Demystifying Purpose At Work
In early 2014, I was fortunate to be offered the opportunity to explore whether we could help ‘put authentic impact within reach of mindful travelers.’ This was the design challenge that we established for ourselves as a team, and it led us deeply into a period of robust ethnographic research helping us uncover the core themes that stood out for individuals hungry for purpose driven travel experiences.
This journey led us down a variety of interesting trails….one of which was the definition of purpose. Purpose has now become more of a buzzword, seemingly thrown around conference rooms, school classrooms and middle-aged dinner parties. It has begun to seem like we’re all on this ethereal quest for purpose in our daily lives. But what on earth does purpose actually mean?!?
For me, getting into the academic definition and understanding of purpose was incredibly helpful. What we learned was that ultimately purpose has three core pillars:
1 - Humans long for an ability to know and grow themselves. This means there is a hunger for self-awareness and pathways, actions and tactics that allow someone to feel like they are growing and evolving themselves.
2 - Humans yearn to connect deeply with others. We crave meaningful relationships, even at work.
3 - Humans want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Something beyond ourselves of value. Something that makes a difference in the world.
I like to think of these core ingredients as a small stool with three legs. Holistic purpose at work, within communities, and in our family life require all three to be and feel balanced.
What you’ll notice is that there’s nothing in this list that denotes a specific impact arena (i.e. education or climate change) or a detailed way someone should grow themselves. Rather, what I love about this framework is that there’s plenty of space to creatively develop a purposeful playground of sorts that uniquely fits your own workplace or home.
How might you support your employees or teammates (or family members) as they seek to grow themselves? Does this look like paid time off for ongoing education or additional skill development? Perhaps a set amount of paid time off to volunteer for a cause that matters to each employee? Maybe you ensure there are healthcare benefits and resources to support individual counseling and / or professional coaching and additional development opportunities?
Or maybe there’s a designated budget per person on the team or in a home where all can uniquely build their own growth and development plan?
Do you know your colleagues deeply? Are there intentional moments, resources and rhythms internally to support the development of meaningful relationships at work outside of the day-to-day project work and culture of deadlines? Do you make space to ensure your teams can play together while supported by work sponsored dollars?
Does your company have a partner cause or outside the office mission that your entire workplace can collectively contribute to and come alongside as a partner? Or, do you enable your employees to enjoy this broader collective impact individually, while you contribute to their impact? Or does your company mission directly contribute to a meaningful cause or arena your employees feel deeply connected to?
Purpose is somewhat fuzzy…. and maybe that’s a creative license for leadership teams or families to invest the energy and time into internal discussions, surveys, brainstorming sessions or company-wide town hall meetings. This can be a really fun exercise and experiment to embark on. Together.
At the end of the day, creating the space to explore and invest in purpose can reap your company enormous rewards. You could potentially unleash much greater satisfaction at work, which could then translate into more effective employee engagement, greater results, far better retention and a more positive impact within your community and beyond.
