10th November 2020
Inspiring your people in a changing world – It starts with purpose
Inspiration starts with purpose. It’s the central building block on which inspiring workplaces — including virtual workplaces — are formed. Over the last six years, my company Imperative has helped over 150,000 employees discover their purpose at hundreds of employers.
Having a strong sense of purpose is so inspiring because it focuses us on our best selves and enables us to envision a better future. It calls to us to step forward courageously.
In a national study, Imperative found that people who know their purpose are 46% more likely to be fulfilled at work — and fulfillment breeds inspiration.
Most leadership programs have tools to help you discover and define your personal purpose. Where they fall short, however, is in sustaining that purpose over weeks, months, and years. That requires a new approach.
Our study found that a social support system inside a company is crucial. When this is in place, employees rely on each other to help them stay inspired by constantly bringing them back to their sense of purpose. They do this through peer coaching.
At Imperative, we have built a platform that enables peer coaching at scale. We pair people each quarter with another peer inside the company for a set of guided video-based conversations. Each conversation is designed to reinspire them and reconnect them to their purpose and best self. We have found that 80% of the conversations lead to actual changes in behavior and that 98% of those changes positively impact their fulfillment.
This process has always been beneficial, but now it’s downright necessary. The times we’re living through have created increases in stress, worry, exhaustion, social isolation and more. Peer coaching helps serve as an antidote.
It’s time for organizations to build inspiring conversations into the flow of the new world of work. Those who do will be leaders in creating the inspiring workplaces of the future.
This blog is a part of the IW Official Guide: World Mental Health Day Supporting the workplace during the pandemic & beyond. Download the full guide here.