How To Make Your Work More Meaningful To You

By Craig Badings , Partner at SenateSHJ

Stuck to my laptop stand with two pieces of blue tack is a dog-eared strip of paper which simply says: “What are you really here to do?”?

I look at it often. Sometimes it reorients me, other times it forces me to stop what I’m doing and take a different approach. Often it’s a gentle reminder that I’m on the right track.

Is that a purpose? No. But it reminds me of my purpose.

At SenateSHJ our purpose is: Helping our clients communicate – the force that drives human progress.?

The great thing about this, much like our four values, is that it evolved through a organisation-wide approach i.e. we were all involved in some way.?

The key to purpose is what’s your role in it? How do you align your purpose with your company’s purpose and how do you make it meaningful to your daily role?

My laptop stand’s one-liner helps me align what I do with our company's purpose. And before we had a purpose it helped align my thinking around our values.

We all have different roles to play in assisting that purpose to come to life and the key is how you align your own purpose with your company’s purpose.

“Your purpose should be exciting, it should motivate you every day and it may even challenge you to venture past your comfort zone.”

You may have already decided the company’s purpose is for the executives or it's for others in the organisation.?

The problem with this is threefold:

1. There will be a misalignment between you and your colleagues in terms of direction and values
2. You won’t feel part of something larger or a higher purpose and you have a strong chance of being disengaged from your work and others around you
3. Your work may lack...

Continue reading this article on our Aquent Australia blog?here.