Social science calls out five sources of meaning for people at work: impact on society, customers, company, team, and the individual.
Based on global surveys, it turns out the population splits itself evenly across all five indicating no one source of meaning is dominant. It is worth noting that we all have a “primary” source, but that does not preclude us from finding meaning in other ways.
Source: Based on Making work meaningful from the C-suite to the frontline
Think about which of the five sources of meaning resonate most with you.
Where could you use the five sources of meaning in your ongoing work?
How can you gain better insight into what is meaningful to other individuals and communities?
Use this tool to build various communications that will resonate with multiple stakeholder groups. Be sure to test with a few people first!
Ask questions to understand what matters most to others in the work they are doing or in the community they are trying to build.
Remain judgment free! No one source is “better” or more “noble” than the other.
During the collabathon we discussed how to use the five sources of meaning framework to draft messages for different stakeholder groups (A funder, policy makers, and a farmer). The goal was to get them to see the value of equitable access to ecosystem service markets (ESM). Examples generated include:
Connecting with a Funder:
Connecting with a Policy Maker:
Connecting with a Farmer:
Running on all five sources: Actions leaders can take to create more meaningful work for tips on embedding meaning into work
This is a growing, evolving, and community-created resource. Please share any additional resources, personal experiences using this tool, or ways this page could be improved!