How to help people feel they are doing purposeful and meaningful work: Strategy #6.1 – Recognise the contribution that individuals are making

We have previously published a series of practical leadership actions around the themes of people feeling supported, valued and safe; creating a ‘team environment’; supporting learning and growth; empowering staff and building autonomy; ensuring clarity of roles and expectations; and creating meaning and purpose.

We are now going to explore the actionable steps that you can take to enable the suggested strategies and actions.  This is one in a series of 31 posts providing specific descriptions of the actions in practice.

So, this post focuses on the theme of helping people feel they are doing purposeful and meaningful work.  In a previous post we have talked through 5 overarching strategies to support people feeling engaged in doing purposeful and meaningful work:

6.1 Recognise the contribution that individuals are making

6.2 Provide challenges and help people make progress in their work

6.3 Reinforce the importance of people’s work 

6.4 Align individual aspirations & strengths with team and organisational goals

6.5 Understand individual’s goals, aspirations and strengths

In this post we take a deep dive into the specific strategy of:

6.1 Recognise the contribution that individuals are making

Helping individuals and teams to see clearly how their day-to-day work is making a contribution to long-term goals and purpose demonstrates the impact of their work and enables people to find true meaning in their work.  This can generate real energy and commitment.

So, here are some of the actions that can be taken to put this leadership strategy into practice:

  1. Find opportunities on a regular basis to reinforce how individuals’ work contributes to achievement of the team purpose and goals.  You can take a proactive and conscious approach to building this into numerous interactions you may have – briefing on a new piece of work, during regular one-on-one meetings, walking back from a key stakeholder meeting, holding performance and development conversations etc. Just take the opportunity to describe how the work is making a difference and how it is contributing to team and organisational success.  Ensure it is heartfelt and genuine. You may not get a demonstrative response; however, it will give people nourishment over time, particularly during challenges and difficulties.
  2. Structure team meetings around the goals of the team to reinforce how individual contributions align to achievement of the team’s goals. Too often team goals or objectives are only referenced during annual planning workshops.  Ideally these higher-level goals provide a regular touchstone that can be referenced as people discuss projects/activities during team meetings. You could use team goals as an organising structure for progress reporting and as individuals report progress on projects/activities, make explicit connections that make clear how their work is contributing to achievement of the team purpose and goals. Keep drawing people’s attention to the ‘why’ of their work, not just the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ – this helps tap into individual’s intrinsic motivators. 
  3. In publicly recognising the achievement of major deliverables by individuals or the team, refer to how these are contributing to higher order outcomes.  Use language that taps into the emotions and aspirations of individuals.  In team forums and meetings, it is important to regularly celebrate successes and achievements. Ideally this should be a positive emotional experience for people, not merely an ‘acknowledgement of a job well done’. To intensify the emotional impact, leaders can tell specific stories or anecdotes about the impact of their work – on users, clients, stakeholders, the community – and how it will or is making a difference to the lived experience of other people.  Further connections can then also be drawn to broader outcomes that demonstrate the organisational purpose in practice.
  4. Regularly report to the team on progress against key performance indicators through a performance scorecard You can effectively report progress on key performance indicators (KPIs) by using a clear and visually engaging performance scorecard in regular team meetings. The scorecard should include team goals and performance measures, current performance, and any trends over time to highlight progress. This data could be presented in charts or tables that make it easy to digest, focusing on areas where the team is meeting or exceeding targets as well as those requiring improvement. Regularly updating the scorecard – weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly depending on the context – keeps everyone aligned. Encourage open discussions on the results, inviting team members to share insights on successes and challenges, and collaboratively explore solutions for any underperforming metrics.
  5. Ensure that achievement of individual key performance indicators in performance plans will drive team performance measures.  When team members are preparing annual performance plans encourage them to describe what would indicate good individual performance and then link it to overall team performance goals/measures.  Encourage them to articulate how their individual performance will contribute to overall team success.  This can open up a conversation in the performance plan meeting that helps people feel they are making a real contribution.  It is not always easy to tangibly describe how people are making a difference, it is often easier (and just as motivating) for people to feel like they are making a worthwhile contribution.

Having read this list, some questions you may want to ask yourself might be:

  • Are there one or two ideas emerging for me that I might want to put into practice?
  • What is the smallest thing I could do that might have a positive impact?
  • How will I hold myself accountable for following through on my actions?

Good luck!