How to Find Your Authentic Motivation in 2022

This insight post is a summary of the original blog post published by Marta Muir of Onva. View the original, full-length blog post. 

Even though the great resignation and socio-economic pressures have followed us into 2022, – let’s not give up hope so early in the year just yet. In this blog post, our partners at Onva offer multiple steps companies can take to get people in the door and keep them there.  

Motivation can come from both oneself and one’s organization – the key is aligning personal and organizational purpose. 

When people have bought into a clear company purpose, it’s much easier for them to have authentic motivation. Otherwise, you get a laundry list of benefits that don’t make your people any happier.  

Step One – Make sure you have a clear company purpose and that everyone knows how they contribute to achieving it 

A McKinsey Survey on organizational purpose found that 82% of employees think it’s important to have a company purpose, 72% think purpose should receive more weight than profit but only 42% think their organization’s purpose drives impact. 

While there is no magic formula for creating a company purpose that unites and motivates, it must come from the hearts of the leadership team. If it doesn’t, then leadership action will not support the purpose and employees will see through the thin veneer of a statement that has no foundation in belief. 

Creating an inspiring company purpose needs deep reflection on what you and your people believe in and stand for. This may feel a bit overwhelming and challenging, but if you think about what impact your organization has on its main audiences you should be able to identify why you exist and express that in a language that brings this impact to life. 

A few questions you should be asking yourself when fine-tuning your company purpose: 

1. Do I believe in it? 
2. Does trying to achieve it energize or drain me?
3. Will it inspire others? 
4. Is it authentic? 
5. Is it short enough to be memorable but supported by a deep narrative that explains HOW you deliver the Purpose? 
6. Is it central? 
7. Is it relevant to every team and individual? 

For the final two steps on improving employee motivation and company culture, be sure to check out the full blog post How to find your authentic motivation. Re-energizing in the new year. 

Onva was founded to help businesses grow by creating a more compelling Purpose and then bringing that to life through employee engagement and more impactful customer communications.