Can You Help Your People Find Purpose in Their Work?

Helping hand


When a team member tends to lose interest in her work, her team leader should inspire her to find interest in her task. She should help her team members find meaning in their work by proper team management. In this article, we will discuss about the idea of understanding the meaning of what people do and the significance of their actions at their workplace.

Importance of Purpose

Everything that a team member does has a reason behind it. Purpose in job can be found by a professional when she realizes how her job helps others and makes life better for others. In 2010, Dave and Wendy Ulrich wrote a book "The Why of Work," in which they discussed about the benefits of making people understand the purpose of their work.

A professional who realizes the purpose of her job is happier and more committed than one who has no idea about the purpose of her job. An employee with the knowledge about the good that her effort does to improve the life of others, is more creative and dedicated to her work. When seen from the point of view of an organization, if employees notice that the roles they play fit with the objectives of the company, productivity of the company increases and employees are retained. As a result, employees work harder than usual and make appropriate decisions about their work. This leads to efficiency and enhanced functionality. The positive influence of the understanding of purpose is visible in the reaction of customers to the highest ranking executive in the company.

How to Assist Team Members to Find Purpose

The manager working in a non-profit organization needs less effort to explain the importance of purpose. They have greater understanding of the help their work does to others. However, the manager of a profit earning company, where employees are motivated by rise in salary has to work a little hard to explain the importance of work purpose to her team members. All professionals have to understand that every work they do, helps people in making life easy. The following measures can help in finding purpose.

# Create an apt mission statement

The mission statement is an appropriate thing from which they can start explaining the importance of purpose to their team members. The employees realize the requirements of customers. The manager also realizes the standards by which the success of the company is to be measured from the mission statement. The company’s mission statement cannot be changed, but a manager can write a separate mission and vision statement for her department. The new statement will display the deeper purpose of the department.

Before the manager starts writing the mission statement he has to ask the ‘5 Whys’ to himself. The first thing which she needs to ask herself is why the department exists. She has to keep asking questions to herself until she comes across the core meaning and purpose of her team. The manager should ponder the objectives of the organization as she moves through the process of writing new mission and vision statements. She has to learn about the objectives of the company that are being met. With the knowledge she gathers by asking questions to herself and by learning the operations in the organization she can write the new statements.

# Connect personal goals with organizational goals

The next thing that a manager has to do is make a connection between the personal aims of her team members with the objectives of the department and the company. She can call meetings on a one-on-one basis and listen to them before assisting them to understand the factors that help to get motivated. She should then encourage the team members to think how they can link their own goals with the objectives of the organization. The manager should not try to influence her team members into thinking the way she wants them to think, she should instead act as a facilitator.

# Explore Capabilities

When a task uses the strengths of an employee, she gets into the flow of the job. In fact, she is determined to perform the best in the team. If a manager comes to know about the strengths of her team members, she can give them tasks that promote personal satisfaction. The manager should help them realize the best qualities and strengths they possess. Once, the manager realizes the strengths of each person she can insert tasks that cater to the capabilities of the subordinate.

Article signup banner

# Create affirmative work environment

A good working environment is capable of bringing out the best qualities of a professional. Thus, a manager should ensure that she provides her team members the best possible atmosphere where they can prove themselves. For instance, if a manager wants her team members to be on good social terms with each other at workplace, she should make sure that they socialize with one another at outings or before the commencement of meetings. She should not be a micro manager. The subordinates should get enough autonomy over their work. They should also be provided with enough opportunities to learn new things and advance in their career. When team members realize that the environment they work in is supportive, they automatically get an insight into the purpose of their work.

# Gather feedback

Feedback is important in boosting an employee as well as to make her understand the mistakes she does. Positive feedback is effective as far as motivating resources are concerned. An employee when provided positive feedback feels that their effort makes a positive difference to the profitability of the company. The manager should provide feedback on a regular basis and inform them about feedback from customers. If employees realize the difference they make to their company they feel more connected and want to help more.

To Wrap Up

Helping team members to find purpose in their work is a way of rewarding them. This is because they learn more and become more engaged in their job.

Other tools you might find interesting