and reflect on the individual’s sense of purpose and how that links with the company and what the company is trying to do for the world—especially at this moment, when there are so many things going on in the world that really demand business to make a greater contribution to society.”

Up Close and Personal

One of my training events took me to a company that designs and manufactures intricate power and signal controls for various industries.  One of their biggest clients is CalTrans—supplying them with sophisticated traffic and signal controls for key commuting routes.  A disastrous tunnel fire in one of the main traffic arteries feeding the city of San Francisco completely destroyed the traffic control system inside.  It created a daily commuting nightmare for thousands of motorists.  CalTrans was desperate to replace the control system and restore normal traffic flow as quickly as humanly possible.  They came to the company with a seemingly impossible deadline for replacing the destroyed equipment.  The leadership and employees together accepted the challenge; replaced the system in less time than requested; and celebrated their success with a giant photo session in the company parking lot that featured the entire company of employees and a CalTrans representative who was there to present a special commendation plaque which was then put on display in the company reception area along with the commemorating photograph. 

Anyone in the reception area viewing the photo would have a clear and palpable sense of the pride that every employee displayed—knowing how important their work was to CalTrans and to the thousands of motorists who depended daily on the quality and reliability of their equipment.

So…

1. How are you learning about the unique values and sense of purpose of each of your team members?
2. How are you helping your people make the important connection between their work and the meaningful purpose of your organization?

If you need help with these things, call us!  We have the tools and expertise to help you lead your people more effectively, and more purposefully.  And in the meantime, stay tuned to this blog to receive more great ideas, tools, techniques, and resources!

Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,

Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!