If you asked your team whether they find meaning in their work, what would they say?
Would they connect it to the organization’s purpose?
To the team’s shared goals?
Or to something personal?

Finding meaning at work isn’t always easy, but it matters. We spend so much of our lives working that some sense of purpose can make the tough days bearable and the great days deeply fulfilling.

Purpose can take many forms:

• Organizational purpose: The mission and vision — the why behind who you are and what you do.
• Team purpose: Shared goals, collective effort, and how the team contributes to the bigger picture.
• Role purpose: How an individual’s work makes a difference to others and fits into the whole system.
• Personal purpose: Connection to one’s own values, passions, and life experiences.

Knowing what drives meaning — for each person and for the team as a whole — can be a game-changer for:

• Engagement: Purpose builds emotional connection and fuels discretionary effort.
• Development: Growth feels more motivating and fulfilling when it aligns with personal meaning.
• Performance: Clear purpose guides priorities, shapes decisions, and sustains energy in tough times.

If you lead a team, find out what gives their work meaning. What’s the purpose that drives or inspires them? Then, connect daily tasks to the bigger mission, share stories that reinforce why the work matters and how it makes a difference. Knowing the purpose of our work logically is different from feeling it emotionally. Facts may engage the head, but purpose inspires the heart — and the best work happens when people bring both.