{"id":166246,"date":"2021-10-19T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T08:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/?p=166246"},"modified":"2021-11-18T09:52:32","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T09:52:32","slug":"what-can-leaders-be-doing-to-encourage-their-employees-to-find-their-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/what-can-leaders-be-doing-to-encourage-their-employees-to-find-their-purpose","title":{"rendered":"What can leaders be doing to encourage their employees to find their purpose?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Have you ever found yourself stuck in a rut, feeling tired and like you’re in the same mundane daily routine? You may even recognise many members of your team feeling the same way, as they lack enthusiasm in their work. Entrepreneur, author and educator, Eloise Skinner, talks through what you can do as a leader to help your team get their zest back through self-fulfilment and a purpose-filled life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Regardless of industry, sector or job type, leaders and employees can all agree on one thing: 2021 has been a year of change and uncertainty.\u00a0 According to national statistics, job vacancies in the UK are at a record high<\/a>, with employees across the world joining the \u2018Great Resignation<\/a>\u2019 (a term so common that it now carries its own Wikipedia entry).<\/p>\n

But amongst all of the charts, statistics and official data, there are much more human reasons for this shift: reasons that are deeply personal to every employee who hands in their notice.\u00a0 Over the past eighteen months, many employees have had a chance to really reflect on their working lives \u2013 to figure out exactly what they want from their job, and how they might be able to craft a lifestyle that serves them on a more \u2018existential\u2019 level.\u00a0 In short, many employees have gone searching for purpose, fulfilment and meaningful work.<\/p>\n

But this trend \u2013 towards greater meaning, purpose and fulfilment \u2013 doesn\u2019t have to conclude with a resignation letter and a career change.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible that employees can find their purpose within their current role, and leaders should take responsibility for supporting this process.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n

First, leaders should show their understanding of purpose<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When it comes to motivating and inspiring employees, forget official policies and company handbooks for a moment.\u00a0 Start, instead, with your own behaviour as a leader.\u00a0 Are you passionate about your work?\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 What aspects of your role give you the energy to lead an effective team?\u00a0 How would you define your own purpose, and how does that interact with the work you do as a leader?\u00a0 Answering these questions for yourself first<\/em> will give you a firm foundation from which to help others.<\/p>\n

Second, leaders should facilitate opportunities for purpose-finding work<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Think about the regular opportunities you have to bring your team together.\u00a0 Instead of small talk or generic ice-breaker exercises, could you introduce a purpose-finding element to your gathering?\u00a0 This could be as simple as opening up a discussion about your company\u2019s values and mission, or encouraging employees to share the meaningful aspects of their work.\u00a0 Or, if you wanted to broaden the discussion out, you could share case studies, experiences or testimonials from your clients, customers and users.\u00a0 Often, purpose is found in connecting to the real impact that an individual\u2019s work has in the world.\u00a0 This is a difficult task for employees who aren\u2019t always exposed to the eventual impact of their work (for example, those in non-client or non-consumer facing positions).\u00a0 Sharing the positive impact of every employee\u2019s contribution can be central in strengthening a sense of organisational purpose.<\/p>\n

Third, leaders should readjust and redefine roles where possible<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Many leaders will be familiar with asking the typical catch-up question: \u2018so, how do you think things are going?<\/em>\u2019.\u00a0 But this shouldn\u2019t be the end of the conversation.\u00a0 It might be the case that an employee enjoys the role and the culture, but wants to focus on a specific aspect of their work, or a specific element of their job.\u00a0 As much as possible, leaders should encourage employees to lean into their strengths and passions \u2013 this might mean, if it\u2019s possible, opening up opportunities for employees to deepen their knowledge in a particular area of interest.\u00a0 Other examples of this \u2018role flexibility\u2019 include allowing employees to take trainings or courses related to areas of particular passion, or refining job descriptions to focus in on an individual employee\u2019s strengths.\u00a0 Of course, there will be aspects of every<\/em> job that simply need to get done \u2013 but there are also opportunities to tailor, readjust or recalibrate roles to fit an employee\u2019s sense of purpose.\u00a0 And the payoff for leaders?\u00a0 Increased employee loyalty, energy, ambition and trust in the company\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

And finally, leaders should prioritise fulfilment for employees<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It can be easy to lose sight of the most important element of this question: the personal fulfilment of each employee.\u00a0 Of course, the company\u2019s success, goals and objectives are important \u2013 but, ultimately, the company is made up of individual human beings, each with their own desires, ambitions and hopes. \u00a0By prioritising the individual employee, and meeting them on a personal, human level, leaders are far more likely to end up with a team of motivated, committed, purposeful people.\u00a0 And, of course, this is what makes an organisation \u2018successful\u2019 \u2013 not just in terms of external output, revenue or reputation, but in terms of supporting the employees who work for its success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Entrepreneur, author and educator, Eloise Skinner, talks through what you can do as a leader to help your team get their zest back through self-fulfilment and a purpose-filled life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26279,"featured_media":166343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11013],"tags":[11931,11964],"class_list":["post-166246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-rb-2021","tag-rb-oct"],"views":1446,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26279"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}