Below I’ve highlighted in bold what I believe are the essentials to employment engagement. A lot of it may seem like common sense, but it’s surprising difficult for many people to actually feel that they’re achieving all of these things.

“Purpose is not a noun, it is a verb. It is about how we work. We experience purpose when we do something that’s greater than ourselves. We experience purpose when we push ourselves and grow. We experience purpose as part of a community.”

“When it comes to purpose at work, there are three core drivers that will determine whether we feel fulfilled in what we’re doing: who we serve, how we serve them, and why we serve them.”

“But, there are times when job crafting and meaning-making don’t cut it. There are times when it is important to make a bigger change to a new profession or a new employer. The cliche, backed by research, is that most people take a job for the organization and leave because of their manager. No manager is perfect, but there are managers who are simply not a good fit for someone, or worse yet, are incompetent and undermining the teamwork of those around them. Sadly, most managers are clueless about what motivates their team. When asked to identify what their employees want, the top three things cited are good wages, job security, and promotion opportunities. When employees are actually asked, they report the top three as appreciation, feeling ‘in’ on things, and an understanding attitude. Not only did managers fail to identify these as the top drivers, they put them at the bottom of the list.”