Making a difference with your work - even more in focus

A clear example is Sustainability. Here, the issue has been hot for some time - it is not enough for a company to declare its level of sustainability and claim that it is working proactively to achieve the goals of its sustainability strategy. Objectives need to be clear, measurable and naturally embedded in daily operations to attract and retain employees. Companies that succeed in living their sustainability strategy not only retain engaged employees - they also strengthen employee commitment and pride in the business.

Not unexpectedly, this impetus has both deepened and broadened during the pandemic, as detailed in a recent McKinsey article, Help your employees find purpose--or watch them leave | McKinsey. The reason for this is not entirely clear, but the answer may be as close as people have had slightly more time to think about their lives and what creates value. Global reporting of life and death every day may also have had some impact - life is finite and what I do here and now needs to feel meaningful and sustainable.

That the work is meaningful - and thus leads to something good that is greater than the activity itself - is of course rooted in motivations that are inherently subjective and that vary between individuals.

Strengthening the culture internally as an organisation that makes clear the value created by the activity itself makes it much easier for individuals to find and feel that their own work effort is meaningful.

Achieving this requires a delicate balancing act in how you communicate, something we at Involve have a lot of experience with.

McKinsey points to three mechanisms that should be in place to achieve a good balance in this:

1. Review what underpins your value creation as an organisation and review how this is both described and acted upon by those in leadership positions. Also check that what is described is actually followed through.
2. Open up to making the meaning of what you do a natural and recurring part of the dialogue within your organisation. When both leaders and employees share reflections on the meaningfulness of what they do, it creates a greater sense of pride and commitment to their daily work. An important part of this is to equip leaders within the organisation to share their own reflections on what creates meaning for them.
3. Focus on the opportunities that help employees find meaning in their own daily work. The organisation should only provide the conditions - so that individuals can create their own sense of meaning. When both of these starting points are aligned, both employee engagement and pride increase, which in turn benefits the business in the right direction.

Whatever the starting point, it is important to find a balanced way to collectively support each employee's own path to strengthening the sense that what they do at work is meaningful and makes a difference.

Please contact us at Involve if you want to do more to make your employees feel that their work makes a difference, creates meaning and contributes to greater sustainability. We have extensive experience in creating pride and engagement among our clients' employees, especially when it comes to working towards a sustainable way forward.

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