Higher Purpose: The Antidote to the Great Resignation

The phenomenon known as the Great Resignation over the past several years certainly has employers alarmed and puzzled. Needless to say, the pandemic has changed our relationship with the workplace. See below for some interesting stats:

• According to a Pew Research survey, one in five non-retired adults left their job by choice in 2021.
• A Microsoft report published in March 2021 suggested that 41% of the total global workforce is leaving their employer in 2022
• The Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2021 report suggests that only 20% of employees worldwide are actually engaged by their work.

Now that we've settled into post-pandemic living, why are we still noticing job hopping, burnout and an overall a transactional relationship with work? A lot of times, employees will convince themselves that more pay, more time off, more "perks" will fill the void they may be experiencing. In most cases, their leaders/managers are convinced of this as well. I'm not suggesting these things aren't important, in fact they're critical components that contribute overall wellbeing. With that said, there's something of more value that we as humans crave. Something deeper and more satiating that PTO or a nice salary. Something that isn't all that talked about in corporate culture. What doesn't seem to be integrated into the workplace is the discussion around higher purpose.

When it comes to higher purpose, there are two sides of the coin to carefully consider and ultimately blend together: The organization's higher purpose and each individual team member's higher purpose.

Organizational Higher Purpose

This is more than a nicely worded mission and vision statement. Identifying your organizations higher purpose should evoke a visceral emotional response, connected to serving society for the greater good. Higher purpose transcends the organizations existence beyond sheer economics while at the same time integrates it into the overall strategy. Higher purpose serves as an eternal fuel source by connecting to a cause much greater than ourselves or the profitability of our business.

For the longest time, my company was set out to serve the fitness population, making fitness services more accessible and inclusive to the 20% of Americans who consistently engage in exercise. Don't get me wrong, serving people in general through the vehicle of exercise and community is rewarding beyond belief. The problem was that we weren't actually progressing the populations health as a whole. We were not affecting public health trends, we're not viewed as an essential industry to impact our populations health (pandemic shutdown made that clear) and we didn't have a clearly understood mission.

January of 2022, we redefined our higher purpose as we are now looking to bridge the gap between healthcare and fitness. We're looking to create a world where healthcare has transcended to incorporate fitness professionals/services to improve public health. The global impact we could have is unfathomable. The countless lives we could effectively influence is every fitness professionals dream. Using the vehicle of healthcare, an already trusted behemoth, to deliver fitness services lends credibility, safety and can redefine the fitness industry. This had meaning! This had substance! My team and I collectively rallied around it...all for slightly different reasons.

Connecting to the Individuals Higher Purpose

Whether we realize it or not, we are all purpose seeking beings. Having a clear sense of purpose has been shown to positively influence our overall fulfillment, joy and happiness. Dismissing this as an area of development will most likely leave us feeling empty, unsettled and not satiated. Where I feel this gap is most apparent is when it comes to the work we do and who we do it for. With higher purpose unidentified (or at least the idea of purpose), we cannot connect meaning to what we do. If we cannot connect meaning to our actions, we will most likely spiral into a state of fatigue, depression and overall lack of fulfillment. If higher purpose delivers the same benefits to the individual as stated above for the organization (which it does), connecting them is imperative for overall health.

Getting back to my point about my team and I connecting to our organizational higher purpose in slightly different ways; this stems from the fact that our individual higher purposes are unique to us. The belief is that the success of the two higher purposes are intrinsically tied together. Where most leaders fall short with engaging their team is the inability or lack of awareness to connect how "the work" isn't just tied to the organizations higher purpose, but also (and arguably more important) to the individuals higher purpose. If we feel as though our efforts are a direct investment in the betterment of ourselves and serve a greater good that's most meaningful to us, we greatly minimize the pain we feel in life. Granted, we'll always have stress and pressure, but with purpose driving action, that stress and pressure is on our terms. Research from Deloitte Insights suggests that purpose driven organizations increase their team retention by up to 40%. In our industry, we'll take every percentage point we can get!

Where Do I start?

To begin your journey of cultivating higher purpose, start by asking the questions below:

• What matters most to me and why?
• When do I feel most alive?
• What are the core values in which I lead my life with?
• Why does the work I do matter?

Once you gain some traction for yourself, begin to ask your team these same questions. Not only will you gain insight into what makes them tick, you'll be better positioned to connect them with meaningful work. Most importantly, you'll create a deeper and more authentic relationship with a fellow human being.