The rhetoric of the 'great resignation' highlights the burgeoning trend of people wanting a sense of meaning and purpose
by Dr Edwin Trevor-Roberts
The rhetoric of the ‘great resignation’ highlights the burgeoning trend of people wanting a sense of meaning and purpose from their work. Most leaders and organisations, however, treat this like a problem to be fixed. Applying existing management techniques and tools do not work when people are grappling with an existential crisis. We need a different approach that goes beyond solving the problem for others to instead facilitating individuals to find the answer themselves.
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If we don’t have the right conversations with people about motivation and meaning we risk them resigning - or worse - staying as one of the working wounded. The emergence of the ‘great resignation’ has highlighted for leaders how difficult it is to have deep conversations about motivation, meaning and work. Instead of supporting people as they grapple with finding their own answer, leaders launch into their default style of trying to ‘fix’ the problem of why their team members are unmotivated.
Despite the data showing that resignation rates aren’t as high as expected yet it points to a broader social movement that we want work to be more than, well, just work. People are asking deeper questions about what is the meaning they derive from their work and how purposeful is their job.
Yet this is not something a leader can fix. The answer isn’t yoga, flexible work and fruit bowls. The answer isn't to give an answer but rather to provide the support, process and space to allow each person to explore these questions. Questions that point to an existential crisis, not a temporary work issue to solve.
This provides two distinct challenges for organisations.
First, few leaders are comfortable or skilled with conversations about meaning, purpose and aspirations. This is why most career conversations (typically tacked on to the end of a performance conversation) tend to focus on skill development and what course a person will do in the next year. Tangible topics are far easier than deeper explorations on meaning and purpose.
Second, organisational practices and work design contributes to feelings of dissatisfaction at work. Interestingly, it’s not that people feel that their work is useless. A recent study of workers in Europe found that the proportion of workers who feel their paid work is not useful is declining. Rather their sense of alienation at work is increasing due to poor leadership, insufficient time to do a good job, lack of participation and ability to use their own ideas.
When an individual experiences this sense of alienation or dissatisfaction, the most obvious and sometimes easiest solution is to quit and find another job.
The problem is that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
An existential crisis requires a philosophical response. In other words, a conversation where a person feels listened to, valued and respected. It requires questions to be asked that stimulate thinking and encourages a person to explore further.
In my recent book chapter on the future of work, I suggest that experiencing meaning at work is a process, not a fixed destination. It’s not something that can be immediately solved, rather, it needs to be explored. I offer five questions that guide individuals towards a “career of substance”. One of these questions, for example, is what is my contribution? We have a unique set of talents and skills so how can we best combine and use these for a greater good. When we have these conversations we quickly realise that there are small things we can change or do in our working week that brings us a sense of meaning.
It’s time to lean into conversations about meaning, purpose and motivation. Use the intangible tools of inquiry, empathy and listening. Through these people will realise the answer lies in refocusing our attention to what gives us meaning rather than changing jobs.
