![]() ![]() While strategy will evolve, your culture and sense of purpose should be long-lasting. When you can zoom out and see how we are making a difference, that’s energizing in the face of the day-to-day challenges. “The ability to connect our own purpose to the mission sustains us. The company’s Chief People Officer, Kathleen Hogan, told me: The goal of the conversation was to help them figure out how the Microsoft platform could help them realize their senses of purpose. He and his leadership team held an intimate discussion in which they each spoke about what they want to achieve through their work. Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, serves as an example. Senior leaders are in a unique position to help them do this. Plenty of research shows that when people are able to connect the purpose of their organization to their purpose as individuals, they are happier and more engaged at work. As leaders move up and become further removed from these responsibilities, using their power to foster a deeper sense of purpose throughout their division or department is the greatest contribution they can make. They forget that supervisors and middle managers have more direct influence over the factors that impact employee satisfaction and are best equipped to address it. Many senior leaders take it personally when they learn people in their organization are unhappy. In my experience consulting with executives on how to find this balance, I’ve found that making the following shifts in mindset are particularly important.įrom individual happiness to collective purpose. To move past this fear and become better leaders, people in positions of power need to find a balance between making decisions that serve the greater good of their organizations while still remaining appropriately concerned about the emotional wellbeing of those below them. ![]() When this fear takes over, they can become over-sensitive and start to personalize the unhappiness of others. ![]() Many senior leaders, as a consequence, have a fear of being viewed as cold or uncaring. Further complicating the issue - employee engagement surveys aggregate feedback into large clusters, making it challenging for executives to weigh accurate data into their decisions. “Everyone is going to be unhappy,” for example, is likely not true. People at the top often get exaggerated, anecdotal opinions about how people at the bottom are feeling about any given issue. This paradox can make seemingly obvious choices difficult to make. Doing what is right for their company and doing what will make their employees happiest are not always mutually exclusive. This is largely because, as employees rise within their organization, their responsibilities shift from considering how their team feels to shaping organizational ethos. Senior employees often have the power to make decisions that will significantly impact the collective work experience of the people below them, but at the same time, they are removed from those people. Megan’s question brings up a dilemma that is common for most executives. “I’m trying to help weather a crisis here,” she said, “and he wants me to worry about people being happy?” Though Megan kept her cool during the meeting, she vented to me shortly after. Everyone is going to be unhappy about that.” The company’s engagement scores had taken a hit earlier that year, and her colleague feared this change would only make things worse. We’re asking them to do a lot of extra work. ![]() Once they had finished outlining an ambitious plan, her colleague exhaled, “We need to be careful about how we communicate this to our teams. She and her department heads held a meeting to strategize how to address it. My client, Megan, was facing a major customer challenge at her company. ![]()
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