What We Think

Work shouldn’t be about selling your soul to make a living!

It is such a shame that so many people do work they don’t enjoy because they need to somehow make a living.  They have no idea where their work fits into the grand scheme of things.  To them, what they do is just a pain that they have to endure so that they can pay their bills.  People who don’t like what they do are more prone to be stressed and suffer poor health.  As a result, their efforts are only half-hearted, and their potential for having a fulfilling career is wasted because they are not engaged, and they are not happy.  We believe that employees should take pride in their work, and hold a deep sense of meaning in the work that they do.

Happy engaged people are more open, confident and willing to contribute.

Happiness is a logical outcome of stable and satisfying long-term relationships, of trust, and being engaged in doing work that has meaning for the individual.  When people are in that state, they are far more willing to contribute their knowledge and unique experience to helping the organization achieve its goals while achieving their own.  We believe that in order for a company to profit at maximum potential, everyone involved should be content, confident and fully engaged in their work.

The road to sustainable profit is paved with meaning.

Businesses have focused on the tangible and recordable aspects of business, what we call "hard stuff."  Hard stuff includes strategies, cost-cutting, operations efficiency, and a host of other things that can be calculated and tracked.  By no means do we believe that these things are not necessary and important, but there is a missing aspect of business that we feel needs to be addressed.  Business strategies are very little more than words on a page without motivated people to make it a reality.  Pay increases, and better benefits are nice motivators, but those are only short-term solutions to the epidemic of unfulfilled, unmotivated employees.

We believe that companies need to address the "soft stuff," which are the aspects of business that enable an emotional connection.  That means the key intangibles of purpose and meaning from work which encompasses Purpose of the business, line of sight or impact of the individual work of employees, company reputation, respect, recognition, responsibility and accountability, appreciation of diversity, and personal growth.  These are the soft areas of the business that deliver meaning and will deliver very real results year after year. To create an environment that invites engagement, you need to focus on the soft stuff ... the stuff of human needs.

Organisations need to give back to the broader community.

Brace yourself for an uncomfortable fact:  Too often, organizations focus on their shareholders and neglect the wider group of stakeholders.  To paraphrase Joel Bakan, author of “The Corporation”, companies can create great wealth at significant human cost.  We believe that organizations have a responsibility to give back to their staff and the community from which they make their living and draw on their resources. The bottom line is, companies attend to investors, yet forget that they are not the ones that can make or break their business.  The broader community includes everyone.

Following this thought further, every company has the golden opportunity to instill meaning and purpose into their employees in order to engage them.  That Purpose, your company legacy, is your organization's contribution to the broader community.

Identifying, articulating and living your Purpose is highly attractive to employees of all generations, and particularly to Generation Y who would rather work for not-for-profit than in an environment that doesn’t make a contribution. 

Businesses have to marry the goals of profiting and making a difference.

Purpose is the foundation of meaning at work and great companies.

Is your business built on strong foundations for the future?  The world of business is changing.  Over the past 10 years or so, we’ve all learned of or experienced the increasing numbers of burn-outs among employees and the increased demands to grow bottom line in short time frames.  It is clear that things can’t continue this way indefinitely.  Population changes have put downward pressure on the available talent pool creating a talent shortage.  Without a shift in focus, and the intrinsic motivation of a sense of Purpose to create meaning for employees, the endurance of success is short-lived.  If a feeling of importance and knowledge of why the job matters, doesn't keep employees going, then what will?

Companies much larger than Purpose to Profit have been researching the factors that contribute to enduring business success.

When Jim Collins and Jerry Porras researched and wrote their book “Built to Last”, they identified that one of the strong common characteristics of enduring highly successful and visionary companies was an articulated purpose – a reason for them to exist.

Gurnek Bains identified the importance of purpose and meaning at work together with the factors that contribute to increasing meaning within organizations.  In his book “Meaning, Inc.”, he describes the type of company that will thrive in the changing world – one driven by an invigorating purpose.

We believe that the longest track records of business success are a result of clearly expressed purpose and a developed sense of meaning within all involved.

If you want to know more about Purpose and Meaning at Work and the advantage it can provide your business, you can visit our Knowledge Centre, read more about our programmes or contact us.