Every organisation has a purpose. A story about who they are and what they seek to achieve. How this story is framed and communicated is a critical part of creating an engaged, motivated and productive workplace.

In last week’s post I mentioned the work of James Kouzes and Barry Posner, published in the book The Leadership Challenge. They identified five practices of exemplary leadership. The first of these they called ‘model the way’, which we discussed last week. The second practice they called ‘inspire a shared vision’. Leaders who communicate a strong vision are seen by their bosses and co-workers alike as more effective than those who do not.

One of the drivers of employee motivation (sometimes called employee engagement) is people understanding the connection between their work and the organisation’s vision and purpose. People perform best when the vision and purpose of their organisation makes them feel that their job is important.

The power of this concept is best illustrated in a story attributed to Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral which was built in the late 1600’s. One day Wren was visiting the worksite for the cathedral when he came across a bricklayer diligently working away. Wren asked him what he was doing and received the reply that he was laying bricks. A little later Wren came across a second bricklayer and he asked him the same question. The reply was that he was making a living. Finally, Wren came across a third bricklayer and asked him what he was doing. With a gleam in his eye, the bricklayer replied that he was building a great cathedral.

It’s obvious from this story which of the three bricklayers felt a personal connection between their work and the purpose of their organisation. It is also clear that, while doing your job and making a living is important, making a contribution to a worthwhile organisational purpose has the capacity to significantly lift motivation and commitment levels.

Put simply, people search for meaning in their work. So the single most important leadership function of senior leaders is to create a focus for organisational activity. In organisations without this focus, or vision, performance slowly dies. Individual work groups create their own vision of how things should be, resulting in too many goals that often conflict with those of others. The resulting loss of organisational focus wastes energy and increases conflict between work groups.

Of course we don’t all have the luxury of working in an organisation which has an inspirational goal or purpose such as building a great cathedral, putting a man on the moon, or ridding the world of malaria. Consequently it’s not always easy to craft a compelling vision. If you need some help, you might find it useful to tap into this resource from the Center for Creative Leadership. Or you could work with an experienced business coach from a company like Results.com.

However, for frontline leaders the task is somewhat simpler. The organisation’s mission, vision and values have already been set. Your job is to consistently remind people how their work contributes to the mission, vision and values of the organisation. You can best do this through the day-to-day conversations you have with your people.

In the end it is not necessary for you to understand why people need to dedicate themselves to a purpose greater than themselves, only that they appreciate and work to fulfil this need. No matter how someone makes sense of the world, and his or her role in it, if they see a connection substantial enough to consider their work a calling, they get more out of their work, and you get more out of them.