Your WHY @ Work Report ~ Part 2
Understanding your Purpose Scores
Your own personal assessment scores can be found in the email you received. This report (Part 2) helps you to interpret those scores and better understand your motivations for working.
A: Each of the six dimensions is scored between 1 and 100. The higher the score the more that particular dimension is important and relevant to you in your worklife.
B: Your Overall Purpose Score (also scored between 1 and 100) is a total of all six dimensions of purpose . The higher the score the more important it is for you to find and fulfill your personal purpose at work.
A: Your Purpose Scores in each dimension
Look at your score for each dimension. The higher the score the more important that dimension of purpose is to your worklife.
The dimension(s) with the highest score(s) will likely reflect your overall purpose at work to a significant degree.
Learn more about the dimensions where you have scored the highest.
Your centre of gravity
One way to think about your scores is that you have a “centre of gravity” that broadly represents your core motivations for work.
We all have multiple reasons for working, so your motivations may show up across a spectrum of the dimensions, possibly all of them. But your highest score likely corresponds to your centre of gravity, which will be influencing your overall approach and attitude towards your worklife.
This doesn’t mean other dimensions aren’t important too. They usually are. It simply means that your primary motivations are centred here and radiate out to the other dimensions from that dimension.
Your tiers of motivation
As you reflect on your personal purpose scores in each dimension, a useful way of thinking about them is whether they are “bottom heavy” (most of your scores are in the lower levels) or “top heavy” (most scores are in the upper levels). Or maybe they’re mostly in the middle.
To help in that process, consider the three tiers of the purpose pyramid, as shown here:
Thinking about your Purpose Score from the perspective of tiers
A good way to reflect on your score is to look at it from the perspective of which of the three tiers is motivating your current work life? Are you working:
1. to make a living?
2. to develop a career?
3. to follow a calling?
Most work is not so clearly delineated, but the perspective of these three tiers can help you better understand your assessment score and your motivations for work.
First tier is about you as an individual (me)
The first tier constitutes the Survival and Cultural dimensions of the pyramid. These are foundational reasons for working in that they contain the core motivations that anyone works at all. They fulfill the basic needs of having a paycheck and benefits, as well as putting your skills and abilities to good use.
The first tier has a real focus on just you as an individual in relationship to work. These are primarily “me” focused reasons for choosing the job you have.
If your scores are highest in the first tier, it is likely that you are focused on work as a job to make a living, but not much more.
Second tier is about you and others (us)
The second tier consisting of the 3rd and 4th dimensions, Affinity and Existential purpose, has an expanded focus on the collective as it moves from “me” to “us” within the context of work. These dimensions go beyond you as an individual worker to being part of a team, working collaboratively, developing friendships, as well as achieving recognition and status in the workplace.
If your scores are highest in the second tier, it is likely your motivations for work are more in relation to others in the workplace—your fellow workers, close colleagues, business partners, clients and customers. This tier also indicates an evolution in your motivations for working beyond simply having a job that pays the bills, to work for a career that becomes a more significant part of your identity.
Third tier is about you, others, and the wider world (all of us)
The third tier encompasses higher levels of aspiration for your worklife, which can be accurately labelled a calling, something that is driven by an inner conviction and is core to your self-identity.
At the Intrinsic and Transcendent dimensions, your motivation for working extends well beyond money, being part of a team, and excelling at your job. It has more to do with the impact you have on others and the wider world. It’s more about being in service of others and wanting to make a difference. Your motivations and reasons for working have evolved to become a major expression of who you are in the world and how you wish to contribute.
If your scores are highest in the third tier, it’s likely your motivations for working are more about helping to solve the bigger problems that face our communities and our planet, using work to help transform your company, industry, or community in ways that create a better world for all.
B: Your Overall Purpose Score
Your Overall Purpose Score is based on ALL six dimensions of purpose.
In general, the higher your Overall Score, the more meaning and purpose you want your worklife to provide.
Your motivations in each dimension are idiosyncratic in that they are a reflection of who you are as a person and what you want to experience at work.
Some of us work mainly for the income we receive (Survival Purpose).
Some of us work because we enjoy using our skills and applying our knowledge (Cultural Purpose).
Some of us work primarily because we enjoy workplace camaraderie and contributing to team effort (Affinity Purpose).
Some of us work because it allows us to excel and achieve status and awards (Existential Purpose).
Some of us work because it enables us to make a difference in the world that we believe is important (Intrinsic Purpose).
Some of us work because it allows us to be in service of others and create a better future for all humanity (Transcendent Purpose).
All these are perfectly good and valid motivations for working. Which dimension is your primary motivating purpose for working?
Dimensions transcend and include
Remember that the Six Dimensions of Purpose@Work represent a developmental hierarchy, meaning that lower dimensions support and enable higher levels.
In this way, even though your purpose for working may primarily be owing to the connections and camaraderie you have (Affinity Purpose), that doesn’t mean that getting a paycheck is not important (Survival Purpose), or that using your talents (Cultural Purpose) don’t matter. They do.
Whatever your reasons and however important, your worklife can be a significant factor in defining who you are.
For some, work is an integral part of our self-identity, while for others, work is simply a necessary sideshow to other things or activities in our life that have more importance.
Thinking about your Overall Purpose Score from the perspective of tiers
A good way to reflect on your Overall Score is to look at it again from the perspective of which of the three tiers is motivating your current work life? Are you working:
1. to make a living?
2. to develop a career?
3. to follow a calling?
There are no value judgments here, it’s just good to be clear about what your worklife means to you and what role it plays in your life.