Meaning And Purpose: The Overlooked Keys To Employee Well-Being

The good news? Companies are finally taking employee well-being seriously. Today, more than half say well-being is a top priority. The bad news? Almost 60% of employees say they are struggling. And less than a quarter of them strongly agree that their employers care about their well-being.

Photo by fauxels

If your company has a goal to improve employee well-being in 2025, those stats might be discouraging to read. There’s no single, magical solution to this crisis. But as an executive coach and creator of a learning platform, I believe there are two factors in employee well-being that tend to get overlooked: meaning and purpose.

In turbulent times like the ones we’re experiencing, having a sense of meaning and purpose can carry us through difficulties and obstacles. So how can you create an environment where employees feel this way? Here are some strategies I’ve seen companies successfully use.

1. Get to know them.

Meaning and purpose are deeply personal things. What lights you up at work might not be what resonates with your team members. That’s why it’s important to talk regularly with them about what they’re passionate about.

Maybe you can find a meaningful project that can excite them. Since many of us are working remotely, you may have to be more deliberate about planning these conversations instead of waiting for them to spontaneously happen in the hallway or break room.

2. Bring the big picture into focus.

We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. You may understand exactly how important your employee’s particular talents are to your company’s mission, but they may have lost sight of this themselves, especially if your organization has gone through rapid change recently.

When you give feedback, remember to make these big-picture connections for your employees. Here’s an example of what that might sound like: “Because you are so great at identifying potential obstacles and how to overcome them, we were able to launch our mentorship program for new employees early.”

3. Help them focus.

How much energy do you feel when you’re using your skills and gifts on a project you really care about? And how does that compare to your energy levels when you’re at a purposeless meeting or working your way through your email?

I always advise my clients to figure out their “Big 3”: the top 3 areas where they should focus to have the biggest impact on the business, given their role and strengths. This is a great conversation to have with your team members. After you help them identify their Big 3, see if their calendar actually reflects these priorities.

4. Provide opportunities to serve others.

Research backs up what we all intuitively know: Helping other people makes us feel good, mentally and physically. If you have a volunteer program at your workplace, you’ve probably seen this firsthand. But doing something that benefits your colleagues has the same positive effects. (It also helps build relationships across the organization.)

If you don’t have a mentoring or peer coaching program, consider starting one. The employees who teach or advise will get as much from the program as the colleagues who receive their wisdom.

5. Create learning opportunities.

We all love the feeling of making progress or moving forward. Perhaps that’s why employees so deeply value learning and development. Learning programs are a huge factor in employee retention. It’s especially important to note that Gen-Z, who are expected to become the largest contingent in the workforce, craves learning even more than older generations.

Next Steps

Creating an environment where employees find meaning and purpose isn't a "nice to have"—it's essential for their well-being. As you plan for 2025, consider these next steps:

• Schedule one-on-ones focused on understanding what’s meaningful to each of your team members.

• Talk with team members about whether their most important work has the most room on their calendar. If it doesn’t, help them find ways to reclaim some time.

• Identify one opportunity each quarter for team members to mentor or teach others.

• Review your learning and development offerings. Are they accessible and aligned with what truly matters to your employees?

When employees find purpose at work, everyone wins. They're more engaged and resilient. Your organization gets its best work. And you build the kind of workplace culture that attracts and retains top talent.

This article was originally published by Neena Newberry in Forbes.

Is Your Team Overwhelmed? Here’s How to Help

I don’t have to tell you how stressful the past few years have been. As we developed our most recent white paper, “Managers Under Pressure,” we found research showing that all of this cumulative stress has taken a toll. Performance and morale are suffering. Employee engagement is at a seven-year low, which Gallup calls “one of the biggest threats to organizations and entire economies” in 2023. On top of that, more than 40% of professionals report feeling burned out at work. 

Photo by Vlada Karpovich

With your energy tank running on empty, you may find that you and your team members may feel more overwhelmed in the face of challenges — such as a major project or an organizational change — than you did in the past. 

Finding both short and long-term solutions is critical. 

Let’s start by taking a look at some quick ways to get yourself on track —three questions to ask your team and yourself.

1. Are you focusing on the right work?

When things feel chaotic and you are strapped for time, it’s even more critical to focus on where you can have the biggest impact on the business and your career. Challenge yourself to identify the top three areas and the percentage of time you should allocate to each. Use this to guide what you say “yes” and “no” to. With only so many hours in each day, remember that making the highest and best use of your talent and skills will help you deliver more in less time. And remember to strategically leverage others to free up your capacity. 

2. Do you create space to be strategic?

High performers know that they can’t simply react to what’s going on around them and still deliver consistently strong results. Being strategic and intentional about what they say and do is key. When things get hectic, how consistently do you carve out time on your calendar to reflect so that you can do just that? Don’t underestimate the importance of this strategy in keeping you focused on the bigger picture. Even setting aside 15 minutes a week can help you be much more proactive.

3. Are you getting enough rest?

Maintaining your energy during demanding times can be the difference between thriving and surviving. When people work long hours, they may not get the rest or sleep they need. Both are foundational to giving you the energy to maintain a positive attitude, outlook, and perspective and the ability to make good decisions. If you don’t get 7-8 hours of sleep a night or take short breaks throughout the day, what one step can you take to address this? It can be as simple as taking some deep breaths, walking away from your desk, or going to bed 15 minutes earlier.

With a longer-term view in mind, remember to also look for ways to help you and your team put sustainable practices in place.  Through thousands of hours coaching leaders, we’ve seen where individuals get stuck time and again and the strategies that can really help them move forward. That led us to make this content available through our award-winning New Lens® app. But it goes way beyond content, to help you take action with the support of cohorts and managers. We’d love to show it to you. Let us know if you’d like to see a demo.

4 Ways to Lead More Strategically

Have you spent the past couple of years with your head down, focused only on the latest problem to solve?

Many of us have been operating this way out of necessity during this period of constant change. But it’s time to lift your head up. No, the change isn’t stopping. However, thinking only in the short term will cause you to miss valuable opportunities. If you’re out of practice in looking beyond immediate concerns, here are a few ways to get back in the habit of taking a wider perspective and being more strategic.

Photo by Behnam Norouzi on Unsplash

1. Adjust Your Calendar

Focusing on the right work is the most powerful thing you can do for the long-term health of both your organization and your career. So take a quick pause right now to jot down the three critical areas where you make the biggest impact on the business. Have your “big three” changed over the past couple of years? And does your calendar reflect what your strategic priorities need to be right now? If not, how can you make more room in your schedule for your most important work? For example, maybe there’s a task you can delegate to someone on your team to both free up capacity for you and help your team member develop a new skill. Or perhaps you can change a weekly meeting to biweekly. While you’re working with your calendar, schedule some regular time for strategic reflection. Even 10-15 minutes per week can help you course correct if you get distracted from the big picture.

2. Think Beyond Your Role

Silos are a big problem in many organizations. And in times when resources are scarce, it’s even easier to become territorial and think only in terms of your team or department. But you’ll be a more effective leader, and more likely to get promoted, if you become known as someone who considers the good of the entire organization, not just your own area. Think about relationships you’d like to build across departments. Who are the colleagues in other areas who can help you get things done — or whom you would simply like to learn from? Also think about how often you present ideas that go beyond your current role. What insights or suggestions could you share that would benefit the organization as a whole?

3. Look for the Deeper Issue

Does it feel like you keep putting out the same fires over and over again? Then use some of the reflection time we talked about above to try to identify the root cause of these crises — and how you can stop them from repeating. For example, maybe you’ve just lost yet another team member during the Great Resignation. The short-term solution is finding someone to replace them. The longer-term solution is determining why people keep leaving and making changes to help retain them.

4. Remember to ‘Connect the Dots’

Leading strategically is only part of the equation. You also have to communicate to others that you are focused on the big picture. For example, it may seem obvious to you how your suggestion that benefits your department also helps the organization as a whole. But others may not see that unless you “connect the dots” for them. Even just using the words “strategy” and “strategic” more in your communications can help others understand your motivations.

Which one of these ideas can you use this week to better balance short-term problems with long-term priorities? Remember, we have a wealth of tools you can draw on, no matter what leadership challenges you are facing. You may be especially interested in our new white paper, “Leadership Development for a Changing World,” which explores the demands that leaders face now and the development opportunities they need to succeed in today’s hectic work environment.