Every Employee Has a Purpose

It's important for leaders to tap into employee engagement to enhance corporate culture. Listen to the Story of Max and find out why.
Hi I'm Dr. John Izzo. Today I'd like to talk to you as a leader about a very important concept and it's simply this: that every person who works for us has a purpose.
Every person who works for us has a reason they get up in the morning besides a pay cheque. And if we can tap into and understand that sense of purpose, amazing things can happen.
Now the research shows that people who work from a sense of calling, a sense of purpose, when people know why they're coming in and the real difference they want to make, that they perform better on every metric we care about as leaders.
But the only question for us is: Do we know that purpose? And are we doing things that activate that sense of purpose within people?
Now I want to tell you a wonderful story about a man named Max. I never met Max but I met the man who led him for many years.
You see, Max was the lead custodian at the University of Montana Law School and I met the Dean who for several decades had a relationship with Max. And one of the interesting things is that he said to me that he always thought Max was great employee, he was very likable, he did his job as a custodian with great care, but it wasn't until Max's retirement party that he realized Max's true purpose.
You see, when Max retired, they had an event for him and invited all the former students to come. And the Dean said he was shocked that scores and scores of high powered lawyers from all over America flew at their own expense to come to Max's retirement party. And it wasn't until many of those lawyers began to speak that the Dean understood Max and his purpose.
You see, one by one the lawyers got up and told amazing stories about the difference Max had made for them.
One lawyer said, In my first year of law school it was so tough, I was so overwhelmed and Max befriended me and I remember one day he pulled me aside and he said Hey, I see you're going through a though time but you see I've seen this happen year after year.
The first year of law school is so tough. Now you hang in there, you've got it just don't let this overwhelm you. Everyone goes through this, don't let it get you down.
Another student said, In my second year of law school I went through a divorce and I was going to quit. I just happened to tell Max one day and I said, Max my wife and I broke up and I'm leaving, I'm out of here. I just can't take it. And Max said, Look, I can't imagine what it's like to go through a divorce in your second year of law school. Law school is tough enough as it is. But here, all I know is if you just hang in there for a couple of months, just give it a couple of months, you can always quit any day you want to you can quit. But if you just hang in there for two more months, would you commit to me just two more months and if you ever need to talk to anyone come to me. And he said, You know what, I hung in there for the two months and I finished law school and I'm so grateful to Max.
Another student said that her father had died while she was in law school and Max would literally just sit with her some days. They would just sit on the stairs and they wouldn't say anything. And Max would say, You know, I lost my dad, I know what it's like. Sometimes all you need is to sit with someone who knows what it's like to do that.
And here's the interesting thing the Dean said to me, that at that retirement party, for the first time he realized what Max's purpose was. Why he got up in the morning all those years. A purpose deeper than keeping the rooms clean or the water running. And he said, I wish I had known sooner what Max's purpose was I wish I had asked him where he found meaning in his work so I could recognize and appreciate him for his purpose so I could really connect to and hear the wonderful stories of what he did.
And then he said, and even more profoundly I was aware that maybe there were many other employees who didn't have that sense of purpose that Max had or weren't aware of their purpose. And I wonder what would have happened if I had asked them, what's your purpose? Why are you getting up in the morning? What excites you about work? What is the real difference you want to make? I wonder, he said, how they might have performed better and how I might have found more meaning in my work if I had done so.
So remember this, every person who works for you has a purpose, the reason they get up in the morning besides a pay cheque and the more you can draw that out to them, the more you can encourage that purpose, the more you can connect to it, the more meaning you will find for yourself as a leader and the greater performance you will find in those that you lead

[@SparksofHealing]

I find this to be true. I know that my purpose cannot be measured in Key Productivity Indicators.

[@drjohnizzo]

Very true. Finding purpose in your work is life changing.