Our previous article in this series confirmed the importance of culture as #1 differentiator. In this article, we explore how organisations with purposeful cultures are amongst the highest performing in their respective industries; they generate much deeper customer loyalty, their employees are more motivated and they are more passionate about their work. What’s more, people who find their work meaningful are more innovative, creative, conscientious and resilient which leads to better judgement.
This then begs the question:
“How can we find a greater sense of purpose at work?”
But at Davies, we think there is a better question to ask:
“How can we create a greater sense of purpose at work?”
Our natural urge might be to go out there and look for, or ‘hunt’, for purpose, much like our ancestors did when they needed to find food. However, at Davies we believe this strategy is limited as, like when our ancestors hunt, it relies heavily on luck.
Alternatively, we recommend taking more evolved strategy, one that puts more control in your hands and less in the hands of fate. We posit a better approach is to cultivate purpose and create greater meaning in your work through your own efforts.
Our Power of Purpose learning series, released later this summer, will walk through an easy-to-follow approach of how to cultivate greater meaning in your work. This is a fully on-line learning experience where you can progress at your own pace as it will be delivered over a series of videos and includes several practical tools which you can download to help you and/or your teams cultivate greater meaning and greater purpose at work.
One foundation of the Power of Purpose series, which you can use to think about your own purpose and that of your team, is our ‘Purpose Equation’:
- Authentic: genuine reflection of reason for the work
- Engaging: one can relate purpose to the work that is actually done and that motivates, staff are ‘on-board with it’
- Noble: doing something for more than just your own self-interest or serving a greater purpose
- Ambiguity: not fully understanding the real reason your organisation exists and how your role aligns to it
Explore your purpose
We are currently conducting a survey to look at how people view purpose in their individual world of work. We would love you to take part! It takes only five minutes and you will be able to see the anonymous results and expert commentary published in our next newsletter and as part of this series.
