“My work feels meaningless.”
That’s a sentiment I hear every single day in my career coaching practice. Many clients talk about their jobs as “fine enough” but say that they end work days feeling flat and empty. They describe their energy sinking as the week goes on, even when there doesn’t happen to be excessive stress or a particularly intense workload at hand.
“Is there something wrong with me?” is the common follow up question.
“No,” I say. “It’s human nature to want and need something deeper in our lives. ‘Fine enough’ isn’t actually enough. That state of being drains us.”
Usually that’s when I see relief unfurl.
Meaning At Work Can Be Self-Generated – In The Right Conditions
Knowing that our need for “something more” at work – i.e., meaning – is normal can be helpful. But how do we get that “something more”? And can we create it for ourselves?
“Our research shows that meaningfulness is largely something that individuals find for themselves in their work,” wrote Catherine Bailey and Adrian Madden in their comprehensive study published in MIT Sloan Management Review. “But meaninglessness is something that organizations and leaders can actively cause.”
In other words, we can generate meaning at work – as long as our employers don’t get in our way!
This rings true with my coaching clients’ experiences, and my own frequent attempts at job crafting throughout my career. Given “good enough” organizations and bosses, we can intentionally create a sense of “more than enough” at work. But if our environments are stifling, conflict-laden, hierarchically rigid and/or inhumane, all the efforts in the world won’t make a difference.
Bailey and Madden identified seven particular ways that employers often undermine the creation of meaningful work. They do so by:
- Impeding employees’ connection to their values
- Failing to recognize employees’ efforts
- Tasking people with pointless activities
- Having inequitable policies and/or practices
- Making people act against their better judgment
- Breaking social connections
- Harming or causing the risk of emotional or physical harm
Why We Need To Actively Create Meaning at Work
If these unhealthy elements are not present in our workplace, then we should be all clear to create meaning at work – and it is indeed a “creation” process. Since meaning is a subjective experience, what feels meaningful to one worker may not feel that way to the next one.
Furthermore we find more satisfaction when we put effort into pursuing what we want. Instead of being spoon-fed a meaningful experience, the hunt and proactivity can be satisfying in and of themselves.
For instance, how do we make sense of the drudgery of work? Regardless of salary bracket, level of influence, intrinsic interest in the primary tasks, and other work variables, every job includes elements we’d rather not do – but have to.
Bailey and Madden found this to be a common refrain in their research. “When individuals described some of the sources of meaninglessness they faced in their work, they often talked about how to come to terms with the tedious, repetitive, or indeed purposeless work that is part of almost every job.”
The “coming to terms” in that line is key. If we want to reach a truly meaningful interpretation of our tasks, that interpretation needs to be self-generated.
I could tell a client how to reframe a tedious task – such as seeing boring timesheet approvals as a means of providing for employees and their families – but such a directive is always met with a blank stare (believe me, I’ve tried!). If, however, through coaching questions the client lands at the exact same line of thinking, it suddenly has a sizzle.
The client did the meaning making and that makes all the difference to the experience itself. No one can make meaning for us.
Where To Focus Meaning-Generating Activities
If meaning is self-generated, where should we focus our meaning-making energy for the most effectiveness?
Bailey and Madden point to four key sources of meaningful work:
They go on to state, “Although it is possible for someone to describe meaningfulness at work in terms of just one of the four elements, meaningfulness is enriched when more than one is present in a job, and these four elements can combine to enable a state of holistic meaningfulness.”
So if you’re looking to improve your satisfaction with your “fine enough” job, first make sure your work context isn’t standing in your way (and consider making a change if it is!), then get active about creating meaning by focusing on the four elements Madden and Bailey identified.
Meaning-making is not an overnight fix, but the process alone will be well worth the effort.
Read the full article here