1 Purpose at Work: The Two Journeys

Norman Lear is a renowned American television writer and producer behind many of the 1970s’ most popular sitcoms, including All in the Family, Sanford and Son, and The Jeffersons. He is also known for his profound comments about how the desire to lead a more purposeful life, to search for ultimate meanings, is a central theme of the human experience.

“I think that we’re on two journeys,” observed Mr. Lear. “We are on a horizontal journey, and we are on a vertical journey. A horizontal journey is, I’m studying this, I’m studying that, I’m learning more about all of these things as life goes on. The vertical journey is into oneself and into the meaning of oneself and one’s being. That is the longer, I find, and perhaps more rewarding in a spiritual sense, [the] more rewarding journey.”¹

That imagery resonates with me. I think he’s right that there are two journeys: a journey of self-improvement and a journey of self-discovery. The latter journey is the one that (ideally) leads you to your existential purpose in life.

It is healthy to be introspective and to think deeply about the purpose of your life. People who self-reflect, determine where their passions lie, and crystalize a purpose for their life tend to concentrate their effort and energy on what matters most. A clear purpose provides a foundation on which to base decisions, allocate your time, and use your resources. And there are documented health benefits for those who cite having a clear purpose about what makes their lives meaningful, such as fewer strokes and heart attacks, better sleep, and a lower risk of dementia.² People with a sense of purpose, a sense of control, and a feeling that what they do is worthwhile, also tend to live longer.³

That said, most people are unaware of their purpose in life. Only around 25 percent of Americans cite having a clear sense of purpose about what makes their lives meaningful.⁴ They haven’t done the work or, more accurately, they are unaware of the work to be done to discover their purpose. And those who are attuned to their life’s purpose may spend a lifetime coaxing it out of the universe.

Although a good chunk of us may never discover our existential purpose in life, that’s not true for organizations. They have a responsibility to identify and articulate their purpose from their beginnings, usually in the form of mission, vision, and purpose statements. Organizations must be intentional about their purpose, communicate it to employees at all levels of the organization, and imbue it in every process, including job design, employee selection, onboarding, and performance management.

In contrast to much that has been written on the topic, I disagree that organizations should endeavor to align their employees’ life purpose with their purpose at work. It’s not that it’s impossible. But it is exceedingly difficult, costly, and time-consuming, not to mention presumptuous, as I’ll explain. Especially in industries that experience high turnover and labor shortages, attempting to align employees’ life purpose with the purpose of their job role is an exercise in futility.

There are, as always, exceptions. One American health care company uses an app for its people to make connections between their personal values and life purpose and the values and purpose of the organization. An Asian insurance company devotes time in its leadership programs to reflect on the link between employees’ individual life purpose and that of the corporation. And in an effort to reexamine its purpose, a Scandinavian bank listened to more than seven thousand people in and around its organization over a period of six months in workshops, via online surveys, and in more than 1,500 coffee corner discussions.⁵ If your organization has the time and expertise to execute similar initiatives and feels it is the best use of your limited resources, then don’t let me discourage you. In this book, however, my focus will be on purpose at work, not life purpose. Specifically, I will challenge you to articulate for your employees a credible job purpose and to make it an actionable part of their job roles.

Part I, “Revealing the Total Job Role,” consists of chapters 1 and 2. The objective of chapter 1 is for the reader to be able to distinguish between people’s existential life purpose and their purpose at work. These are often melded to form a single convoluted and inaccurate view of one’s purpose at work. The objective of chapter 2, “The Anatomy of a Job Role,” is for the reader to be able to reveal the totality of an employee’s job role, which includes two dimensions and three parts. Here, I will illustrate how job purpose completes the third, often overlooked, element of every job role.

JOB PURPOSE VERSUS LIFE PURPOSE

Job purpose is a job role’s reason for being. It unifies team members by clarifying their single highest priority at work and pointing them toward an aspirational goal. For example, the job purpose of servers at a high-end restaurant might be to surprise and delight every customer. Think about your own experience as a diner. Can you recall an evening when an interesting chef’s taste was brought to your table, or an engaged sommelier made connections between your global travels and the region from which the wine you chose originated? Or when you had a tableside chat with a charming restaurant manager, received a complimentary dessert and, perhaps, even a card signed by the staff on your birthday? Or when your conscientious server directed you to the gluten-free options or recommended that the kitchen hold the beurre blanc sauce to accommodate your intolerance for dairy?

There is a tendency to be overly literal in ascribing a job role’s purpose by suggesting, for example, that a housekeeper’s job purpose must be linked to cleanliness, a flight attendant’s job purpose must pertain to safety, and an accountant’s job purpose must relate to accuracy. A job role’s purpose is not the technical or literal reason a job role exists in the same way that one’s life purpose is not merely to continue breathing. A job purpose is a role’s aspirational reason for being. It’s the job role’s North Star.

Although there is merit to examining both job and life purpose, anticipating a match is not realistic. It is presumptuous, even arrogant, to expect that employees’ life purpose will align with their purpose at work and that the degree to which there’s a match, indicates a good fit. To expect alignment ignores the fact that one’s life purpose is intensely personal and unknowable to many employers. One’s life purpose is unique, even singular. As Viktor Frankl wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning: “Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual. These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from [person to person] and from moment to moment.”⁶ He concludes that a person’s search for meaning “is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by [him or her] alone.”⁷

Now let’s say someone has done the work and that after hours of contemplation and weeks of rewrites, arrives at the following statement of purpose for their life: “My life’s purpose is to live my truth, uninhibited by fear, and to live authentically.”

I doubt that this life purpose, which is not an outlier, is aligned with the purposes of most organizations. This reality should not disqualify this person from having a rewarding career at a company whose purpose does not include references to truth, fearlessness, or authenticity.

You may be thinking, “But what about a calling? Doesn’t that imply alignment between one’s life and job purpose?” It might be useful at this juncture to clarify some terms that often get blurred in these discussions:

• A hobby or avocation (elective) you do for enjoyment. It’s fun.

• A job (necessity), whether or not it’s enjoyable and fulfilling, you do in order to earn money to pay for things.

• A career (status) is an occupation that is undertaken for a significant period of your life. It’s rewarding to the extent that it’s enjoyable, fulfilling, and affirming.

• A vocation (meaning) is a sacred calling and is not dependent on anyone else. Unlike a job, it cannot be taken away from you. A symphony might lose its funding, an art studio might close, and a publication may cease printing. Nevertheless, as Abraham Maslow wrote, “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy.”⁸

And now, to answer the question above: Yes, I do believe a person’s job purpose and calling, or vocation, can be one and the same. However, they don’t have to be for an employee to be engaged and fulfilled at work. And, most importantly, companies shouldn’t expect it or even strive for it. As Derek Thompson observed in The Atlantic, “It’s hard to self-actualize on the job if you’re a cashier—one of the most common occupations in the US—and even the best white-collar roles have long periods of stasis, boredom, or busywork.”⁹ The overwhelming majority of employees come to work to trade their time for compensation. In other words, they have a job—not a calling. And that’s okay. Their work can still be purposeful.

People have limitless imagination with which to imbue their work with meaning and purpose. You might recall the oft-told story about the mason who did not see his job as laying bricks, but rather as building a cathedral. Or the tale of the janitor at NASA who told President Kennedy that he did not see his job as mopping floors, but rather as helping to send a man to the moon. These stories show that a fulfilling job purpose is not reserved for the arts or sacred callings. It is also not limited to volunteer or cause organizations, nonprofits, or B Corporations that aspire to balance profit and purpose. No matter the job role, articulating its purpose can lead to greater engagement within the role and organization.

To return to Mr. Lear’s two journeys, think of your own life in terms of a horizontal journey of self-improvement and a vertical journey of self-discovery. These journeys are concurrent. You are on both journeys even while you’re at work or reading a book like this one that is intended for self-development. What distinguishes these journeys is that only one of them is readily available to your employer. For instance, when you are in nature contemplating your existential purpose in life, you are primarily on a vertical journey “into the meaning of oneself and one’s being.” Here you may be alone, and your reflections and discoveries are deeply personal. When you are at work, however, you are primarily on a horizontal journey “studying this, studying that, and learning more about all of these things.” Your coworkers are also on their own journeys. Although their vertical journey of self-discovery is private and inaccessible (unless they choose to share it), their horizontal journey of self-improvement is awaiting your input and guidance.

It’s my ambition, with this book, to focus on the horizontal journey, the very real opportunities that managers and leaders have to influence their employees’ journey of self-development at work, improve business outcomes, and inspire greater employee engagement.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND JOB PURPOSE

It’s no secret that most employees are disengaged at work. The same troubling statistics are compiled and released monthly by Gallup and other workplace analytics companies. As of this writing, the latest Gallup survey found that only 36 percent of employees are engaged at work.¹⁰ And the situation is even more bleak internationally, with global employee engagement decreasing by 2 percentage points from 2019 to 2020 to only 20 percent. Employee engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean averaged 24 percent, Southeast Asia averaged 23 percent, Eastern Europe 21 percent, Australia and New Zealand 20 percent, and Middle East and North Africa 16 percent.¹¹ The UK and Western Europe have the lowest employee engagement levels globally at just 11 percent.¹²

Gallup’s analysis of US employee engagement reveals that gains have been made over the past two decades as corporations invested in engagement surveys, employee wellness programs, and other levers designed to increase employee engagement and retention. Even so, are we really content with only a third of American workers being highly involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and workplace while the other two-thirds are either not engaged or, worse, actively disengaged. Employees who are not engaged are psychologically unattached to their work and company. These employees put time, but not energy or passion, into their work. They typically show up to work and contribute the minimum effort required. They are also on the lookout for better employment opportunities and will quickly leave their company for a slightly better offer.

Actively disengaged employees make up, on average, three out of every twenty employees. These employees aren’t just unhappy at work; they are resentful that their needs aren’t being met and are acting out their unhappiness while enduring miserable work experiences and spreading their unhappiness to their colleagues.¹³

Organizations pay a hefty price for disengaged employees in increased turnover, absenteeism, and shrinkage (loss, theft, breakage) and in decreased productivity, profitability, and customer loyalty. Gallup estimates that low employee engagement costs the global economy $8.1 trillion yearly with the lost productivity of a single unengaged or actively disengaged employee equal to 18 percent of their annual salary. So, for a company with ten thousand employees with an average salary of $50,000 each, disengagement costs $60.3 million a year. Furthermore, replacing a single worker requires one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary. In other words, it costs $9,000 a year to keep each disengaged worker and between $25,000 and $100,000 to replace them.¹⁴

Although it is true that the single greatest contributing factor to employee engagement is an employee’s immediate supervisor, there are plenty of other factors, many of which are beyond a manager’s control. One of the keys to effectiveness is to focus on that which you can control. If you are frustrated by the traffic you encounter on the way into work, blowing your horn during rush hour won’t help. You cannot control traffic. Your progress will be limited to that of the car in front of yours. There are, however, choices that are within your control to mitigate the effects of traffic. You can access an app that will tell you exactly how long it will take to arrive at your destination. This will help you to reset expectations. The same app can provide you with alternative routes that may reduce the amount of traffic you encounter, saving you time. You can also adjust your departure time to avoid traffic. Or you can choose to listen to an audiobook or music that gives you a sense of calm and reduces the stress associated with traffic.

When you think about purpose in the workplace, think about what you have control over as a leader or manager. Hint: It’s not an employee’s life purpose. In the context of Norman Lear’s two journeys, you can directly impact employees’ horizontal journey of self-improvement, while their vertical journey of self-discovery, much like your own, is reliant on their individual exploration of unique talents, interests, and experiences.

So, tapping into employees’ life purpose is outside the purview of this book, but there are many purpose-driven employee engagement strategies that we will explore, including

• revealing the total job role

• articulating and championing job purpose

• connecting job functions to job purpose

• making time for regular, informal one-on-one conversations with employees regarding job purpose

• identifying and tracking purposeful actions and behaviors that positively influence company KPIs

• developing a workgroup-specific aspirational goal and rallying cry

Let’s talk a little more about those one-on-ones. Several years ago, I discovered a tool—a framework for a series of ongoing one-on-one conversations—that has the potential to reveal the totality of an employee’s job role (including job purpose), to connect their job responsibilities to that purpose, and in doing so, to inspire greater employee engagement. I call it the Revelation Conversation. Next, in preparation for having these conversations, we’ll explore the two dimensions and three parts of every job role and the potential that is unleashed when you can give employees the full picture of what their job entails.

Exercise

Below is a set of questions that will help you assess your awareness of your employer’s ideals and clarify your current view of a job role. Recording your responses to these questions now will be useful when, at the end of the next chapter, you revisit them and compare your responses.

1. Recall from memory, without the aid of a smartphone or other resource, your organization’s mission, vision, or purpose statement:

2. Describe, from your perspective, your job role (i.e., what your job entails):

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3. If you manage or supervise others, what do you see as your employees’ single highest priority at work? If you are an individual contributor, with no direct reports, what do you see as your own single highest priority at work?