Friday 3 February 2023

What is the meaning of work?

Discussions around the meaning of work are always  fascinating. They can become quite conceptual, which is frustrating, but the  aim of exploring what really helps us feel fulfilled is laudable.

Although, from my perspective, it is a doomed quest.  

As I have written in this blog before, we respond to work in different ways and my purpose may not be the same as yours. For example, the protagonist in the track quoted above does not derive much meaning from his work, he uses work as a means to an end. He is not alone, but others will see work as giving their life wider meaning. We all have our own personal value systems.  

At an event I attended a few years ago, one of the panellists talked about interviewing circus performers about how they found meaning in their work. They could not discern any differentiation between what was and wasn’t work: it was all a way of life for them.

So organisations can’t appeal to everyone in exactly the same way, and should not try to. Over the years, I have watched from afar as different companies have tried to use fancy tools and tactics to push a pre-determined notion and inspire alignment across very different groups of people. These quite quickly become programmes akin to a house built on sand.

It’s far better to look inwardly, to articulate why the company is in business and to really engage employees in that process: finding out what inspires them and what it is about the company’s aims that really resonates with them.

An engagement exercise of this nature – one for which the solution is really open for discussion and to contributions – can help you find the ‘sweet spot’ for your organisation. A solution that articulates and reflects the factors that align and inspire ostensibly very different employee groups.

‘Common purpose’, if you will.

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