My first job was in a small engine repair shop. We sold and repaired lawnmowers, weed eaters, and chainsaws.
I loved the job. I love fixing and assembling things—except for Ikea furniture. (Is it part of their design not to line up the holes?)
And I liked making money because I wanted a video switcher/editor from Radio Shack.
Besides making money and enjoying the work, I never once thought about WHY we were doing what we were doing.
Why were we fixing and selling lawnmowers and chainsaws?
With the gift of nearly 40 years and a broader perspective, I now see it.
We were fixing lawnmowers so that people would mow their lawns. A mowed lawn increases curb appeal, provides the mower a sense of satisfaction and keeps critters away from a house.
We were selling chainsaws so that people could cut down trees. Professional timber cutters cut some trees to make pallets and provide income for their families, and homeowners cut some trees to provide warmth for their families.
Discovering and naming the GREATER WHY of work is critically important in our modern world.
Humans crave making a difference and knowing that what we do matters.
One remarkable example of this comes from Viktor Frankl.
Viktor Frankl was born the middle child of a Jewish family in Vienna in 1905.
“In 1942, Frankl and his family were sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where his father perished. In 1944, the surviving Frankls were taken to Auschwitz, where his mother was exterminated; his wife died later in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
As Frankl observed the brutality and degradation around him, he theorized that those inmates who had some meaning in their lives were more likely to survive; he himself tried to recreate the manuscript of a book he had been writing before his capture.” (Encyclopedia Brittanica)
Frankl, a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who developed the psychological approach known as logotherapy, wrote, “There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life.”
An Amazing Gift
One of the greatest gifts a leader can give a team member is connecting their daily activities to a greater purpose or meaning.
In the busyness of life, we fall into the groove of going through our daily activities without remembering the greater good we are doing.
So this week, spend time connecting the dots to purpose and meaning for your team members and watch morale improve.
