Why is having a sense of purpose so important in the workplace? What can you do to foster purpose in your team? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In their book Who Not How, <\/em>authors Sullivan and Hardy explain that your personnel will give their best work when they have a purpose<\/a> in what they’re doing. There are a few things you can do to instill purpose including encouraging collaboration, trusting your team<\/a>, and avoiding micromanagement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s how to instill a sense of purpose in your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n We do our best when we feel that our decisions and behaviors\u2014and our investment of resources and time\u2014have meaning and value, or a sense of purpose<\/em>. <\/strong>Purpose, the authors explain, is what pushes us to give our best\u2014regardless of the job or task. We want the outcome of our investments to have an impact, somehow, on something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Many organizations try to cultivate their employees\u2019 passion instead of their purpose, but for the rank-and-file, passion is a poor motivator.<\/a> In So Good They Can\u2019t Ignore You<\/em><\/a>, Cal Newport explains that most people, throughout their lives, learn that fulfillment<\/em> comes from feeling passionate about your work. As a result, passion-seeking employees are unable to cope with boring or frustrating aspects of their jobs\u2014they think the work is pointless or not right for them because it doesn\u2019t inspire passion 100% of the time. However, if you cultivate your employees\u2019 sense of purpose<\/em> and make the point of their work clear, they\u2019ll feel motivated to push through the difficult realities of their work, even if they don\u2019t feel passionate about it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Hardy and Sullivan, purpose comes from collaboration. <\/strong>It\u2019s difficult to find a truly great purpose alone\u2014after all, there\u2019s only so much you can do with the limited time and resources you have. That\u2019s where the power of personnel comes in: When we work together, the quality and impact of our combined result improves\u2014and, thereby, the value<\/em> of that result. Because of this, collaborating with others deepens our sense of meaning and fulfillment\u2014it\u2019s empowering to be a member of a group that\u2019s large enough to accomplish something truly valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: According to one Harvard Business School professor, a sense of purpose through collaboration has a myriad of benefits: Feeling you\u2019re part of something greater than yourself<\/a> leads to high levels of engagement<\/a> and creativity and a willingness to partner with others regardless of boundaries. In other words, joint purpose encourages your team to willingly step out of their comfort zone<\/a> in pursuit of meaningful goals<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The authors note that as you reach for ever-higher goals together, your vision of what\u2019s possible grows. <\/strong>Your shared sense of purpose expands, as does your trust in each other. Once you realize how much you can accomplish with the right support, the authors suggest, you\u2019ll gain confidence in your ability to make a powerful impact. You\u2019ll feel increasingly invested in the people who helped bring your vision to life, and they\u2019ll feel more invested in you\u2014as a result, you become more committed to each other, and to the goals you share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: It\u2019s all well and good to hear that purpose expands your vision, or that investing in your team leads them to invest in you, but what\u2019s the bottom line? CEO Mark Weinberger of EY says that between 1996 and 2011, companies who centered their purpose around social impact rather than financial outcomes outperformed the S&P 500 by 10 times<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you grow into your role as a results-focused investor in people, the authors urge you to trust your team to do their jobs without your constant intervention.<\/strong> Trust amplifies your team\u2019s feeling of purpose\u2014it lets them know you believe they\u2019re the right people<\/a> for the job and that you trust them to find the best path to a stellar result. It\u2019s a form of investment that forces them<\/em> to invest, as well. Either they are<\/em> the right person for the job<\/a>, in which case they\u2019ll see value and meaning in the autonomy you give them, or they\u2019ll step aside so the right person can take over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Trust is critical to a successful autonomous structure, elaborates Paul Marciano of Carrots and Sticks Don\u2019t Work<\/em><\/a>. Trusted employees feel more comfortable taking ownership and pitching the risky ideas that lead to great innovations<\/a>. To engender trust, he says, provide autonomy, decision-making<\/a> authority, and resources without questioning your team\u2019s loyalty.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Sullivan and Hardy, leading in this fashion\u2014providing opportunities for your team to face and overcome challenges autonomously\u2014helps your team build the confidence and commitment they need to fulfill your vision and grow as people. The longer they work this way, the more capable they become\u2014and the more you can trust them to handle. It amplifies your relationship with your team from transactional to transformational: You\u2019re not just working for yourselves anymore; instead, everyone benefits meaningfully, so everyone\u2019s willing to invest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Allowing your team autonomy doesn\u2019t only help you meet your business needs\u2014it also helps your team members meet their psychological<\/em> needs. In his book High Output Management<\/em><\/a>, former Intel CEO Andrew Grove explains that the most effective and lasting motivation is one that <\/strong>fulfills the human desire to achieve competence or mastery and contribute to a stellar result<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> By challenging your team and trusting them to produce excellent results, you give them opportunities to improve and overcome, effectively supporting them in their pursuit, as Grove would put it, of self-actualization.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n A great leader<\/a>, Sullivan and Hardy say, builds an autonomous team by staying focused on the results he wants to achieve and minimizing his interference.<\/strong> This is what it means, they say, to \u201cinvest\u201d in your team. According to them, you do this in four steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1) Communicate your vision<\/a> and clearly define the desired outcome. <\/strong>(Shortform note: The importance of clarity is heavily corroborated in entrepreneurial literature. For example, in Carrots and Sticks Don\u2019t Work<\/em><\/a>, Paul Marciano explains that sharing the big picture with every<\/em> employee is a powerful source of motivation<\/a>. It lets your personnel feel like partners, and gives them context for the decisions you make.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) Invest in a team of people who are capable of accomplishing your goal. <\/strong>(Shortform note: On this point, Marciano provides additional advice: Regularly ask your team what else they need<\/a>. Capable personnel still have needs, and they\u2019ll know what would improve their outcomes\u2014whether that\u2019s resources, information, or training. It\u2019s your responsibility to provide those things, or at least to make them available.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) Let your team figure out how to get there and do the work themselves. <\/strong>(Shortform note: The authors aren\u2019t suggesting you build a team with no oversight or responsibility\u2014they\u2019re just saying you don\u2019t need to provide it personally.<\/em> On that note, Verne Harnish<\/a> advocates assigning someone to be accountable for each process and function<\/a>. In doing so, you promote responsibility and a clear hierarchy\u2014everyone knows who to ask about each part of the system. Crucially, nobody should ever touch a system for which they\u2019re not somehow accountable.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4) Give consistent feedback and praise depending on the results, and don\u2019t let your team give up.<\/strong> (Shortform note: Here\u2019s some more detail on useful feedback from Carrots and Sticks Don\u2019t Work<\/em><\/a>: First, feedback should be 80% positive and only 20% negative\u2014this ensures personnel will be praised for what they do well and heightens the impact of criticism. Second, when you give criticism, be prepared to reinforce a change in behavior with immediate positive feedback. Third, when you see an opportunity to give feedback\u2014praiseful or critical\u2014do so immediately. If you wait, the impact is lost. Finally, assume any failure to meet your expectations is a result of your<\/em> failure to communicate.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The authors suggest that as you grow closer to your team and accomplish increasingly ambitious goals<\/a> with their help, the most powerful purpose you can have is to be their paragon.<\/strong> Find out what their needs and goals are, and do everything you can to help them, care for them, and uplift them. In return, they\u2019ll give you their best work, and, as we\u2019ve seen, transform and expand your life. They\u2019ll be proud to support a leader who supports them, and they\u2019ll make it their purpose to enable you to continue that work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: It may seem odd, from a cost-focused perspective, to hear that an entrepreneur\u2019s ultimate purpose is to care for and uplift other people, but this argument is well-supported in entrepreneurial literature. For example, Marciano (Carrots and Sticks Don\u2019t Work<\/em><\/a>) calls this \u201cconsideration\u201d and says it\u2019s one of the seven keys to financial success<\/a>. As he puts it, if the company doesn\u2019t care about the employee, why should the employee care about the company?<\/strong>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why is having a sense of purpose so important in the workplace? What can you do to foster purpose in your team? In their book Who Not How, authors Sullivan and Hardy explain that your personnel will give their best work when they have a purpose in what they’re doing. There are a few things you can do to instill purpose including encouraging collaboration, trusting your team, and avoiding micromanagement. Here’s how to instill a sense of purpose in your team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":43932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,14,42],"tags":[531],"class_list":["post-53768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-management","category-motivation","tag-who-not-how","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nCollaboration Generates Meaning and Value<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Purpose Is Amplified by Trust<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Leadership Supports Without Micromanaging<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Be a Paragon to Your People<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n