When employees experience purpose in their work, they feel they are contributing to something bigger, to a better world. That leads to more work engagement.
Guido Heezen of Effectory tells of a friend who once worked in the marketing department of a cigarette manufacturer. At first he saw it as a great job at an interesting company. But one morning he woke up and thought: if I do my job well, more young people will start smoking… how will I ever explain that to my grandchildren? He then looked for other work. The example shows how important purpose is for motivating and retaining employees.
What is purpose?
When you commit yourself every day to something that really inspires you, because it is close to your own drivers, dreams and ideals, you experience meaning. You connect your own efforts to a higher goal. Purpose gives your work meaning.
Why is purpose important for work engagement?
Thanks to purpose, you know why you go to work again every day. That is also in the definition of work engagement. Wilmar Schaufeli and Arnold Bakker describe work engagement as a combination of vigor, dedication and absorption. Dedication means experiencing your work as useful and meaningful, inspiring and challenging, and feeling proud and enthusiastic about it. Schaufeli So without the feeling that your work matters, work engagement is difficult.
If you can justify to yourself the way you earn your money, you don't have to force yourself. You can be much more yourself, and that saves energy you can put into your work. The reverse also applies: if you give employees more room to be themselves, they experience more meaning. People who are allowed to be their own, authentic selves at work automatically act more from their own drivers.
Research by Utrecht University among 680 Dutch bank employees shows this too. Employees who feel authentic at work are more engaged, more satisfied and perform better. It also turned out that people feel more authentic when they have more job resources, such as support and room to manoeuvre. Metin et al.
How do you create purpose as a board?
As a board, you certainly don't create purpose by constantly hammering on about increasing turnover, cutting costs and shareholder value. You even run the risk of employees forgetting why they once chose their profession. They start to wonder: what am I actually doing? Employees need to feel that if they are successful in their work, they automatically also contribute to a better world.
How can you encourage purpose?
Ask yourself questions such as: why would we set up this organisation if it didn't already exist? What is our mission? The answers give employees the appealing direction they need to get to work with engagement.
And as a board, absolutely don't think: I've said it once, now they know. According to Heezen, you need to tell the higher goal that employees can connect with at least thirty times a year. As a leader, you should really say something about it in every meeting. Keep your mission alive and keep explaining how it contributes to a better world.
Also give employees enough autonomy, so that in their daily work they can make choices they themselves stand behind. According to Edward Deci and Richard Ryan's self-determination theory, autonomy is one of the three basic psychological needs of every person, alongside competence and relatedness. Self-Determination Theory
Why does storytelling help?
Stories about the choices you make as an organisation make purpose tangible. Heezen gives an example from his own company. Effectory once turned down a large assignment because the client wanted to use employee surveys for the wrong reasons. The client wanted to be able to trace engagement back to individual employees and assess people on it. A lot of money was involved, but Effectory said: we won't help you with this. A competitor then accepted the assignment.
How does purpose bring pride?
That decision was explained internally. Not once, but as often as possible. Every time: this is how we see it. Effectory carries out employee surveys to improve organisations from within and to give employees an equal voice, not to assess people. That story makes employees proud and even fires up their fighting spirit. So talk about the choices you make based on your higher goal. That helps enormously in giving employees purpose.
You can read more about purpose in purpose: what is it, really? and engaging leadership. Do you want to know to what extent your employees feel connected to their work? You can measure it with the Employee Engagement Survey.
About this article: this piece is based on a blog by Guido Heezen of Effectory, from his series on the conditions for work engagement.
