10 Jul The untapped potential of ‘working with purpose’
Reading Time: 2 minutesThere’s a quote from mathematician Jim Simons talking about beauty in work, “You might think ‘building a company that’s trading bonds, what’s so aesthetic about that?’ What’s aesthetic about it is doing it right. Getting the right kind of people, approaching the problem, and doing it right it’s a beautiful thing to do something right.”
Jim’s ‘doing it right’ feels a lot like people working with purpose. It’s an unheroic ethic that makes room for workers to show up in whatever the organisation is doing.
Which is a different mindset to purpose-driven (two words I’d cheerfully erase from business lingo). Set aside the favourite pastime of admiring or judging what an organisation’s purpose should be. Yes, having a purpose matters—whatever you call it. Maybe mission. Try a lighthouse statement. I call it what’s ‘most’ important. By any name, it’s a useful, even essential, tool for orienting your choices.
I want to focus on an untapped aspect. The “beautiful thing” people bring with them when they come to work for you. Because while the willingness to stand alongside your purpose should be a baseline expectation of any staff, accepting responsibility for their personal sense of meaning is a dangerous hubris creating unrealistic expectations.
The slide of work as a proxy for people’s purpose has cratered the boundaries between what matters for the organisation’s success and how people feel about their work.
No worker should expect to find a sense of self in who they work for. What you can do is create an environment where they feel their effort matters, and if they can, encourage them to bring their personal purpose to work too.
It’s easy to muddle organisational and personal purpose when they both motivate activity and choices. And while they can work together, they don’t have to match. Think about the org’s purpose as informing the what and personal purpose unleashed in the how.
For example, let’s say a worker finds personal meaning in making things beautiful. They bring that ethos to work for you. It colours their efforts and stands alongside what matters most to the organisation. Every day, they come through the door and bring that idea of beauty into the industry of their work.
But for dual purpose not to become duelling purpose, you’ll need a clear fence line and to show how the personal contributes value without losing sight of what’s most important for the organisation. A balance of bureaucracy and free will.
How do you do that? Try hiring people who come with a cup already overflowing with their own meaning instead of looking for those who share yours. Ditch the constraint of fit and look for ways their ‘beautiful’ thing might lift how you do things.
Rethinking purpose has another benefit. Keeping promises. A brand can only accumulate value when people keep them. And it’s hard to keep those you don’t care about. So, it’s a win for everyone when you make sure people around you can show up with their personal meaning in what’s most important to the organisation.
Given current worries about staff engagement and productivity, perhaps tapping people’s personal purpose be the answer. Could you expand what ‘done right’ looks like so workers can colour a few rainbows inside the lines of what you do?
Thanks for reading.