What’s the “Why” Behind Your Work?

One of the greatest impacts cancer had on my career journey was from the work I did with a whole life coach to understand myself and how I interface with the world.

In short, I knew MY Why…

My stronger sense of self helped develop a filter for job opportunities and land in a company where I could bring my favorite tools to work every day.

I didn’t think much about the Why of the company I was going to work for, but frankly, their mission, vision, values framework sounded like everyone else.

In the 2000/2010 decades of work, the Why of an organization didn’t mean as much since they had more control over the How and Where we all worked.

Pandemic Impact

When the pandemic hit and challenged the way we looked at work in our lives, I was not surprised to read about massive shifts in the workforce via “The Great Resignation.”

My sense is a lot of people who made a move during/coming out of the pandemic where not thinking wholistically about their Why or an employer’s Why, but mainly about:

1. Making more money
2. Remote work

So, you can imagine my non-shock this week when I read the following quote:

“According to a survey of 825 employees and 354 employers that the human resources firm Paychex released last month, 80% of employees who left their jobs during the pandemic said they now regret it.”

To me, regret happens when I make a less than informed decision.

My gut was telling me the people shifting jobs coming out of the pandemic were not connected to THEIR Why and the companies hiring them were a bit in an identity crisis themselves…

Not an optimal landscape for effective career moves!

Why/What > How/Where

The stickiest career moves with the highest mutual impact occur when there is clear, good faith Why information coming from both the worker side and the employer side.

In the rapidly evolving future of work conversation (press, podcasts, etc), I sense there is currently too much emphasis on the How and Where we get work done versus the Why we are doing work in the first place.

The companies who can articulate the Why behind their business (including the What challenges/opportunities they are solving) are going to have no problem attracting and retaining incredible talent into the future of work.

When you hire talent that are interested in your company’s Why / What, they will be self-motivated no matter How or Where they work.?

Workers would also benefit from self-reflecting to understand the skills they are bringing to the market and Why they want to come to work every day.

The Great Reflection

Over a year ago, I wrote an article about “The Great Reshuffling” which was my term for workforce shifts resulting from the inevitable move to a hybrid / remote model of work.

This year I would like to add another “Great” to the nomenclature and that is “The Great Reflection.”

Companies that want to win are going to have to reflect on the Why of their business and clearly articulate What challenges / opportunities they are solving if they want to attract and retain the most impactful workers now that workers have more control over How and Where work gets done...

Workers need to take time to reflect on THEIR Why to limit future regret and find work environments that fully resonate with their professional goals.

When these two Whys start matching up in the market we are going to see some of the most impactful progress of our lifetimes.

It's going to be awesome...

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Roger Lumpp III?loves helping people find more fulfilling work, faster. He firmly believes WORKERS will gain more and more control over the conversation as we move into the “future of work” and shares his thoughts and observations of the rapidly evolving landscape through The Next Gig newsletter, speaking engagements, podcasts and anywhere else he's needed. Roger is a?Top 100 Staffing Leader to Watch in 2023 Winner?from The World Staffing Awards presented by?Candidate.ly.

Opinions expressed are my own, all rights reserved.