In every team, one question arises: “What’s the point of what we’re doing (anymore)? ” Only purpose, beyond bonus systems or career promises, can sustain collective performance. Managers are the lever that makes it tangible.
For a long time, we believed that values and organizational purpose were enough to mobilize teams. But what truly drives engagement is how they are embodied, translated into everyday actions : a briefing, feedback, a decision, and so on.
Restoring prominence to what truly matters.
In our professions, projects move at breakneck speed, sometimes at the expense of understanding their real impact: we must then restore the sense of usefulness.
Example: a UX manager might start a project not with a list of specs, but with a clear intention: “Our goal isn’t just to lower the bounce rate, but to rebuild trust within the first 10 seconds.”
Another simple yet powerful lever: make the impact of your work visible. User testimonials shared with the team, concrete impact data, feedback from peers or other teams—it’s in this mirror of impact that intrinsic motivation is reborn.
Rewriting meaningful trajectories over short horizons.
In an uncertain context, the grand vision is no longer enough: you need three-month milestones that are clear and meaningful.
Example: instead of saying “we’re restructuring our offering”, a marketing director can set a short-term milestone: “By end of September, we will have tested 3 new ways to speak to our most skeptical customers.”
This approach provides clear direction and creates a sense of shared momentum. Purpose becomes a tool for tactical alignment.
Restoring agency.
One of the most powerful destroyers of purpose is the feeling of powerlessness. During times of crisis, teams adapt and execute, but go quiet and drift away from the “why.”
Managers have the power to restore zones of autonomy, however modest:
- Internal micro-challenges : “What’s the small detail preventing us from moving faster or better? Find it. Test a solution this week.”
- Freedom to reframe briefs : allow teams to rephrase a request to make it more engaging.
- Out-of-the-box initiatives : launch a parallel useful project (e.g., a homemade onboarding guide), valued as an act of initiative.
These practices activate creativity, the sense of contribution, and the pride of taking action, even amid uncertainty.
Making purpose a “living” conversation.
Purpose is not a finished product you hand out to your team once and for all. It’s co-created. This happens through simple questions, asked regularly : “Does this project feel meaningful to you?”, “What stood out most for you this month?”, “If you had to sum up what we’re trying to accomplish, what would you say?”
Example: A digital content manager organizes a “purpose circle” at the end of each sprint, where everyone shares something that made them proud, frustrated, or surprised. This 15-minute ritual transforms culture.
This is a posture of managerial curiosity, which fuels engagement.
Embody what you want to transmit.
Finally, nothing creates more dissonance than a manager who preaches wellbeing and work-life balance while overloading their teams, or who champions transparency without admitting what they don’t know.
Embodiment is coherence between words and actions.
Saying: “I don’t know yet, but here’s how we’ll move forward“, refusing an overloaded project: “No, this exceeds our capacity, and preserving the team is more strategic than this short-term gain“, sharing a mistake as a learning opportunity—these practices don’t weaken authority; quite the opposite! They strengthen credibility and thus the ability to mobilize.
Purpose is not an “HR bonus”: carrying it is an integral part of the manager’s daily role, especially when everything is in flux.
