How to Help Your Team Find Their Higher Purpose

Robert E. Quinn

Anjan V. Thakor

<article-ideainbrief class="article-ideainbrief">
 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">In Brief</h4>
 <div class="ideainbrief-contents">
  <h5>The Problem</h5>
  <p>You’ve surely seen this happen more than once: Employees get stuck in a rut, disengage from their work, and stop performing to their potential. So managers respond with tighter oversight and control, yet nothing improves.</p>
  <h5>The Reason</h5>
  <p>Most management practices and incentives are based on conventional economic logic, which assumes that employees are self-interested agents. And that assumption becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.</p>
  <h5>The Solution</h5>
  <p>By connecting people with a sense of higher purpose, leaders can inspire them to bring more energy and creativity to their jobs. When employees feel that their work has meaning, they become more committed and engaged. They take risks, learn, and raise their game.</p>
 </div>
</article-ideainbrief><p><span class="font-sans-serif" style="color: #222; float: left; font-size: 825%; font-weight: 900; line-height: .62em; padding-right: 0.03125em; margin-right: 0.03125em;">W</span>hen Gerry Anderson first became the president of DTE Energy, he did not believe in the power of higher organizational purpose.</p>

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<p>When employees are disengaged and underperforming, the reaction of many managers is to try new incentives and ratchet up oversight and control. Yet often nothing improves. Why? Because the assumption behind such conventional approaches is that work is fundamentally contractual and that employees are self-interested agents who will seek to minimize personal effort. And that assumption becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: Employees do just what is needed to earn a reward or meet a standard, and nothing more.</p>
<p>But there is another way: Rally the organization behind an authentic higher purpose&#8212;an aspirational mission that explains how employees are making a difference and gives them a sense of meaning. If you do that, they will try new things, move into deep learning, and make surprising contributions. The workforce will become energized and committed, and performance will climb.</p>
<p>In this article, Quinn and Thakor describe how organizations like DTE Energy, KPMG, and Sandler O&#8217;Neill have dramatically increased employee engagement after discovering their higher purposes. The authors outline eight steps other companies can follow to break free of the conventional thinking about worker motivation, help a higher purpose permeate decisions throughout the company, and set off a positive chain of events.</p>

Creating a Purpose-Driven Organization

When employees are disengaged and underperforming, the reaction of many managers is to try new incentives and ratchet up oversight and control. Yet often nothing improves. Why? Because the assumption behind such conventional approaches is that work is fundamentally contractual and that employees are self-interested agents who will seek to minimize personal effort. And that assumption becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: Employees do just what is needed to earn a reward or meet a standard, and nothing more. But there is another way: Rally the organization behind an authentic higher purpose—an aspirational mission that explains how employees are making a difference and gives them a sense of meaning. If you do that, they will try new things, move into deep learning, and make surprising contributions. The workforce will become energized and committed, and performance will climb. In this article, Quinn and Thakor describe how organizations like DTE Energy, KPMG, and Sandler O’Neill have dramatically increased employee engagement after discovering their higher purposes. The authors outline eight steps other companies can follow to break free of the conventional thinking about worker motivation, help a higher purpose permeate decisions throughout the company, and set off a positive chain of events.

Creating a Purpose-Driven Organization

Summary.

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