Idea 9 - Is your work boring and pointless? Here's a quick trick to help you enjoy it.

When I was 16, I undertook some work experience in a local engineering firm. My job was to solder resistors onto circuit boards. I was taught how to arrange the board and how to solder, and, after a week, I thought I was pretty good at it. Within a month, I was the fastest solderer in the room. I was completing more circuit boards than anyone else. Yes, the test department rejected a few of my boards, but that didn’t matter because, even with the rejects, I was still way ahead of the rest of the team.

At only 16 I was already better than these experienced adults around me. I felt good.

I was an old looking 16 yr old :) - Photo by Kumpan Electric

And then the client came and talked to us. He sat down on a workbench in the middle of the room and thanked us for our work. He explained to us that our boards went into a pain relief machine that controlled a large needle that was inserted near the patient’s spine. He showed us pictures of doctors using it in hospitals and explained the complexity of the whole procedure. Without looking at me, he explained why it was critical that these machines never failed and how the quality of our work had a direct effect on the patient’s outcome. He’d never had a machine fail and he thanked us for the care we had taken in our work.

Although he was speaking to everyone in the room, I knew it was me who needed to get the message. My 16 year old brain had been obsessed with winning my imaginary soldering race and being better than everyone else. I was so focused on myself, I had fundamentally misunderstood what was needed of me.

When I’d started my work experience I’d been told what to do, I’d even been told how to do it but I’d never been told why I was doing it, and that made all the difference.

The test department never rejected one of my circuit boards again.

The importance of purpose

One of the key drivers of workplace happiness is purpose.

You need to understand why you are doing your work, the impact it is making, and to be recognised for your efforts. 

If you feel your work has purpose you are happier.

Why you need to understand the “why”

Understanding why you are doing your job is a key factor in feeling your work has purpose. If you understand the reason you are doing your job it will give you greater clarity in your role and will also play a key part in helping you decide how you approach your work.

If you are a manager or team leader, helping your team understand why they are doing their work will not only make them happier but, as a result, they will also be much more closely aligned to the business goals of the task, making actual success far more probable.

Understanding why you are doing your work won’t just make you happier; the work you do will be better.

Definition of success

A little trick you can use to help explain why is to create a “definition of success”.

If you are a manager, tell your team what success looks like. Tell them a story, let them visualise it. “Success to me is …”

When our client told us “success is this machine working perfectly and the patient walking home without back pain for the first time in 20 years,” I knew that success wasn’t the amount of boards I could do in a hour it was that every circuit board I made never, ever failed.

At Zappos (the online shoe store bought by Amazon for lots of money) success is defined by the customer always being happy. Having such a clear definition of success makes it super easy for their customer support team to know what to do in all situations. They will do almost anything to make you happy, you can even call them up and ask them to order you a pizza.

This week’s tip:

Just ask why. Next time you are given a task that you think has no sense and is demoralising, get some context, ask why you are doing it. It’ll give you a little more meaning to your work.

If you are a team leader or business owner, tell your team what success looks like. Give them your definition of success. You may own a restaurant “Success is every diner walking out the restaurant with a big smile on their face” It will help your team understand what is important to you and give them a sense of meaning (and also a little autonomy too).

Imagine if restaurant workers were told to just make people smile and were then rewarded for it … Photo by Brooke Cagle

Understanding why you are doing your job gives you a little purpose and fulfils the human needs of dignity and meaning.

Useful articles

Youtube - Simon Sinek’s viral Ted talk on “Why”

Gartner research 2023 on importance of feeling purpose at work

Interview with Zappo’s CEO - Tony Hseih (2010)

Next week … How to help your team feel more comfortable taking risks.

Want some more help making your team happier?

Book a free call with me. I offer company workshops and keynotes, but if you just want a chat I would be more than happy to give you some pointers.