A great mission can turbocharge your employee engagement
In the second in our series of posts on purpose and values, we hand over to Hugh Hawthorne, Director at PeopleNav and friend of Broom & Moon. Here, Hugh shares recent research that demonstrates a link between purpose and performance.
Zero deaths from cancer. That’s the inspiring mission of one of my clients.
Being a charitable trust, they have no budget for the usual employee perks. No bonuses or generous benefits. No gym memberships or subsidised lunches.
Nor do they have the scale to offer frequent opportunities for promotion.
And yet, they’re in the top quartile for employee engagement.
That’s the power of those four words: Zero deaths from cancer.
Whether they’re fundraisers, IT support or accountants auditing the books, this client’s employees are motivated by a shared mission.
And what this client has been getting right is not just hiring people aligned with their purpose from the outset. They’ve also worked to ensure that purpose remains relevant and amplified throughout each employee’s tenure.
Mission and motivation go hand in hand
So if your own employee engagement is average to mediocre, what can you learn from this client?
A great mission drives a greater sense of purpose. This leads to greater discretionary effort.
Research shows that the more employees identify with and internalise their employer’s mission and purpose, the more self-determined, motivated and engaged they will be to contribute to its success.
Such employees don’t just work to get paid. Instead, they’re showing up for the greater purpose of their work.
At PeopleNav, we use machine learning to analyse employee feedback data. In our surveys, we find again and again that a well-rated organisational ‘mission’ is a top positive predictor of high employee engagement.
The image below is just such an example, from a start-up with high employee engagement.
In the image, the bigger the bubble, the more important that factor is as a predictor of employee engagement.
With this particular client of ours, the ‘Mission’ bubble is visibly the most influential factor driving people’s discretionary effort. The boost it’s providing is helping to offset (at least for now) the fact that other aspects of the employee experience need developing, which is typical of start-ups.
So does a great mission really lead to better tangible outcomes for organisations?
Purposeful work improves performance
A recent study of sales teams found that a strong sense of purpose, rather than a desire for money, was more associated with greater effort and adaptivity.
What’s more, an ongoing study has found that those with a stronger sense of purpose at work are more driven to pursue goals that make them successful.
Purpose, it seems, plays an important role in self-driving learning and development. This suggests talented people may be more attracted to a purposeful organisation.
All these examples point to the potential benefits of having a great mission. So how do you know if your organisation’s mission is boosting employee engagement?
Here are three practical ways to monitor the impact of your mission among your people:
Practical tips
1. Listen to employees
If you don’t already have an employee survey, start one. Ask employees if they understand and connect with your mission.
Do they believe their work aligns with your mission (e.g. are your cleaners “sending a man to the moon” or just cleaning floors?).
If you’re getting lacklustre feedback about your mission, it might be time to recalibrate and reinvigorate how your mission lands with your employees.
2. Conduct 360 feedback for leaders
Assess how well your leaders are seen to promote the mission. Again, if you don’t have a 360-feedback program for your top leaders, start one.
Include feedback questions about whether they’re communicating the mission and inspiring people and teams behind it.
If you’re getting feedback that suggests leaders are driven more by profit and power over purpose, it might be time for your top leadership team to recalibrate, reset and re-emphasise your mission.
3. Analyse differences across the business
Do business units that are more aligned with your organisation’s mission have better outcomes?
For example, better customer satisfaction, profitability, sales, employee turnover and fewer sick days or safety incidents?
If so, what’s different about them to enable high mission alignment. And how can that be scaled up across all other business units?
Hugh Hawthorne is the founder of PeopleNav. PeopleNav’s mission is to navigate organisations and build more sustainable, thriving and engaging places to work through data driven solutions and insights.
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