Why Understanding Your Team’s “Why” Matters

Fostering Meaningful Work to Drive Team Performance

Your team is like an orchestra where each member brings their talents and unique contributions to help create a harmonious, emotionally resonant musical experience that moves the audience. A powerful performance happens when every musician understands the collective interpretation of the musical piece and how their parts contribute to creating that unified performance.

If some members have values or motivations that do not align with the orchestra’s (e.g., wanting to be the stand-out lone star, feeling that their part is unimportant, or just wanting to get through the day and receive the paycheck), the collective performance will be significantly affected.

One key driver for exceptional team/employee engagement is team members feeling “My work is meaningful!” Research¹ has found that ‘meaningfulness’ matters more to us than other aspects of our work. When employees feel their work is meaningful, their performance improves by 33%!²

While many leaders appreciate the importance of ‘meaningfulness’, they often consider this from the perspective of the team or the organisation. A search on employee engagement strategies reveals that most advice focuses on helping employees understand how their work contributes to the team or organisation’s success. While these are important, they are not the whole story.

‘Preaching’ to team members or employees about how their work contributes to the team or organisation’s success misses the point!

Whose Meaning?

When your team members or employees think about ‘meaningfulness’, i.e. their “why”, they primarily think about it from their perspective.

They don’t ‘care’ that their work helps the team achieve its goals, increase revenue, or outperform the competition. Technically, they do care that the team performs well enough for them to keep their jobs and paychecks. But they care more about their perception of the work’s ‘meaningfulness’!

How meaningful work is, or what makes work meaningful, is unique to individual team members and influenced by their values, passions, mindsets, experiences, etc. Two people with the same job might have different evaluations of its ‘meaningfulness’!

I take public transport to get around and often use public bus services. Most bus drivers I have encountered do their job seriously, i.e., they have a serious look. Occasionally, I’d come across the rare driver who is enthusiastic and interacts with passengers as they board the bus. These drivers attach different meanings to their jobs!

Your team members’ “why”—their motivation and meaning attached to what they do—affects their engagement and performance. If leaders can surface that meaning and align it with the team or organisation’s meaning, the team will be more likely to perform better.

The Meaning of “Meaning”

What does “meaning” actually mean to your team members?

There are many ways to understand “meaning” and “meaningfulness”. Some examples are:

• A sense of fulfilment or accomplishment,
• Being recognised or appreciated,
• Able to leverage a person’s talents and strengths,
• Interesting (i.e. not boring),
• Challenging,
• Able to stretch a person’s potential,
• Opportunities for growth or learning,
• Align with a person’s vision, values, passion, interests, etc.,
• It’s not pointless or a waste of time,
• Empowering (or not disempowering),
• Has an impact that transcends the person (e.g., it matters to others, contributes to a cause, has a positive impact on society, etc.),
• No unnecessary risks,
• Being part of a group (i.e. connection),
• Having autonomy,
• and more!

If you ask ten people, you might find ten different ways in which work can be meaningful. There is no one-size-fits-all!

“At the very least, leaders should be mindful not to cause ‘meaninglessness’!”

What Can Leaders Do?

Leaders can play a pivotal role in fostering meaningful work for their teams.

At the very least, leaders should be mindful not to cause “meaninglessness”!

I recently talked with a friend who said that his boss insisted he follow a specific process of doing something, even though the process was highly inefficient and could be streamlined. As a result, he was frustrated and demotivated.

Beyond not causing “meaninglessness”, leaders can use some of the following strategies:

1. Articulate the team’s (or organisation’s) purpose and impact beyond the economic value or immediate output. What positive influence or impact will the team have on the world?
2. Create a safe space and actively listen to team members’ thoughts and feelings about their work. Understand their values, aspirations, strengths, interests, etc., to understand how they perceive “meaningfulness.”
3. Help team members articulate their personal purpose and see how their work connects with their sense of “meaningfulness” and the more significant impact the team is making (or hoping to make).
4. Cultivate a work environment with psychological safety, mutual respect and support, and opportunities for learning and growth.
5. Address the “Meaningfulness Ecosystem”¹ elements (i.e. organisational, job, task, and interactional) and cultivate an environment that empowers team members to thrive.

Foster Meaningful Work and Drive Performance

Team members are not cogs in a machine. They are individuals with unique desires and aspirations. By investing time in understanding their “why” and aligning them with a larger shared purpose, leaders can create a workplace where everyone feels known, valued, and has a future. Doing so will help team members to be engaged and motivated, perform better, and contribute to the team’s success.

What about your team?

What are you doing to prevent causing “meaninglessness” in your team’s work?

How are you fostering meaningful work for your team members?

What needs to change in order for you to cultivate a “Meaningfulness Ecosystem”?

References:

1   Pratt, Michael G., and Blake E. Ashforth. “What Makes Work Meaningful — Or Meaningless.” MIT Sloan Management Review, August 23, 2021. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/what-makes-work-meaningful-or-meaningless/.

2   Bromley, Timothy, Taylor Lauricella, and Bill Schaninger. “Making Work Meaningful from the C-suite to the Frontline.” McKinsey & Company, June 28, 2021. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/making-work-meaningful-from-the-c-suite-to-the-frontline.