What is meaningful work?
People work for many reasons - some are obvious (I am paid to work), some are not as obvious (work is where my friends are). Research evidence and case studies testify to the reality that understanding how people approach work and what they get from it is vital to learning how to achieve the best possible outcomes for individuals and organizations. Few other avenues offer as much promise for accomplishing valued outcomes as creating meaning in work - both in terms of individual flourishing, citizenship, commitment, and engagement and in terms of long-term, sustainable innovation, culture maintenance, and performance in organizations.
Where does meaning in work come from?
Meaningful work can come from the individual or the organization. Some people bring a sense of meaning and mission with them to the workplace, and some organizations excel at creating meaningful workplaces where every employee becomes part of creating success, cohesiveness, and culture at work.
My Work
My research and consultation focuses on identifying and cultivating the conditions that enable people to engage in meaningful work. Toward this end, I have developed a multidimensional measure of work meaning, and have engaged in efforts to identify organizations that are succeeding in attracting or cultivating, and retaining, meaning-motivated workers. Part of this work involves understanding the features of these successful organizations and leaders. Another part of this work involves developing interventions to address the needs of organizations interested in increasing their effectiveness, and leaders and employees who either want to experience greater meaning in their own work or more effectively foster meaning in the work of their followers.
Several examples of my scholarly work on this topic can be found as links from my Curriculum Vita.
Consultation
I co-founded VOCÉ Consulting to help individuals and organizations put meaning to work for them. Consultation inquiries can be sent through the VOCÉ Consulting webpage, or through email.