Because many people spend the majority of their life in their workplace, if their jobs feel purposeless, your employees will very likely start to lose stamina and determination. It is crucial to facilitate a positive working environment – where your staff understand the impact of their work, and truly believe their job supports their ultimate life goals.
Why is it important to prioritise purpose?
Employees who lack of purpose are often less productive
Being job, career and purpose-focused are all very different mindsets. While being career-driven prioritises titles, control and salary; being job-focused lacks any motivation as employees only complete duties in return for their wage. Looking at the broader picture, neither one of these mindsets are ideal, and can even become toxic.
Unstable standards like these can lead to complete dissatisfaction in the work environment, as you are predominantly concerned about compensation, your reputation and promotions. This often leads to your team struggling to focus on their tasks and frequently finding themselves distracted; employees who are bored because they feel unchallenged; low productivity, and even heavy tiredness amongst your staff.
Purpose can benefit your business
Employees who feel an overall sense of motivation behind their job will experience work in a positive light. Your business is more likely to see a team who is engaging and contributing creative thinking.
By helping your staff find their deeper meaning to work, you will ultimately see a decrease in employee turnover and a peaking of productivity.
How can you help uncover your employees’ purpose?
No matter what industry your business falls under, the jobs that fill your organisation have been created for a reason, and without them, your business cannot thrive. The goal is for employees to realise their worth in your company, and take it on as a personal conviction. Staff need to know how their work improves or impacts someone’s life. All jobs serve someone – and that’s where you begin to find someone’s work-purpose.
Here is a step-by-step guide to help you bring to light your individual employees’ purposes:
Find their strengths
When an employee uses their strengths to complete a task, the work comes naturally. Results then come out of a place of flow rather than strenuous effort. Aim to uncover your individual employees’ natural strengths and assign tasks that will compliment those abilities.
Not only does this lead to higher productivity in your organisation, but a happier team who is more likely to emotionally invest in their jobs.
Define your mission statement
What drives your business? What is your end goal? Your mission statement should clarify your target market’s needs, express how your company will meet that demand, and also show how you will measure that success.
Your mission and vision statement will not only define the purpose of your business, but will also illuminate the purpose of your employees’ work.
Connect your company’s goals to their personal motivations
As much as it is not a company’s job to tell their staff what should motivate them, you can, however, help them link their already established personal drivers with that of your organisation’s.
Work with your employees to find connections that will encourage them to use their personal passions to motivate their work.
Give praise and positive feedback
A healthy work environment contributes to a healthy mindset. It’s important to give praise where it is deserved. A team who feels underappreciated will likely lose their drive and not produce their best work.
Positive feedback – whether directly from you, from fellow employees, or a relayed compliment from a customer – will boost your employees confidence and inspire them to keep chasing their purpose.
Provide a healthy work environment
Create a workspace that promotes vision and purpose, as well as provides opportunities for your staff to step into those desires. An effective way to do this is through skills development training.
Not only does this allow employees to dig deeper into their already existing work drivers, but can often spark new interests and tap into undiscovered desires. Summit provides training that works with employees on a personal level to find their purpose and hone in on the skills that can carry through their motivation.
Let’s get in touch and chat about how Summit can bring results by introducing a positive and meaningful mindset into your workplace.