A different kind of purpose that managers often fail to give employees

Sharing ideas about giving employees purpose at work is kind of in vogue. Try Googling "give employees purpose" and you're likely to find no shortage of ideas from HBR, Forbes, Inc., and more. And although helping employees to "feel inspired, find meaning, and see the impact their work has on others" is extremely important in building an engaged workforce, there is another type of purpose that is too often overlooked.

This other type of purpose is what employees need on an almost daily basis. As opposed to the higher pursuits of the organization, this purpose relates to the everyday tasks and projects they're working on. The good news is that it is very easy to give employees this type of purpose. The bad news, however, is that it is also very easy to neglect to give it to them. And unfortunately, too many managers often fail to do so.

So what does it look like when an employee doesn't have this type of purpose?

JP and the TPS Report

Years ago I worked in aerospace manufacturing, and I led the team of project managers for our site. One day, an employee from another department - we'll call him JP - made his way over to our team's area. He told one of the project managers on my team "I need to get a copy of the TPS Report." The problem was that there was no such thing as a TPS Report.

My employee pulled me into the conversation and we tried to understand what JP needed. There was a big customer review coming up, and based upon what JP was asking for, I guessed he was really looking for something else that we did have. So we explained that there was no such thing as the TPS Report, but asked if this other one would suffice.

His reaction was like a deer in the headlights. He didn't know how to respond. And finally he did, by simply saying "But what I need is the TPS Report." Frustrated with our inability to help, we asked JP, "Why do you need the TPS Report?" His answer was revealing: "Because my manager told me to get it."

And there was the crux of the problem. JP's manager had given him a task to do - get the TPS Report - but failed to explain the purpose of why he needed it. When faced with a roadblock, he was unable to find a detour.

Purpose on the Battlefield

I began my career as a US Army officer. There were a lot of things that I learned about how to operate on the battlefield that have amazing applicability in the corporate world also. This problem is one that the military has figured out, universally employing a simple yet highly effective doctrine that helps give soldiers the "why" behind their tasks.

In the Army, all mission orders consist of two parts: a Task - go do this - and a Purpose - in order to accomplish that. It's nothing lengthy or complicated, but it's a norm that every mission statement includes both parts. It's so culturally ingrained that it isn't uncommon to literally hear a non-commissioned officer ask a soldier "What is your task and purpose?"

Let me illustrate the the value of this approach with a simple hypothetical.

Let's say an enemy force was approaching our position and we needed to stop them. Imagine if a company commander gave one of their platoons the task to "Go capture that hill." The outcome of that task is binary: the platoon will either succeed or fail in capturing the hill. What happens as they are assaulting the hill and encounter a superior, unanticipated enemy patrol? Are they going to fight to the last man standing in a futile attempt to capture the hill?

But what if the company commander had instead given them a purpose for their task also? "Go capture that hill in order to prevent the enemy from moving up the valley." Now the platoon understands why they need to capture the hill. Once they encounter the enemy patrol and it is apparent that continuing to try to take the hill is futile, the platoon can adjust.

What if they were able to take a different hill, on the other side of the valley, for example? Or maybe they could destroy a key bridge in the valley. Or maybe they could erect blocking obstacles in the valley. Or any other of a myriad of creative solutions which could allow them to accomplish the original purpose of preventing the enemy's movement up the valley.

Knowing the purpose behind their task allows them to adjust to changing circumstances on a dynamic battlefield. They can be flexible without having to ask to the company commander what to do when encountering an obstacle. They can adjust to unforeseen risks, or take advantage of emergent opportunities.

Purpose in the Workplace

So back to the business world. Managers give employees tasks to accomplish all the time. But how often do managers explain the purpose behind those tasks to employees? When we don't, not only are we impeding our own organizational goals, we're robbing employees.

We're taking away their ability to fully exercise self-efficacy in their jobs. If they constantly have to come to us for further guidance because they couldn't get done what we asked, this could increase frustration and lower engagement.

We're also taking away their ability to learn and understand why we think about things the way we do. Exposure to more decision-making processes will help them grow their own abilities to do so.

In addition to giving employees the knowledge necessary to solve problems on their own, giving them purpose has personal benefits for us too. As leaders we should relish the extra bandwidth to work on other impactful pursuits, rather than spending time helping employees (note, this does not excuse us from helping employees when they do come to us in need).

Your Mission

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not perfect about this myself. Anytime we are in a position of authority, it's easy to come to expect people to act on our directives merely because of that authority. Show me any parent who hasn't responded to a toddler's "Why?" with "Because I said so" at least once.

Despite this, we can all challenge ourselves to get better and more consistent at defining the purpose for the tasks we give our employees. It's important, because what do you think will kill an employee's engagement faster: not seeing how their role connects to the "big picture" of the company, or simply not being able to get stuff done on a daily basis?

So, here's your mission:

Beginning today, give your employees a purpose for every task you assign them, in order to enable them to be more flexible and solve problems without your help.