by Gael O’Brien
Ideally, purpose is a force, fueling engagement and connection — the triumvirate. They impact productivity, create meaning in work, and reflect how employees and teams see their company. When strength weakens one or more of the three, what’s possible diminishes.
An example is the data from the 2024 Gallup’s State of the Workplace survey for the U.S. and Canada indicating ongoing low engagement and wellbeing issues:
• Only 33 percent of employees are engaged, 51 percent aren’t, and 16 percent are actively disengaged; 35 percent of managers are engaged as are 32 percent of individual contributors; the U.S. and Canada have the highest percent engagement in the Global data;
• Almost 60 percent of employees think it’s a good time to find another job and 49 percent indicate their intent to leave;
• “Daily Negative Emotions” indicate: Stress, 49 percent, Anger 17 percent, Sadness 21 percent, and loneliness 18 percent; and
• “Life Evaluation” involves Thriving 53 percent, Struggling 43 percent, and Suffering 4 percent.
Over the years, there’s been an abundance of articles like 10 Ways Leaders Can Improve Engagement and Wellbeing that address how to tackle problems. It’s unclear if leaders act on the advice or find it helpful. However, employees’ experience can speak to ways to improve internal problems if given an opportunity. Asking employees for suggestions and recognizing their input may be a step closer to their feeling more connected.
In these challenging times I’ll suggest two building blocks around purpose, engagement, and connection that may surprise you but inevitably can provide more ideas and inspiration:
• Chip Heath and Dan Heath, both academics and authors of The Power of Moments, have a section devoted to “Create Shared Meaning” including a story of a hospital’s problems and how employees and leaders changed it.
• The second building block is Caitlin Clark because she is driven by purpose and connection and fueled by engagement. She joined Indiana Fever, a member team of the Women’s National Basketball Association, in April 2024 as a guard. While her basketball skills are fabulous, so are her skills in building connections and support with team members. She has qualities of an illuminator: people are drawn to what she’s trying to accomplish for the team, the game, women athletes, and the sport.
Building Block 1: Shared Meaning
Shared Meaning enables us to see and understand connection: “… for groups, defining moments arise when we create shared meaning—highlighting the mission that binds us together and supersedes our differences.” An outcome is “People with a strong sense of meaning tended to have the highest performance ranking.”
The Create Shared Meaning section in The Power of Moments discusses a hospital with excellent medical treatment but poor patient experience that leaders hadn’t recognized. A hospital executive whose father experienced one dangerous and other inadequate service treatments there finally got the CEO’s attention.
The executive shared observations and ideas that resulted in a team of hospital executives (including her) visiting companies with high service reputations. The visits clarified that “You can’t deliver a great patient experience without first delivering a great employee experience.” The hospital’s “employee engagement” scores were significantly lower than the companies they visited.
Previously, the hospital just sent emails to employees about important news. However, after the executives’ tour, the hospital held an all-staff assembly involving its 12,000 employees. Three separate assemblies were held over two days. The CEO described a new vision and asked employees to take ownership of it.
After his speech, employees could choose to volunteer for one of the 100 action teams if they were interested: teams included employee satisfaction, patient satisfaction, and rewards and recognition among others. 1,600 employee volunteers signed up for the action teams. Employee engagement significantly increased and annual all-staff assemblies continued.
Building Block 2: The impact of Caitlin Clark’s approach
At twenty-two, Caitlin Clark is a leader in her new team. Her impact comes from passion, supporting, teaching and focusing on the team. She is the darling of many sportscasters even as she insists that she isn’t the focal point. She asks media to call on specific teammates when they keep focusing on her. She speaks constantly as “we,” involving the whole team, not “I.” It’s always about Indiana Fever, the team, the unity.
In her first season with the team, “Clark averaged 19.2 points per game as the Fever’s scoring leader in 2024, led the league with 8.4 assists per game and added 5.7 rebounds per game.” Her high number of assists helped her team members.
She breaks records. By her actions she is helping support recognition of the considerable talents of women playing basketball or any sport. She shares what she has learned with team members because it’s clear they are in this together. She creates value for others as she continually makes assists that help teammates and the team succeed.
Clark’s inclusiveness encourages individual players to feel connected as a team. She focuses on what the team has done together and that fuels focus, passion, engagement, commitment, and winning. Her exceptional talent, strong purpose, knowledge sharing, and desire to help others shapes the character of an illuminator.
The Wait For Connecting Purpose
The two building blocks suggested as points of possibility remind us of what is possible when teams feel belonging, support and can make a difference.
The U.S. and Canada survey data in Gallup’s 2024 State of the Global Workplace showed us what the gaps are. Not making purpose, engagement and connection a visible and real part of company culture creates a limbo for employees.
A Harvard Business Review article in October 2024, Shift Your Leadership from “Power Over” to “Leading Through, offers a new leadership paradigm. The article reminds us that “we revert to power and control…for quick fixes.” It continues that’s why “…executives find themselves frustrated they aren’t getting as much out of their people and organizations as they believe they should.”
Photo: Caitlin Clark on July 14th, 2024 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by John McClellan via Wikimedia Commons.
Gael O’Brien is a catalyst in leaders leading with purpose and impact through clarity, presence and connection. She is an executive coach, culture coach, speech coach and presenter. She publishes The Week in Ethics and is also a Business Ethics Magazine columnist, on the Advisory Board of the Hoffman Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University, and a Senior Fellow at The Institute for Social Innovation at Babson College.
