People want purpose and meaning more than ever
Whether we wanted it or not and whatever our experience has been of 2020 and 2021, we all got lots more time than we probably ever wanted to think and reflect on what’s important in our lives.
This is really important for organisations to know that many of their employees have been thinking deeply about what they really want from life, how their work contributes to a bigger higher purpose and if not, what work they could be doing to make a bigger difference.
As written in this 2020 McKinsey article, Igniting Individual Purpose in times of Crisis:
““The pandemic has been a cruel reminder for companies everywhere of how important it is to never take healthy or motivated employees for granted. Since individual purpose directly affects both health and motivation, forward-looking companies will be focusing on purpose as part of a broader effort to ensure that talent is given the primacy it deserves.””
It’s no longer going to be enough for managers and leaders to show up and lead for results. Employees want purposeful leaders who are inspiring their teams to be real, have honest conversations about what they are going through and connect to something bigger than just making money and results for the company.
The more purposeful, open, and empathetic the leader, the more likely that he or she can instill the trust necessary to encourage people to leave their comfort zones and explore how their purpose might be better met at work.
Here are some suggestions around how to build more personal purpose and everyday meaning into business life (more background in the McKinsey article!):
1. Start the conversation yesterday
Don’t wait for your employees to choose another organisation where they can more meaningfully live their purpose. Start talking to your teams about how their experience has been this past 12-18 months and what it is making them think about what they want in life and work, has anything changed for them? Is there anything new emerging for them?
2. Make personal reflection a business priority
What employees are craving more than anything is permission and space to slow down and think and reflect. We have all been juggling so much emotional, mental labour during this pandemic and time to reflect, hear your own thoughts is rare and precious.
How could you create space during work time for employees to hear themselves think? Creating space for employees to reflect on their purpose and values is so powerful.
One of the big gifts people have shared over the past few months of doing virtual programmes is that they’ve had space to reflect on what they do value and what gives them meaning.
The Barrett Values Personal Values Audit is free and powerful - why not get your team to all do this alone and then come together and get in conversations about what matters most?
3. Reimagine a purpose-led future
Think about ways that putting purpose more at the heart of everything you do in your organisation can create an even more powerful and purposeful future for your organisation. Purpose-led organisations attract more women, more millennials, innovators and changemakers who want to make a difference to your business.
Let people know what your purpose is so they can find you and help you bring it to life. Ensure your recruitment, onboarding and people processes connect back to a purpose everyone can believe in.
4. Help people take action
Reflection without action is rumination, so what are some small steps that people can take individually to live their purpose everyday at work and home. Be purposeful now! Help everyone find some ways to bring this to life - have your team members take the lead on their passion projects and bring other team members along with them.
5. investing in Purpose is Investing in Wellbeing
In an NPR interview Alan Rozanski, Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai shared “The need for meaning and purpose is No. 1. It's the deepest driver of well-being there is."
Having a sidebar Employee Assistance or Wellbeing programme, whilst helpful and tactical and very much needed, employees want to see it all connected and to see its meaningfully making a difference and driven by your organisational purpose, strategic plan and lived via the day to day actions of your leaders.
Purpose is good for business but more even more importantly it's good for the wellbeing of your employees. Helping employees find their purpose, can help them live longer, all measures of research suggest whatever our purpose, having meaning in our life extends our lives - what an employee benefit that is!! :)
