I have recently been very focused on finding my professional purpose, and I’ve realized how critical feeling a sense of purpose is for me personally. I think we have all had a collective awakening around purpose, how we work, and the role that work plays in our lives. Many people are having existential experiences and wondering, “So what am I doing anyway? Why is this important?”.
There has been a lot of research done recently about purpose. The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley published an article detailing their findings on purpose and share that “A sense of purpose is very strongly associated with mental and physical well-being—and that’s why it is core to most scientific definitions of what it means to be happy in life”.
I’m a small business owner, so now I have a very clear sense of purpose. Not only am I focused on getting this business to work, but I’m focused on truly helping businesses thrive, which is very important to my values and my mission as a person. If you are a leader in a company, you are also often fairly connected to your purpose. As a leader, you feel a strong sense of responsibility and accountability for the success of the business. You spend a lot of time and energy thinking about how to make the business as successful as possible.
However, your employees don’t necessarily have this mindset of ownership over the company’s success, and therefore, are less likely to have an obvious sense of purpose related to the business itself. Employees have to connect with a different sense of purpose. A recent McKinsey study found that “85 percent of execs and upper management said that they are living their purpose at work, and only 15 percent of frontline managers and frontline employees agreed”. For some, that might be career growth – they have a career goal in mind and their current role is helping them achieve that goal. Others may feel purpose in leading their team or mentoring others. Some people feel a sense of purpose by aligning with the mission of the organization, and that motivates their efforts.
Finding our purpose and feeling aligned to it helps us experience a sense of fulfillment and success. However, the data also shows that employees who feel a sense of purpose are more engaged and productive. A report by Cigna concludes that:
“People who find purpose in work also tend to have better health and higher levels of resilience and energy. Healthier and more engaged employees are more productive and committed to their employers, which means higher business performance, greater workforce retention, and a better bottom line overall”.
So, if purpose is so important, what can we do to help our employees connect with their purpose?
Change the Macro
One way is to focus on being a purpose-driven organization. Harvard Business Review published a fascinating article about this topic, focusing on how leadership can drive the focus of the company’s mission as part of culture development, in turn helping employees feel like they are a critical part of the mission. These efforts require deliberate and genuine activity over a long period of time and result in sustained impacts to the success of a business.
Impact the Individual
In addition to focusing on purpose at the macro-level, leaders can focus on purpose at the individual level and still make a huge impact. Here are some ideas:
- Ask them about their values. People will all define purpose differently based on their backgrounds and what is important to them. Ask probing questions to help them identify the kinds of work that make them feel like they are accomplishing something valuable. Consider questions like:
- When is the last time you felt like your work really mattered (inside or outside of your day job)?
- What kinds of work makes you feel like you are making a difference?
- When is the last time you felt energized by a project? What elements of that work resonated with you most?
- Deliberately delegate the work. Once you have a good understanding of what kinds of work each person finds meaningful, then you can distribute projects in a way that helps reinforce their purpose.
- Pay attention. When people on your team start to seem burnt out or stressed, you can help re-direct them to work that you know will help them re-connect with their sense of purpose. This can serve as a lifeline for people who are overwhelmed or lacking engagement.
- Know when to call it. For some people, they may simply not be in the right role and may be fully misaligned with their purpose. In situations like this, we need to understand how important it is as leaders to coach our employees to achieve their ultimate goals. There may be times when you can re-direct an employee to pursuing an internal transfer, training towards a different line of work, or provide coaching around the right way to leave the job if that’s the conclusion that they have arrived at. It’s ok to let them go.
Focusing on purpose is worth the investment, as returns sustain over time. Successful employees ultimately lead to increased success as a business.