What does purposeful work look like?
People want more purposeful work. It shows up in research and articles. I've had some employees who intimated that they wanted it. Heck, others practically demanded it.
I can tell you from experience that before you start addressing the request, you find yourself asking, "What is purposeful work?"
Is it work that is simply purposeful to you? Fulling some personal definition you have? Or is it universally recognized as a purposeful endeavor?
Most of the people I've talked with haven’t stopped to really clarify what purposeful work looks like. Oh there are some general defining principles. It's usually described as work that is helping someone. Or making the world a better place. But even with those, it still feels kind of vague. Which makes it difficult to get everyone to take ownership of the purpose and for organizations to make progress in pursuing a purpose.
You need to define purposeful work for the organization
As an organization, you have to define what it is you are pursuing. I have spent a lot of time examining this subject. Writing about it. And talking with companies about it. Out of all that came a definition of what I coined as your Big Audacious Meaning.
It is the profound difference you can make in a life, a community, or even the world.
In order to get to this definition, I would have organizations answer three questions:
What are you best at? This is your groove. It's where you rock. And what you should spend your time amplifying.
What are you passionate about? This is the thing that gets the whole team amped up. It is the emotional core of who you are.
What difference can you make? This is the dent you can make in the universe. It can be small or large. But it is realistically achievable given who you are, what you do, and what you care deeply about.
Of course, answering these questions is not enough. They must align. For example, if what you're best at doesn't jive with the difference you can make, you need to rethink your answers.
Doing this work leads to the clarification of the organization's Big Audacious Meaning. This agreed-upon purpose then helps guide everything you say and do. And it helps everyone within the organization understand how their work aligns (or doesn't align) with the purpose.
You need to define purposeful work for the individual
Each person within the organization needs to define what purposeful work looks like. And, no, you can't say, "I just want to feel good about what I do every day." You need to have some personal definition.
I'd recommend answering those three questions above for yourself. Once you do, look at how your purpose aligns with the organization. You may discover new directions for yourself that you can discuss with your boss or those who report to you.
Of course, you may also discover that you don't align. But that's a good thing, too. For you and the organization.
Look at the outcome of all this. The organization can be more deliberate about where it is headed and why. And the individuals in that organization can have a clearer picture of what is important to each of them and how it connects to those around them in the pursuit of the larger purpose.
That sounds like a place where purposeful work is done. And, a place where everyone knows exactly what that work looks like.