Making Meaning

We all know that the role of the manager is to assign tasks and matching resources, crack the whip (or cajole the team) to ensure it is on track for the deadline. What would a leader do differently if entrusted with the same task? After all, leaders too, have to run organizations, meet customer expectations and create value for all the stakeholders. So what is this new element called ‘making meaning’ doing in an already crowded task list? For long we have considered things like ‘meaning in the workplace’ in the same category as candyfloss and not taken it seriously. That I am afraid is changing. The leader helps people see meaning beyond the limits of the mundane tasks and chores.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche summarized it when he said, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” I read that line in Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning. The book talks about how the existence of meaning and a larger purpose helps people live through even concentration camps. We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.

The role of a leader in the organization is to create meaning for the teams that they work with especially by trying to link the task they are engaged with to a purpose beyond the mundane. We all want to know the reason behind each action. Even children want to know why they must comply with whatever their parents or elders are insisting that they do. When the person doing the task can see the rationale and a larger purpose behind the activity there is greater congruence and possibly a better outcome.  

The authors of the book argue their case in the book Making Meaning: How Successful Business Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences. They argue that the brands need to observe, define and describe meaningful customer experience. They go on to describe 15 of these on their website. These are 15 experiences customers seek. The authors seek to give examples of brands that stand for those meanings. For instance the Nike tagline Just Do It, fuels the customer need for Accomplishment by achieving goals and making something of oneself.  

And that’s what people look for when they come to work. They come looking for work, but what the leaders can do is to make meaning for them. Why is what they are doing making a difference? Why is doing some dull routine work changing the world somewhere or making a difference to someone. We all want to find meaning. But not all of us can find it by ourselves. And even fewer can help others find it. Leadership is the art of making meaning. When Steve Jobs tries to talk about changing the world by using an Apple product, he creates meaning for a lot of people. A leader’s role is to help others see the invisible. To hear words when everyone is hearing silence and to see ray when everyone is caught up in darkness.

As I was reading through the 15 meanings brands create for others, I was struck by how many of those apply just as well to employees. Employees seek a higher purpose in their workplace. The organizations that help the employees shape meaning get a workforce that is more engaged. The willingness to do discretionary work coupled with the intention to stay results in engagement. People want to make a difference, they want to belong, they want to be part of something that not just pays the bills, but also feeds the soul.

Tony Robbins talks about the importance of creating meaning in this video. The meaning creates the energy that eventually determines the quality of engagement. What does it all mean? Why am I am doing what I am doing? Is there a larger purpose that I am serving?

What can the organizations do to create meaning?

1. Perhaps the most powerful approach is to do customer “immersions”. How do the customers use the product or service? Do they use it in ways that are different from what we had originally envisaged? For instance, Colgate’s dental cream is used extensively in Zaveri Bazaar – the jewellery making district of Mumbai, India. Besides using it to brush their teeth, they use it to bring glitter into the silver ornaments. What are the occasions when they use the product or service? What are the emotions the consumers experience as they use the product?

2. Give time to employees to volunteer a part of their time to a cause they care deeply about. It is not just about giving a day’s wages to the cause but what creates meaning is to make a difference to the marginalized in whatever form possible.

Imagine if the leader could create any of the 15 meanings: Beauty, Duty, Community, Creation, Enlightenment, Freedom, Harmony … to build a more meaningful workplace.

I recently met Gurnek Bains the author of the delightful book Meaning Inc - the Bluprint for Success in the 21st Century. Gurnek, who runs YSC, the corporate psychology consultancy says that “making your employees’ work more meaningful can reinvigorate their engagement, and improve your profits, productivity and public relations.”  Gurnek’s view is that the definition of successful leaders is going to include helping people make sense of an increasingly complex world. People want to for organizations they can be proud of. The rise of socially conscious customers means that they choose to support organizations whose meaning they resonate with.

In the film Life is Beautiful, Guido is in a concentration camp with his five year old son. In order to keep his son’s faith intact in this world he tells him, it is only a game that they are a part of.  Click here to see one of the most inspirational scenes from this must-watch film.

Read more: So what kind of experiences do people value? Here is the interesting set of insights from http://www.makingmeaning.org/meanings.html

Read the interview with Gurnek at http://www.psymmetry.com/news/pdf/SCMP%20July%2021%202007.pdf

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