The Purpose Infused Workplace

Purpose | p?r′p?s | noun: “The reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.”

In high school, I was a number caller in a fast food restaurant rhyming and calling out numbers for customers to pick up (number 10 or “1-0 you’re my hero,” or number 7 - “number 7 your order is from heaven!”), I’ve tinted paint for a whole summer, I’ve made coffee drinks and barista’d my way through a summer, I’ve made sandwiches, I’ve cleaned toilets, I’ve cleaned tables, I’ve waited tables, I’ve audited financial statements, I’ve analyzed companies, I’ve done tax returns, and I’ve helped implement internal control structures and do some consulting work. Yet, looking back at it some of the work felt purposeless. It felt like it was meaningless, monotonous, or that I couldn’t really see the full picture of what else it was really doing beyond the daily action of doing what I was doing. I think it was a misunderstanding of the value I was feeling or thinking that I was providing and what was actually being provided. Over time, my view points have changed as to the value that was provided as to when we change how we see ourself or what we’re doing, the way we look at things change. For example:

The Bus Driver: isn’t just a bus driver who drives 20+ kids to and from school each day but is a protector of the potential of children and is someone who safely transports 20+ kids or young adults to and from school every day so they can grow, learn, be involved at school, and achieve what they need to achieve at school.?

Hair Stylist/Barber: Isn’t just someone who styles hair but is someone who make people look beautiful and to have more confidence in themselves by driving the features that they see in someone to be more. They contribute to that ‘look good feel good’ mentality and can add that extra jolt of confidence for someone going into an interview or about to get married or engaged because they serve and deliver fresh cuts for peoples’ most special moments.?

Painters: They’re not just painters, they’re people that can change the entire dynamic of a room based on the colors and type of painting strokes or dynamics they’ve incorporated into the room. They can turn things once not deemed beautiful to stunning places that people enjoy being in and make places not feel so let’s say ‘sterile.’?

Security Guards: Aren’t just people that guard and stand there with a gun on their belt, but they’re protectors of the amount of people there and contribute to the inner sense of security of self and others. Not only that, but they’re crime stoppers and can be the hero stopping a crime from unfolding.?

The Preschool Teacher: They shape and mold 20+ little children every week, influencing their perspectives, social acumen, and intellect by their lessons. They teach them how to relate and connect with one another and teach them various things that they need to know at the age they’re in.

Auditor: Is not a corporate bad cop but a protector of capital markets and the integrity of our financial system.

Line Worker at Fast Food Joint: They feed people everyday. But they may feed people with a dose of joy every day and its food that people gather around and connect over, sharing life, memories, laughs, or intimate moments with one another.?

Custodian: Keep the place well-maintained and fully operational so it can be enjoyed by everyone. They do the things nobody sees and without them, ‘that door would’ve been the nuisance’ that would’ve stopped some customer from coming in. Without them, ‘the paint on this wall would’ve been chipped or the fan not fixed that made the room hot’ and therefore the customer or client could’ve left because of a bad first impression.

College Professor: Important for educating the next leaders or builders of society by also infusing key values like integrity and other important things for the holistic education of them as a being beyond learning said course material. They’re a coach, a mentor, someone who champions them and propels and develops the next bright mind to impact the world.?

Maids: They keep the inner cleanliness of a home or building incredibly clean and hospitable for interaction. They have the ability to change the entire feel of a place because it feels clean and as if things are well taken care of. Without them, you’d think nobody cares about how the place looks and without them you know you’d lose business or your home would be in disrepair.?

Assembly Line Worker: They put the correct part in the correct place in the right way to ensure this vehicle is safe to operate and drive and without them they cannot finish the car or other durable good. If they feel enough ownership, they’ll even tell a supervisor about areas of concern for let’s say a recall. They are the gel for an entire product.

C-Suite Executive: Make decisions for hundreds of people that impact their day-to-day job. They watch out for them and have the opportunity to consistently provide an income for employees and a service or product that meets the needs of those around them effectively.?

Stay-at-Home-Mom/Dad: Isn’t just a mom/dad who doesn’t do anything but provides significant shaping and molding of the children. They do more than cook and clean but they build the nuclear family, shape it, and design a lifestyle that is purposeful with lessons and family plans. They are the glue and the nucleus of the family cell and without them, we, perhaps, have ‘a house and not a home.’

All pieces are necessary to the fitting of everything together.

Wait… so, what I do matters??

When we feel or are told of the importance or the weight of what we do and realize that we’re doing more than we realize and can think about, we can increase the level of purpose we feel (and drive upticks in job performance) about what we do.

Improving purpose up the chain of command and down it: For example, telling people they’re so much more than what they currently do by challenging them to think differently about what it is they do. Perhaps, you can unlock something within them in the current role that they’re in by challenging them. If they’re so joyful and jovial, perhaps affirming that they brighten everybody’s day on the job despite flipping burgers on the daily and that their purpose for being there is so much more than what they think they do. Perhaps, daily reminders on billboards letting them know of the role they play in the overall business and how absolutely essential they are for the day to day running of the business, that without them, you wouldn’t be able to do really anything.

Purpose informed by what others think: Others inform and tell us what they think about our job, projecting their beliefs on what it is that we do, therefore, increasing our sense of purpose and/or destroying or diminishing whatever sense of purpose we felt about what we do or don’t do. Thus, society informs it and looks fondly or discouragingly upon a certain profession.?

Purpose informed by what others speak over someone: There’s a Proverb that says, “Life and death is in the power of the tongue.” What you’re speaking over one another matters. So, if you speak purpose over what someone doesn’t view as purpose, you can actually shift the way someone thought about something or how they felt about what they do. “No, no, no… you are this!” “You are this!” “You protect lives,” “You deliver food and smiles and compliments and so much to people on the job, daily!”?

I’m even reminded of a dear friend to me who spoke of how her mother told her “she doesn’t talk” when talking to other people and so she grew up into her 60s wondering if she should take professional speaking gigs offered her way because her mother spoke negatively to her and so she ended up second guessing herself and not having the confidence because of what was so damagingly told her way at such a young age. Thus, she believed she couldn’t speak so she didn’t. So, what we speak over others matters.

Purpose informed by capitalism: It’s impacted by the idea of capitalism in that our worth can deceive us by being found by a dollar sign and what society perceives as valuable work. It’s that sometimes because someone is not paid or is not paid as much as somebody else in another profession, they’re viewed as less than. Innate self worth + purpose should not be derived by a dollar sign of what I’m given or not. The artist who hasn’t made a buck because of obscurity continues making beautiful artwork or sculptures for the love of what they do and not for the value of what is perceived in the present day. Perhaps, nobody notices until they sell many statues or beautiful pieces of artwork, but the purpose of what they feel remains because of their love to display the beauty of their imagination and creativity. I’m reminded of my time in India doing a study abroad trip and we toured various facilities and went to an awesome tea factory where we saw tea go from leaf form to dried out form, to processed form, and then to sorted and then packaged form. Guess who the most highly paid person in that tea factory was? The taste tester and his expensive taste buds… because he could go right back down to the detailed area of the production process within the factory and tell where the issues of impurity and lack of refinement were within the process. The consumers of this company’s tea were relying on this guy’s taste buds for great tea. What if this guy got COVID and couldn’t taste it anymore??

Others’ ‘large purpose’ informs how we feel about our purpose and mission: No, no, no, no. So, therefore what I am doing doesn’t matter? I think the value of one person or one thing or what you’re tending to right now with your two hands and having the perspective of ‘if I do this for one person or for one reason’ let that be satisfying and purposeful enough. It’s not the size that matters, but quality and what the purpose results in. There are many different purposes and nothing would get done without people fulfilling their role where they’re at. It’s true at a restaurant, it’s true at a factory, it’s true everywhere. If nobody did anything, would anything get done? If everybody had the same desire and purpose, would anything get done? So, regardless if it’s small or whatever, press on amidst comparison, right??

Purpose derived by whether or not others see me: I can attest to this. Nobody was reading my books or content for a long time. I wrote a book a few years ago and sent it to a few friends that seemed interested and they never ended up reading it. Articles posted on LinkedIn over many months haven’t really accumulated greater than a handful or two of views. I didn’t get a lot of likes so I felt a lack of purpose by what I put my hands to. I was deriving a sense of purpose by reactions of those around me without realizing the sense of purpose is just to release this and whoever sees it and takes something from it - that that is enough. My purpose is more than an instant gratification exchange of a like or a thumbs up based on what I put out that registers something to you. So, did that mean my purpose of writing and the message I had to give out to the world was dormant or that it was trash or that it was less than anything else? No. One’s purpose informed by a lack of promotion or whatever it is should not deter you away from it.

Purpose just by… breathing. I’m not a dollar sign, I’m not a working horse, and my identity isn’t derived by being called a CPA, a business consultant, an author, or a speaker, or by whatever else I do. We’re relational beings meant for relationship and for something more regarding the wisdom found here, “He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” It’s as if we’ve been designed for a highly purposeful life wired with a greater perspective in mind for impact.

I’m reminded by another wise insight on the reliance of many things on one another and how purpose can be intertwined such as the example of a human body: “The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”?On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,?and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty…?

So, if you haven’t heard it before: you’re actually needed, and I hope you hear “you’re wanted,” too.?

I’m reminded of a story of hearing how a friend’s grandmother ‘didn’t do too much’ by outward means of accomplishment, but she invited people from the community over consistently and cooked for them her beloved staple food of some type of delicious desert and by the time she passed away people raved about the intimate time they had with her over a delicious desert shared with one another. She had impacted their life in more ways than they could imagine. At her funeral, they recalled moments of laughter or serious conversation with her and the times they shared eating with one another more than anything else. Her purpose beyond making some food seemed to be just to gather those around a table, eat, share life, and connect around a delicious desert. Yet, that was what people remembered about her and the purpose of human connection around a table.?

It is in this that I believe a deep sense of purpose can significantly factor into job satisfaction and employee retention. A shift in how employees are valued can derive significant change towards customers and inwardly from a cultural perspective. The idea of, “you’re so much more than what you think you do or don’t do…” It’s so much more than that…

Purpose can equal a flow state, being in the zone, in the elements of things. Now, your sense of purpose can change. What you once felt purpose on can shift based on life circumstances and changing desires or tastes. I once felt purpose being in the business world and working 9-5, and now I feel immense purpose writing to it and for it.

Anyways, to relate this to a legitimate real world problem, what seems to be a major issue is the amount of jobs that are opened that people can’t fill the opening in let’s say Ohio. So, the job has been opened for a while and it still can’t find the right talent or person to fill it. Could it be that it is a purpose problem more than the job is just crappy??

Problem: The issue is we can’t get people to do this job… it’s just not a desired job.?

Solution: Perhaps, it’s how you’re selling the sense of purpose or feeling of what the job encompasses. It could mean there is a need to change the job outline through infusing the perspective of purpose from the get go.?

For example, a custodian/janitor maintenance job could be undesirable. It’s a lot of getting on your knees, it’s a lot of cleaning the dirt, cleaning walls or whatever. The custodian job description may read something like: you’ll clean the walls, windows and ensure everything runs operational and that it is taken care of when no one is there.

However, adding a dose of perspective to it by changing what was detailed above to, “you’ll do this and you’ll take care of XYZ because, without you, a customer or a client could literally walk away from our business because of a bad and improper first impression that something was broken and clearly not looked after well enough.”

The issue and purpose of a task can be changed, too. Oh, “can you clean this and take care of this monotonous task because somebody has to do it?” By changing it to something like “Oh, no, the importance of this monotonous task, is, yes, this. However, without it then this will happen and this will fall apart.” Wow, the purpose behind why you are doing what you’re doing just went up and the feeling of reliance and importance to the overall scope of things improves drastically and with it, your self-esteem! Lastly:

Purpose through what is sold: You make others feel a sense of purpose when you buy your product or service. Example of Tom’s Shoes. The purpose that is felt from buying a pair of shoes knowing that another pair of shoes will be sold to somebody else feels good, right? Lots of people market products or services for what they do but not a lot of people market the purposeful why behind the product or service that can give those purchasing a deeper sense of purpose and/or add to their current purpose creating a deeper connection and sense of existence with the customer.

So, what do we do? We sell purpose. We say something like, ‘we sell a product that can change your life, we sell a service that can transform your company or your life.’ Like I’m selling you this to enhance your well-being and to make workplaces have more purpose. ‘Like we’re in the business of people and purpose and our vision statement reflects that, because we do highly purposeful work.’