Giving Purpose to Work

Companies across the globe are spending millions of dollars each year on this term we never really heard much about twenty years ago – “employee engagement.”

Why is all this cash being targeted toward employee engagement?  Because research done by The Gallup Organization and others has shown that engaged employees end up driving higher levels of profits.  Engagement = Revenue for a corporation and it leads to higher levels of Mission Impact for a nonprofit.

One aspect of employee engagement has been getting a lot of attention in recent years – the importance of people feeling that their work has a purpose.

*Daniel Pink, in his book Drive, argues that successful organizations today will seek to fulfill the intrinsic motivations of their workforce – what they care about.  You can read more about his approach in my blog of a number of months back.

*Martin Seligman, in his book Authentic Happiness, says that people who can connect their personal purpose to their organization’s purpose are more satisfied.  And that can make all the difference in motivation.  He says that we no longer live in a “money economy” where people are purely motivated by dollars, but that we are in a “satisfaction economy” where an individual’s satisfaction with their work is vital.

*The Gallup Organization has developed a twelve question tool called the Q-12 in which positive answers to the questions correlate with an engaged workforce.  You can learn more about the Q-12 here or even read a Gallup book that fully explains the tool.  All of the questions point to important issues, but I would like to focus on one of them:

“Does the mission or purpose of my company make me feel that my job is important?”

As a leader in your organization, you need to do two things to put this lever of employee engagement into action.  First, you need to regularly remind everyone on your staff – and your volunteers – of the importance of your mission and the difference you make.  Do not assume that everyone keeps this in the forefront of their minds.  For example, spend a couple minutes at every staff meeting on a recent story about something your organization has done that exemplifies your Mission Impact.

Next, you need to make sure that each person can draw a direct line between what they do and attach it to the Mission Impact of your organization.  They need to see the direct causal link between their actions and making a difference.  This is easier for some jobs than for others, but it can be done for all.  You want people to point to your Mission Impact and say – “I help make that happen.”

Giving Purpose to Work will make work more fulfilling for everyone on your team and will help them make even more of a Mission Impact.

 

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site at www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com   You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

Leverage Your Talents & Soar!

For no commission whatsoever, I am recommending that you buy the book StrengthsFinder 2.0.  That is, if you have not already.  The book has been in the top ten in The Wall Street Journal list of top business books since it was published in 2007, and I recently saw it listed there in the #1 spot again.  Why so popular?  People are realizing that discovering and using our natural talents is the path to improved individual and organizational success.

Included with purchase of the book is a special, individual code that you can use to go on-line and take an assessment which will identify your top talents.  This instrument, The Clifton StrengthsFinder ™, is named for Dr. Donald O. Clifton, the former Chairman and CEO of The Gallup Organization who did pioneering work on the instrument and has been cited as a Grandfather of the Positive Psychology movement. 

Once the online assessment is completed, a computer generated report automatically produces a list of your top five natural talents -- in order of their strength.  There are a total of thirty-four talent themes that Gallup has identified that each person has, naturally, to one extent or another.  Once a person knows their top talents, they are encouraged to use them more to enhance their performance.

One way that a person can be even more successful in using their top talents is to purposely develop them -- to get even better at the things they are already good at.  This is what converts a natural talent into a strength.  By adding more knowledge and skill to a talent area, and then applying the knowledge and skills in practice, strength is developed.

Notice how this is practically the opposite of how people are typically developed according to the usual performance review and development plan processes.  Like the phys ed teacher in the Tiger Woods story from a couple blogs back, we typically spend time looking for weaknesses and how we can fix people.  While glaring weaknesses cannot be ignored, people will be much more successful if they are placed in roles where they can use and develop their natural talents into significant strengths.

Discover your natural talents and those of the people you work with.  Give yourself and others the opportunity to further develop those talents and to use them as often as you can in your jobs.  Using one’s natural talents is more fulfilling for individuals and more productive for organizations.

Dr. Clifton once said, use your natural talents and “soar!”  I wish productive soaring for all of you.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site at www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com   You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

What Great Managers Do

According to research by The Gallup Organization, “Great Managers” do four things: 

1.  Select for Talent

2.  Define the Right Outcomes

3.  Focus on Strengths

4.  Find the Right Fit

All of this is covered in the book, First, Break All the Rules:

Is this you or do you aspire to be a truly Great Manager?

When Selecting for Talent, great managers interview candidates while looking for clues such as:  Yearning -- what a person is drawn to; Rapid Learning, Flow -- when steps come naturally to someone, Almost Unconscious Glimpses of Excellence, and Satisfaction in prior roles.  When designing interview questions, probe to uncover these clues.  “Tell me about one of your greatest successes and how it all played out.”  “What did you like best about the most favorite job you have ever had?”

Once in a role, a manager works with a direct report to Define the Right Outcomes for the role.  Once the outcomes are defined, then the manager lets the direct report use their natural talents to find their own way to the result.  Rather than prescribe the “one best way” to carry out a responsibility, the manager gives the person freedom to find their way.  Defining outcomes is not as easy for some roles as they are for others.  Another great book that has very good ideas for developing outcomes is Doug Smith’s, Make Success Measurable.

The manager allows the direct report to Focus on Strengths.  Where possible, the direct report is given more responsibilities in arenas where they show natural talent and fewer where they do not.  This requires treating people uniquely rather than as machines where every person in the same role has the exact same responsibilities.  If a person must perform a duty they are not ideally suited for, then they try to manage around that weakness.  For example, I have a friend who is poor at Excel, but great at making Power Point slides.  She partners with a colleague who is the exact opposite – that’s a win-win.

 The fourth function, Find the Right Fit, I think presents some of the greatest challenges to organizations.  This is because sometimes a person is in a job that is actually a wonderful fit for them and for their talents -- but we want to promote them so we can reward them with better pay.  This is the classic “Peter Principle” which suggests that people are promoted to their highest level of incompetence.  Rather than doing that, Gallup suggests that organizations reward achievement and consider increasing compensation for people in the role they are already in.  Finding the right fit also comes into play when working with them individually on their career development and the organization’s succession plans.  If we see that a person can use more of their natural talents in other roles in the organization, then we should guide them into those roles. 

Gallup’s award winning research demonstrates that when managers do these things well, it leads to more engaged employees, and that leads to higher levels of organization performance – enhanced Mission Impact for your nonprofit.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site at www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com   You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.