In 2009, Daniel Pink talked about the importance of purpose (alongside autonomy and mastery) in his book ‘Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us’. 

Since that time, the idea of purpose at work has gained significant attention. 

The so-called ‘Great Resignation’ after the Covid pandemic once again gave consideration to the fact that many individuals believe that they should be dedicating their time to something that matters to them. 

And in 2024, a Deloitte report relating to millennials and Gen Z found that: 

“Nearly all Gen Zs and millennials want purpose-driven work, and they’re not afraid to turn down work that doesn’t align with their values.” 

This raises questions for organisations and for the L&D professionals within them:

• What is ‘purpose-driven work’? How can organisations ensure that their purpose aligns with that of their employees?
• To what extent should organisations support individuals to discover their purpose?
• What are the business benefits of helping employees to find their purpose?

Here are some thoughts and ideas on these questions. 

Purpose-driven work

Purpose relates to the reasons for doing something. 

Helping employees to see where their work fits into a bigger picture is nothing new.

Over many years organisations have worked, to varying degrees of success, to identify the ‘golden thread’ that runs from the organisational mission and objectives right through to individual objectives. 

L&D professionals can support their organisations to ensure that the golden thread is sparkling brightly by taking some of these actions:

1. Review results of staff surveys which will indicate how much understanding and buy-in current employees have to the organisation’s mission, values and objectives. Where buy-in doesn’t exist, L&D can create interventions to explore why this is the case. 
   
2. Work with senior leaders and managers across the organisation to ensure that the mission, values and objectives remain current. If they require revision, offer to support cross-organisation discussion to co-create updated versions, as appropriate. 
   
3. Ensure that any L&D interventions, from induction and on-boarding through to development programmes have the organisational mission, values and objectives as a foundation. 
   
4. Work with colleagues from HR to support the development of performance management processes which help individuals to identify where their role and activities fit into the bigger picture. 
   
5. Provide development for line managers so that they can conduct regular and meaningful 1-1s with their team members. These 1-1s should provide the opportunity for individuals to explore their work, what matters to them at work and how well-aligned they feel that their work is to their personal values and purpose. 

L&D has a role to play in attracting purpose-aligned candidates

It is clearly preferable to employ individuals whose values and purpose aligns with those of the organisation. Recruitment is such an expensive and resource-intensive process that it is important to attract the right candidates for vacant positions.

L&D can play a part in recruitment by using their knowledge of the organisation to support activities undertaken by their branding and marketing colleagues to ensure that brand messages are clear and transparent about organisational purpose.

Their activities should be clearly linked back to what the organisation is setting out to achieve

They can also potentially contribute to recruitment advertising because they are likely to have awareness of some of the day-to-day experiences of post-holders via conversations during L&D activities. 

Uncovering purpose

Once individuals are employed within an organisation, especially those who are early in their careers, L&D can play an important role in personal and career development, including supporting individuals to discover what really makes them tick.

L&D can contribute to helping employees discover their purpose by facilitating access to different activities which encourage self-reflection and self-discovery. These might include:

• Personality profiles – selected for the purpose of individual development and delivered by accredited individuals.
• Group or individual coaching aimed at supporting individuals to explore their interests, goals and desires for their career, in the context of their wider life plan. 
• Mentoring schemes which focus on work and career as part of life as a whole. 
• Values workshops where groups explore different values that underpin their working life.
• Offering case studies and stories gathered from employees at all levels to illustrate how their own values and purpose have helped them within their role and career. 

Business benefits

L&D professionals should always have a focus on the impact of their activities on the organisation. Activities should be linked back to the organisational mission, strategy and objectives.

All functions within an organisation should have alignment with the purpose, mission and values of that organisation. Their activities should be clearly linked back to what the organisation is setting out to achieve and all roles and responsibilities should be aligned to these goals. This is the path to success.

organisations should “pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table”

Supporting individual development has often been a contentious issue and many managers can feel reticent about releasing their team members for activities which are not directly related to their job role, especially when working towards targets and other success indicators. 

This view merits review in the new world of work which is now so intertwined with the lives of much of the workforce. 

The consequences of not supporting personal development activities, particularly for the Gen Z and Millenials in the organisation could result in:

• Lack of engagement with work and the organisation, leading to
• average or poor performance, leading to
• resignations or terminations, leading to
• reputational damage caused by comments on social media and on sites such as Glassdoor
• all of which will have a potentially negative impact on team and organisational performance. 

On the flip side, the benefits of exploring purpose at work include:

1. Increased employee engagement
2. Improved retention rates
3. Better job performance
4. Stronger loyalty to the organisation
5. Improved employer brand
6. A more positive workplace culture
7. Greater innovation and creativity

Final note

If purpose is the reason for doing something, L&D professionals, alongside managers at all levels, should make no assumptions that all Gen Z or all Millenials will have the same sense of purpose. 

Getting to know individual team members is vital to discovering what motivates them and what drives them to come to work and engage with their work.

In 2024, many individuals want to see the higher purpose of their work, however, a strong motivator is still the financial one. Returning to the work of Daniel Pink in 2009 it is noteworthy that he identified that organisations should “pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table” before they focus on purpose, autonomy and mastery. 

With this in mind, the final recommendation is to ensure that any workaround purpose does not happen in isolation. It should be part of a strategic and integrated approach, aligned with the organisation’s missions and plans.