The second post in a six-part series on finding meaning in your managerial role.
Management isn’t just about tasks and challenges – it’s also about those small, powerful moments that remind you why you do what you do. These moments aren’t random; they reveal what truly matters to you. In this post, we’ll explore how to identify those moments and connect them to your daily work.
Step One: Spot the Meaningful Moments
Pause and reflect on the past month. When did you feel most significant?
Maybe it was when you helped a team member overcome a challenge, led your team to success on a complex project, or solved a problem requiring creative thinking.
Ask yourself: What exactly happened, and what made that moment feel so special?
Example: Think of a meeting where you shared an original idea, and it was enthusiastically received and led to meaningful change. That’s a moment of real impact.
Step Two: Find the Common Thread
Look at several moments like these. Try to identify if there’s a pattern. Are your meaningful moments tied to leadership? Supporting others? Achieving results?
Simple exercise: Write down three moments, and next to each, add a word that describes why it mattered to you.
Example: If all your moments involve mentoring and empowering others, your sense of meaning might come from your ability to develop the people around you.
Step Three: Learn About Yourself From These Moments
These moments don’t just tell you what you do – they reveal who you are as a manager.
They show you what truly drives you and gives you a sense of purpose in your role.
Example: If you realize your most meaningful moments involve solving complex problems, it’s a sign to focus on challenges that require creativity and innovative solutions.
Step Four: Plan for More of These Moments
Now that you understand the kinds of moments that make you feel significant, start creating more of them.
This could mean planning projects that align with your strengths, initiating conversations with your team, or focusing on challenges where you know you make the biggest difference.
Example: If your meaning comes from personal connections with your team, set aside time weekly for one-on-one conversations that strengthen relationships and mutual support.
To Summarize the Post
The moments when you feel most significant are a mirror reflecting what truly matters to you in your role. By identifying and creating more of them, you’ll feel more connected to your daily work.
In the next post, we’ll talk about turning these insights into clear, actionable daily habits that align with your values and goals.
The first post in a six-part series on finding meaning in your managerial role.
Management is one of the most challenging roles. There’s so much responsibility, daily pressure, and constant problems to solve. Amid all this, it’s easy to forget why you chose this role in the first place.
This post will help you reconnect with your personal “why” – to understand what truly drives you and find meaning in what you do.
Step One: Reflect on Moments That Felt Right
Pause for a moment and think about the times in your role when you felt truly meaningful and fulfilled.
Perhaps it was when you successfully led a major project, supported a team member through a challenge, or tackled a complex problem and found a solution.
Ask yourself: What exactly about that moment made you feel significant?
Example: Think back to a time when a team member came to you with a personal issue, and you helped them find a solution. Seeing them return to work with renewed energy was a moment of real impact.
Step Two: Identify the Common Thread
Think about several similar moments and try to figure out what they have in common. Are they about helping others? Leading change? Or maybe it’s about your ability to handle challenges?
Simple exercise: Write down three significant moments and add a word next to each that explains why it was meaningful to you.
Example: If all the moments involve teamwork, your sense of meaning might come from connecting with people and supporting them.
Step Three: Understand Your Inner Motivation
These moments reveal what’s truly important to you in your role. Your motivation might be the desire to make an impact, a sense of purpose, or the determination to achieve big goals.
This motivation is your personal “why” – the reason you keep going.
Example: If your motivation is leading change, it might mean focusing on initiatives that allow you to drive meaningful projects forward.
Step Four: Integrate Your Motivation Into Your Routine
The most important step is turning your motivation into part of your daily work.
This might mean planning time for projects that align with your values, having meaningful conversations with your team, or prioritizing challenges that need your attention.
Example: If your motivation is solving problems, you could dedicate time each day to addressing the most pressing challenges and bringing them to resolution.
To Summarize the Post
Finding meaning in your role begins with identifying what truly drives you. Once you understand this, the path to building a deeper connection to your work becomes much clearer.
In the next post, we’ll discuss how to identify the moments when you feel most significant and how to use them as a roadmap for purpose-driven management.
People told me: “You write a lot about management, but ultimately, who really influences our actions as managers is our manager.” And this made me think… Right! Our manager is one of a group of people and factors that influence us daily, and each of them has their own interests. Maybe our manager is the most influential, but there are others.
So I decided to write a series of posts about all those stakeholders who influence us as managers, and one of the most important among them is truly your manager.
So who are these stakeholders?
A stakeholder is anyone who can be affected by your decisions and actions. This might sound a bit complex at first, but it’s simpler than it seems. Think about it: this includes your manager, your employees, customers, suppliers, competitors, and even regulatory bodies. Each of them has their own goals, and each can impact your success. Correctly identifying all these stakeholders will help you understand what each of them wants or needs, and thus you can manage more intelligently.
So why is this so important?
Because as managers, we don’t operate alone. Every action of ours touches many people around us, and if we don’t understand what each person wants from us, we might miss the point. When we correctly identify stakeholders, we can improve communication, collaborate more effectively, and achieve better results – for ourselves and for them.
In the next post, we’ll talk about your manager – the central stakeholder who influences you and how you can build a good relationship that will help you succeed in your role.
In the next five posts, we will review 5 different theories of motivation. In the last post, the sixth, we will be practical and find the common denominators among all the theories – things that, if implemented correctly, will greatly increase the motivation of the people we manage.
“Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl – Motivation in Meaning
Viktor Frankl, a Jewish-Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist, wrote the famous book “Man’s Search for Meaning” after surviving Nazi concentration camps. The book presents Frankl’s theory, logotherapy, which focuses on the search for meaning in life as a means to overcome difficulties and challenges. Although the book mainly focuses on extreme situations of personal suffering, its insights are very relevant to the world of management and business.
Meaning as a Driver for Success.
One of Frankl’s central insights is that the search for meaning is a basic human need. In the modern era, where people seek not only income but also a sense of meaning in their work, managers must understand and address this need to lead successful and happy teams. Employees who feel their work is meaningful are more committed, more creative, and more highly motivated.
How can we provide meaning at work?
1. Clear and inspiring vision: A clear and long-term vision allows employees to understand the general direction of the organization and feel part of something bigger. Such a vision can motivate employees and give them a sense of purpose.
2. Meaningful roles: Ensure that each employee understands their personal contribution to the organization’s success. Explaining the importance of each role, providing positive feedback, and recognizing achievements can improve employees’ sense of meaning.
3. Encouraging personal growth: Encourage employees to learn and develop. Courses, workshops, and professional training not only improve employees’ skills but also give them a sense of personal development and growth.
4. Supportive environment: Create an environment where employees feel supported and valued. Empathetic behavior and understanding the personal needs of employees can create a deeper sense of connection to the organization and meaning in work.
Dealing with Challenges
Frankl talks about the ability to find meaning even in difficult times. In the business world, managers need to know how to lead their teams through periods of uncertainty, failures, and challenges. Meaningful leadership allows employees to see every challenge as an opportunity for growth and learning. This includes:
• Open and transparent communication: Share with employees the challenges and difficulties the organization faces, and show how dealing with these challenges contributes to growth and learning.
• Personal support: Provide personal support to employees during difficult periods, and encourage them to stay focused on their long-term meaning and goals.
• Learning from challenges: See every failure as an opportunity for learning and growth, and encourage employees to do the same.
Empathy and Compassion
Frankl emphasizes the importance of empathy and compassion in difficult times. Managers who show empathy towards their employees build deeper trust and connection. Empathy and compassion are not only moral values but effective tools for managing teams more successfully. For example:
• Active listening: Be attentive to employees’ needs and concerns and respond empathetically.
• Emotional support: Provide emotional support in difficult times and help employees cope with personal and professional difficulties.
In conclusion
Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” provides us with deep insights that are also relevant to the world of management. In an era where meaning is the key to success, we as managers must incorporate these insights into our daily work. By providing opportunities for employees to find meaning in their work, we not only improve performance but also contribute to their personal and professional well-being.
If you have questions or would like to hear more about ways to improve management and lead your teams, contact us. We are here to help you find meaning in your work and lead your organization to success.
Hi there, today’s post might seem theoretical or philosophical but it is very important and has a practical end, so please bear with us. One definition of values is the belief of a person or a social group in which they have an emotional investment. This definition of values doesn’t include any reference to whether the values are “good” or “bad” (of course the perception if something is good or bad is subjective). Even a criminal has values (although they might be very different from the values an ordinary man withholds). When we talk about “values”, our definition is a little more specific. For us values indeed involve a deep emotional investment, but they also include an association with a code of conduct. Our values dictate the way we believe we should behave in many situations. For instance, if one of our values is honesty, it immediately dictates that we’ll do whatever we can in order to tell the truth. Our definition for integrity is how much one is committed to his own values. Again a little different from the dictionary where integrity stands for “moral soundness”. According to our definition if someone’s set of values include the value of honesty and he lies occasionally, it means that his integrity is questionable. Having a high level of integrity is critical when leading people for these reasons: 1. If you and the people you lead share the same values, then following you when you stand up for those values is much easier for your followers. 2. Even if you don’t share exactly the same values, following your values consistently will make your behaviors more understandable and predictable, thus increasing both self confidence and trust of the people you lead. Things become more complex when there is a conflict between different values you hold. For instance, if you hold the value of being polite and the value of honesty, a conflict between those two might arise (as often happens in many cultures). Such a dilemma can be solved if you are able to understand the importance of each value, which value is more important to you, which one is higher in the values hierarchy. A conflict we encountered a few times in the past was the dilemma between being honest (i.e. telling the truth) and causing harm to someone not only by confronting him with some inconvenient criticism but also damaging his self confidence and self esteem when he really needed those. Such conflicts between different values are common in daily life as well as in many managerial situations. It is really important to be able to identify those conflicts and to consciously determine which action should be taken according to the situation and which value prevails in that situation. Being able to do so will keep your high level of integrity and will enable you to explain your decisions and actions even in the more complex situations you encounter. One of our next posts is going to around the subject of giving feedback were such conflict is inherent in the process.
A positive attitude seems trivial. What could be more basic than that?
Well, as trivial as it is, having the habit of maintaining a positive attitude, even in the most demanding situations, is not that simple. We think that in order to do so, one has to clearly understand why it is so important.
Your attitude is one of the first things people will notice about you. We guess that most people won’t start to rationally analyze your attitude, but most of them will surely remain with some sort of first emotional impression about it.
Even more important than this is the fact that usually other people’s reactions toward you will, to some extent, reflect your attitude back to you. As simple as that, if you smile at somebody, they’ll usually smile back. If you whine to someone, they’ll usually immediately start to tell you about their troubles.
The effect of having the right or wrong attitude is even stronger in modern-day organizations with complex, multi-dimensional matrix organizational structures. Unlike past, simple hierarchical organizations where people had the chance to know each other on a more intimate level and get past first impressions, in contemporary organizations, you might interact with people for a very brief moment, and the first impression you make, the one that is largely affected by your attitude, might just be your last one.
Once we understand how crucial it is to maintain a positive attitude, the question that remains is how to do it?
Maybe the first thing to do is understand your current attitude. This can be done by asking people you know about it. You can ask people you trust and think would be honest with you. It is important to also ask people with whom you might have some difficulties (we intend to write a post about feedback in the near future and we’re going to elaborate on this subject more).
Once you understand your current attitude, you’ll probably know which parts are your strengths and which are your shortcomings. We’ve found out that the increased awareness about those behaviors immediately makes us increase the good, positive ones and decrease the bad, negative ones.
Other things that work for us are:
– Smiling a lot without giving up being honest – Being optimistic by seeing the positive side of everything. When we think about this, almost nothing is totally bad or good, you can choose which side you want to emphasize! – Being empathetic to others by really listening and understanding their point of view
Good luck! Please let us know what you think and what works for you.
One definition of values is the belief of a person or a social group in which they have an emotional investment. This definition of values doesn’t include any reference to whether the values are “good” or “bad” (of course the perception if something is good or bad is subjective). Even a criminal has values (although they might be very different from the values an ordinary man withholds). When I talk about “values”, my definition is a little more specific. For me values indeed involve a deep emotional investment, but they also include an association with a code of conduct. My values dictate the way I believe I should behave in many situations. For instance, if one of my values is honesty, it immediately dictates that I’ll do whatever I can in order to tell the truth.
My own private definition for integrity is how much one is committed to his own values. Again a little different from the dictionary where integrity stands for “moral soundness”. According to my definition if someone’s set of values include the value of honesty and he lies occasionally, it means that his integrity is questionable.
Having a high level of integrity is critical when leading people for these reasons:
1. If you and the people you lead share the same values, then following you when you stand up for those values is much easier for your followers.
2. Even if you don’t share exactly the same values, following your values consistently will make your behaviors more understandable and predictable, thus increasing both self confidence and trust of the people you lead.
Things become more complex when there is a conflict between different values you hold. For instance, if you hold the value of being polite and the value of honesty, a conflict between those two might arise (as often happens in many cultures). Such a dilemma can be solved if you are able to understand the importance of each value, which value is more important to you, which one is higher in the values hierarchy. A conflict I encountered a few times in the past month was the dilemma between being honest (i.e. telling the truth) and causing harm to someone not only by confronting him with some inconvenient criticism but also damaging his self confidence and self esteem when he really needed those. Such conflicts between different values are common in daily life as well as in many managerial situations. It is really important to be able to identify those conflicts and to consciously determine which action should be taken according to the situation and which value prevails in that situation. Being able to do so will keep your high level of integrity and will enable you to explain your decisions and actions even in the more complex situations you encounter.
Heart of Management 