If you are considering joining the DM program, or already fully
entrenched - and questioning your sanity - don’t lose sight of the personal purpose
that brought you here in the first place. This personal purpose may very give
you the focus and energy you need to see it through to the end.
I joined the DM program because I had a very specific purpose – a practical
problem that I wanted to solve. I, like many other leaders around the world,
was seeking ways to focus, energize, and retain good employees. We were told to
increase the levels of engagement and commitment because employees experiencing greater levels of engagement
perform better than companies whose employees are not as engaged (Macey &
Schneider, 2008), and commitment has been tied to retention (Boyatzis et al.,
2012; Cardador et al., 2011; Mowday, 1979;). Clearly engagement and commitment
are important; yet according to the 2015 Gallup Poll (Adkins, 2015), less than 33% of the US
workforce feel engaged with their work and even
more distressing is that the percentage has not moved very much in 12 years (Beck & Harter, 2014). Recognizing that engagement and commitment positively
impact performance and retention apparently is not enough. This part I knew.
What I did not know was what to do about it. (Some people would seek the answer
by reading a book. Not us. We want to not only find the answer, but understand
how to find it so we can tackle other equally challenging questions down the road.)
It was clear to me that cracking the code to
positively influencing engagement and commitment would require identifying
tangible things that we, as leaders, could wrap our arms around. Two and a half
years later, my research led me to three tools that I can say with confidence will
move the dial on engagement, commitment and even better - life
satisfaction: 1) helping employees
develop a personal purpose, 2) tapping into a higher purpose for the
organization and 3) building a culture in which relationships that support
sharing these visions are encouraged and supported.
I
(yeah me – how cool is that) was able to empirically demonstrate that having
and sharing a company higher purpose positively impacts the level of an
employee’s workplace engagement and organizational commitment. What is even
more exciting is that when an employee has a personal purpose - their level of
engagement and commitment to the organization are even higher AND they
experience a sense of life satisfaction that does not come from a company
higher purpose.
Having
a personal purpose is powerful! You are considering, or have embarked on, this
journey because you have a personal purpose. Don’t lose sight of this purpose,
in fact, hang on to it. It will give you the wind beneath your wings necessary
to persevere through this program and to ultimately explore, discover and
demonstrate a truth that will lay a foundation for others to build upon.
References
Adkins,
A. 2015. Majority of U.S. employees not engaged despite gains in 2014. Gallup,
January 28. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/181289/majority-employees-not-engaged-despite-gains-2014.aspx.
Beck, R., & Harter, J. 2014. Why good managers are so
rare. Harvard Business Review,
(March). Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/03/why-good-managers-are-so-rare
Boyatzis, R. E., Smith, M. L., & Beveridge, A. J. 2012. Coaching with compassion:
Inspiring health, well-being, and development in organizations. The Journal of Applied Behavioral
Science, 49(2):
153–178.
Cardador, M. T., Dane, E., & Pratt, M. G. 2011. Linking
calling orientations to organizational attachment via organizational
instrumentality. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 79:
367–378.
Mowday,
R. T., Steers, R. M., & Porter, L. W. 1979. The measurement of
organizational commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior,
14(2): 224–247.
