What’s the meaning?
- Dec
- 19
Why is meaning important?
When we have more meaning we have more of a reason WHY. I think this ‘why’ is summed up well by the 19th Century German Philosopher Frederich Nietzsche who said ‘He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how’.
On a personal level, with meaning we have more motivation, and are more resilient in the face of obstacles. The implication from Nietzsche’s quote above is that we should seek to build as much meaning and relevance into our lives as we can.
But what about in the workplace? If you asked your employees the following questions what would their responses be and how much would they actually care?
• If our organisation were a person what would you like about them?
• Which of our organisation’s beliefs and values make you feel proud?
• How can we keep our products and services relevant to the lives of customers as markets, technology and other circumstances change?
If employees and customers care about and feel connected to our organisation the more likely they’ll be to choose, and then recommend us to others and forgive us when things don’t go so well.
How can we create meaning?
Sociocultural, Environmental and Economic Drivers
Looking at the diagram above we can see that there are social, cultural, environmental and economic drivers that can help us create wellbeing, whether that be at an individual, team or organisational level.
A good place to start is with our THINKING. If we ‘think we can or we think we can’t we’re probably right’. The way we think about things gives them meaning. If we can change our thinking we can bring new meaning to the things that are important in our lives.
FEELING is another area. If we can understand and then use our emotions positively it can bring greater meaning to our lives. As an example, we may feel anxious or excited about giving a presentation. If we can focus on the excitement we will more likely deliver a better presentation than if we focus on anxious feelings.
BEHAVIOURS, actions and habits are another driver of meaning. It is often said we are what we do. By changing our habits we can give greater meaning to our lives. If we move more and exercise we become fitter. With greater fitness we can do more.
IDENTITY refers to non material parts of our lives such as character, personality, values and beliefs. The more we understand ourselves the better we can align our lives with who we are. For example, how do our character, personality, values and beliefs align with the organisations we choose to have in our lives?
FRIENDSHIPS determine who we share our experiences with. Our friends, work colleagues and acquaintences all bring greater meaning to our lives through their different perspectives. Choosing who we decide to spend our time with can affect the quality of our lives.
WAY of LIFE is about our culture. Our language, technology, food, art, music, architecture, religion, clothing, rituals, political system, leadership, legal frameworks and more all help us to express who we are both individually and as part of a collective. All of these things bring meaning to our lives, either in a postive of negative way. By changing these elements in our lives we can create greater meaning.
AFFINITY with spaces, places and our planet gives us meaning. If we like where we live and work we feel good. We may bring greater meaning to our lives if we make changes to our spaces and places or, we can choose to move.
Finally our NEEDS give meaning to our lives. If we need more we must work harder to earn money. By thinking about what we really need and what is important we can shape our lives differently. Of course this element also extends to how we can better meet the needs of others.
Hopefully you can see that all of these drivers of greater meaning can work at a personal, team and organisational level both for ourselves and the people we are aiming to help.
Evolving meaning
It’s very easy to get bogged down and try to create something perfect rather than evolving as things get thrown at us. New challenges will be encountered and we will all have to change and grow as individuals, teams and organisations. Creating greater meaning in our lives is an ongoing process.
Take the first step today by getting in touch. The following coaching and speaking services are designed to help individuals, teams and organisations create greater meaning, improve wellbeing and to thrive.
Thriving – Our signature coaching programme for personal holistic wellbeing mastery
Wellbeing Mastery for Leaders – A unique one to one coaching programme for leaders delivering fantastic personal and organisational benefits through a holistic and systemic focus on wellbeing
Wellbeing Designed Organisations – A workshop and mastermind group for leaders who commit to transforming their organisations through wellbeing-centred approaches
Topic Focused Coaching