“The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.”
The need to feel connected to some larger purpose is a primary motivator of employees on the job. Mission driven workgroups suffer 30-50% fewer accidents and have 15-30% lower turnover (12: The Elements of Great Managers, Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter).
Unlike some of the other elements in Gallup’s Q12, this one is more of an emotional need, and one of a higher level. It is normal for people to look for more after their basic needs of food, water, shelter and other physical comforts are satisfied. At work, we look for meaning beyond just “making a living.”
How does this play out at your workplace? Does your organization have a mission that is important and worthy? Do workers from the top on down to the line level connect with the mission? Is there a disconnect between the top level’s motivation around the mission and the line level’s motivation around the mission?
Coming from the field of social work it was easy to connect my work to something big and important. With each step I made in my social work career I was still helping children and families live better lives. It was very reinforcing to have the CEO connect with the importance of my work and the work of my department. However, on a day to day basis, it was easy to get lost in bureaucratic details and tasks that did not easily translate to helping children and families (such as extensive, detailed paperwork). If this situation happens to you, step back and connect to the bigger picture of your role and the work your organization does. Find someone at your job who is inspiring in this area and get support from them.
While it would make sense that the helping professionals would have a higher score on the Eighth Element than people in less humanitarian jobs, there were plenty of people surveyed who did not feel their job was important. And, there were plenty of people in jobs such as retail, finance and chemical manufacturing who felt that their company made them feel that their jobs were important.
The bottom line is, what can you do as a manager to make your workers feel that their jobs are important and therefore help them feel that passion when they are working with customers? One way is to encourage upper levels of leadership to verbally state the mission and how the workers contribute to the company’s purpose. Another way is to praise workers for specific tasks that they accomplish that further the mission. I’m sure you can come up with more ideas and I would love to hear them.
Please feel free to leave a comment on this post.
Happy Holidays!
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