The belief that what you are doing will deliver meaningful benefits to the world − be it on a global scale or at a macro level, with customers, colleagues or family − is an extremely important and powerful quality of a quest. As Larry Page, the CEO of Google says, “if you’re changing the world, you’re working on important things. You’re excited to get up in the morning.”
Increasingly leaders are discovering that meaningfulness at work is one of the most potent—and underutilised—ways to increase productivity, engagement, and performance. Studies show that, employees who derive meaning from their work are more than three times as likely to stay with their organizations. And the employees who have meaning don’t just stick around longer. They also report 1.7 times higher job satisfaction, and are 1.4 times more engaged at work.
In Europe and the United States levels of disengagement can reach over 70%. So considerable quick wins and long-term productivity and effectiveness gains can be made by focusing on being a leader and organisation that delivers meaningfulness for employees and the society you touch.
In this video Dean van Leeuwen co-founder of TomorrowToday and author of the book Quest: Competitive Advantage and the Art of Leadership in the 21st Century, talks about the power of building meaningfulness and purpose into leadership and organisational DNA.