Make Work Meaningful: What Drives Your Purpose?

What’s life without purpose? Personally, I couldn’t imagine waking up in the morning and not knowing what my vision was for why I’m doing what I’m doing, or what I hope to achieve with my career, and my life. That’s part of the reason why Dave and I have made purpose one of our 4Ps of a high-performing workplace culture. Time and again, we’ve seen purpose-driven organizations rise to the top, leaving their less mission-oriented competitors to languish.

Last month we looked at ways to find purpose inside your business. Did you try any of these strategies? If so, what did you find?

Finding a way to bring purpose to your business is critical. Without it your efforts will fall flat. But, of course, once you’ve channeled your infrastructure toward a purpose, it’s even more important to create an environment that allows every one of your employees to become married to the idea of this business purpose too. In motivating hundreds and thousands of employees and franchisees over the years, I’ve come to find that there are two types of ways that people can be propelled by purpose: head-first and heart-first.

? Head-First: This is me. When presented with a problem or challenge, I

activate my left-brain. I process the problem with my head, and then let it travel

down to my heart. My goal is to isolate the problem or stimulus from my emotional

response, so that I can consider solutions independent of my gut response.

? Heart-First: This is my business partner Dave. For Dave, the problem first hits

him in his emotional center, and then travels up to his brain so he can think critically

about solutions. Heart-first thinkers are motivated by their personal connection or

response to a situation, and use that to fuel their thinking and work.

Now, I present both models not to imply one’s better than the other. The important thing is to realize that there’s no judgment attached to those words. Someone who’s brain-first isn’t necessarily smarter, and someone who’s heart-first doesn’t necessarily care more. But knowing where you fall on that spectrum as a leader can help you better understand how you see the world and what issues you’re most passionate about.

And (this is the crucial point) these models apply to your staff, too! Every member of your organization has their very own way of approaching a problem or situation, and it’s on you, as their leader, to figure out the best way to communicate your decisions and plans to them. What do I mean by that?

Okay, pretend, for a moment, that you’ve practiced the four ways to find your organization’s purpose, and after much research decided to open a 501(c)(3) that supports a cause close to your, or your organization’s, heart/mission. Now you need to not only sell this idea to your team, but get them to invest their time and energy in it.

For those who are heart-first, you know that to get their buy-in you need to sell them on the cause. Tell them the stories of the lives that will be changed by opening this charity and investing resources in it. Have them meet a potential beneficiary.

Explain your own relationship to the cause and why it speaks to you.

For those who are head-first, give them a bit of the warm fuzzies, but also make the business case. Why is a 501(c)(3) the best choice for making a difference? How is this quantifiably more impactful than just volunteering? Can you cite a way the team will function better on a day-to-day basis because of this new cause?

To bring purpose to your business, figure out what motivates each of your employees—their head or their heart. Use that to craft the emotional or logical appeal that will help them unite behind your plan for purpose, and stand by as amazing change happens.

Check back for more on Making Work Meaningful in the near future. Until then, learn a lot more about leading, motivating, and growing your organization in our new book, Love Work.