Blog Post

Creating meaningful work for employees is a key challenge for leaders. A simple yet effective approach involves asking employees to reflect on what they find most meaningful in their daily tasks. This practice can significantly increase their sense of purpose, fulfillment, and overall positive perception of their work. Keep reading to learn our strategies, and remember, we are here to support you through your challenges and help you grow.

Meaning matters. But leaders and managers struggle with how to create day-to-day meaning for their employees. One simple action – asking employees to reflect on what’s been most meaningful to them – creates an outsized impact on how much positive meaning, fulfillment and purpose they perceive their work to have.

Employees crave meaning at work, regardless of age. Feeling fulfilled and having a sense of purpose is critical for job satisfaction and mental health overall. Beyond individual desires, meaningful work matters for organizations, as those employees who have more fulfillment also have higher productivity, greater retention, and more cohesive teams, according to a study published in 2018 by the Journal of Management Studies.

Employees also expect their managers to actively help them make their work more satisfying and meaningful. Research by author Shawn Achor showed that a majority of employees would forgo a 20% increase in pay for a manager who helped them find more meaning.

Yet managers and leaders often struggle with how to help their employees find more meaningful moments in their work, especially when the tasks they are assigned are boring, mundane and tedious. And more often than not, managers end up destroying meaning at work, instead of creating it.

So many managers who do care about employee satisfaction struggle to balance the daily demands of work with their daily responsibilities. For example, David Poulnot, a vice president of sales at Upside, which offers cash back rewards via a retail mobile app, is himself the manager of a team of seven. He told me in an interview that “when we are deep into our daily to-do lists, meeting with clients and going a mile-a-minute, it’s hard to know how I can get folks to feel excited about the more boring tasks we have to do.

Like many managers, Poulnot knows the importance of meaningful work for his team. However, he has real constraints when trying to support his team in that quest.

There’s a way to quickly make employees’ work matter more. Managers can help employees experience more meaning in their day-to-day work by asking the question:

Why is this simple question so powerful in helping make work more meaningful?

Reflection Creates Meaning and Purpose

The mere act of reflecting on what was meaningful creates meaning. Often we don’t realize or register that something that happened had meaning until we reflect and are asked about it. Researchers Catherine Bailey and Adrian Madden interviewed individuals from ten very different occupations for a report published by the MIT Sloan Management Review. They found that meaning at work is rarely experienced in the moment. Rather, when employees reflected back on moments at work, only then did they recognize that those moments were highly meaningful.

Asking this question encourages employees to pause and ponder. When employees answer this question, they gain greater awareness. Researchers at the Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Amsterdam, just to name a few, found in a paper published by the Tavistock Institute that when employees are more aware (and intentionally aware) of their surroundings, interactions, and co-workers, they find more meaning in everyday tasks. They feel more connected to those around them and feel a greater sense of worth.

Leaders Should Ask Teams to Reflect on What’s Meaningful

Lastly, reflecting on what’s meaningful helps employees to reframe past situations and better understand their impact. For example, a challenging— and perhaps, negative situation — may be appreciated in hindsight as an opportunity for individual growth and transformation. Work that is difficult is more valued by employees, and in reflecting, employees are more likely to realize that the hard task held significant meaning for them. Looking back, employees can feel proud of what they overcame to accomplish the task.

Along those lines, I asked John, one of my students, to reflect on what was most meaningful to him over the course of the semester. He mentioned a situation where he turned down a job offer. John talked about how challenging it was to make that decision, but how proud he felt that he prioritized his individual values over the expectations of those around him. Only when he reflected back did he realize how meaningful that moment was to him, especially in the context of his career journey.

The act of pausing and pondering is simple; but think about how often we do it during our busy work days as leaders and managers. Asking your team members what they found to be most meaningful at work, an exercise that could take no more than five minutes, creates meaning, purpose and fulfillment. Don’t forget to ask yourself that very same question. It allows us to recognize those past moments where we’ve felt fulfilled, deeply satisfied, proud and challenged. It reminds us of moments when our work matters.

Cultivate deeper meaning in your team’s work! Encourage reflection and unlock a greater sense of purpose and fulfillment. Profitable and high-performing companies have teams that collaborate, communicate, and deliver at the highest levels based on clear goals, deep trust, mutual accountability, and a clearly defined purpose. Successful teams do not appear out of thin air. High-performing teams are trained and developed through our proven methodology. To discover more and learn how Third Level can help you create a more engaged and motivated workforce, email Info@ThirdLevel.com. Find us on Instagram @ThirdlevelTeams.

Reference: [https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelpacheco/2025/05/01/this-one-question-leaders-ask-makes-work-matter-more/]