It’s our nature to seek purpose, and in Chapter 6 of DRIVE, Daniel Pink lays it all out.  Autonomy and mastery are not quite complete without purpose.  Those that are leading an autonomous life, working towards mastery perform at high levels.  Those that lead an autonomous life, working towards mastery, with a greater intention of service can achieve even more.  Pink talks about purpose in organizational life in three realms: goals; words; and policies.

Goals. Going beyond a dollar figure, goals such as building a social/emotional healthy organization, or giving back to society through work, these are some of the ways purpose is brought into organizational goals.

Words.  Listening to how someone is using words can be very telling.  One example used in the book is from Robert B. Reich, former U.S. labor secretary.  He called it the “pronoun test.”  When he visits a workplace, he asks the employees  some questions about their company.  He listens for the pronouns they use.  Do the workers refer to the company as “they” or “we?”  “They” and “we” companies are very different places, he says.  The “we” company is one that employees are most likely to experience autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Policies.  Pink says, “between the words businesses use and the goals they seek sit the policies they implement to turn the former into the latter.” However, this can be a slippery slope of good intentions with ill consequences. Unfortunately implementing policies may do little to improve or change behavior in the work place.  At NE, it is our belief that sometimes policies are written to avoid conflict.  Healthy conflict can be a source of discovering creative ways to bring purpose into the work place.  With policies, employees may meet the minimal standards to avoid punishment – without ever discovering a sense of purpose in their work.

Pink gave the following example as a method for enlisting the power of autonomy in a purpose-centered policy.  Physicians in high-profile settings, like the Mayo Clinic, were allowed to spend 20% of their time with purpose, spending one day a week on the aspect of their job that was the most meaningful to them.  The conclusion of the study found that those doctors were half as likely to experience job burn-out.

In closing, Pink says,”A healthy society – and healthy business organizations – begins with purpose and considers profit as a way to move toward that end, or a happy by-product of its attainment.“  “The science shows that the secret to high performance… is our deep-seated desire to direct our own lives, to extend and expand our abilities, and to live a life of purpose.”

My perception and experience as a business owner sees this chapter as very validating for where we are and where we are going as NE.  From day one we wanted to create a business model that complimented who we are, and focused on authentically practicing what we train and facilitate for others.

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Jamie

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