Summary

Duration: 2 hours

Group Size: ~10 participants

Format: In-person, highly interactive

Workshop Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify what makes work meaningful for them personally
• Understand the sources and barriers to meaningful work
• Recognise meaning in their current work (even routine tasks)
• Identify opportunities to increase meaning in their roles
• Create team commitments for fostering meaningful work together
• Leave with practical strategies for sustaining meaning

Materials Needed

• Flipchart/whiteboard
• Post-it notes (multiple colours)
• Printed handouts: Meaningful Work Assessment, Sources of Meaning Framework, Meaning-Making Guide, Work Redesign Toolkit, Personal Action Plan
• Large paper for meaning mapping
• Markers
• Timer
• Name tags/table tents

Process

SEGMENT 1: Opening & Discovery (20 minutes)

Welcome & Context Setting (3 min)

• Brief welcome and workshop objectives
• Ground rules: honest reflection, all experiences valid, focus on what’s possible
• Normalise that meaning can fluctuate and that’s okay

Activity: “Meaning Peaks and Valleys” (17 min)

Purpose: Surface when work feels most and least meaningful to identify patterns

Individual Reflection (6 min):

Think about your work over the past year:

• A time when work felt deeply meaningful (you felt “this matters, I’m making a difference”)
• A time when work felt meaningless (you thought “what’s the point, why am I doing this?”)

Write brief notes about each moment:

• What were you doing?
• What made it feel meaningful or meaningless?
• How did you feel?

Small Groups (8 min):

Groups of 3-4:

• Each person shares one peak and one valley (2 min each)
• Listen for patterns: What creates meaning? What drains it?

Whole Group Harvest (3 min):

Facilitator captures themes on two flip charts:

• “What makes work feel meaningful”
• “What makes work feel meaningless”

Note patterns and common experiences

Frame: “Today we’ll explore how to create more peaks and navigate the valleys—both individually and as a team.”

Facilitator Note: Common meaningful themes include impact, autonomy, using strengths, learning, connection, contributing to something bigger. Common meaningless themes include admin burden, lack of impact visibility, repetitive tasks, unclear purpose, not using skills, disconnection. Listen for both structural barriers and perception gaps. Some may struggle to identify meaningful moments—validate this experience.

SEGMENT 2: Understanding Meaningful Work (15 minutes)

Mini-Teach: What Makes Work Meaningful (15 min)

The Definition:

Meaningful work: Work that feels significant, purposeful, and worthwhile. Work where you can answer “why this matters” in a way that resonates with you personally.

Key Insight: Meaning is both discovered and created. It comes from the work itself AND from how you relate to it.

Why Meaningful Work Matters:

For individuals:

• Higher engagement and motivation
• Greater job satisfaction and wellbeing
• Increased resilience during difficult times
• Stronger sense of identity and self-worth
• Sustained energy and commitment

For teams:

• Better performance and quality
• Lower turnover and absenteeism
• Stronger collaboration and trust
• More innovation and creativity
• Positive team culture

For organisations:

• Competitive advantage in talent
• Higher productivity and results
• Stronger reputation and brand
• Better customer outcomes
• Organisational resilience

The Cost of Meaningless Work:

When work feels meaningless:

• Motivation drops, work feels like drudgery
• People disengage or go through motions
• Wellbeing suffers, burnout risk increases
• Talented people leave seeking meaning elsewhere
• Quality and performance decline
• Teams lose cohesion and energy

The Five Sources of Meaning:

1. Impact and Contribution

• Seeing the difference your work makes
• Knowing who benefits from what you do
• Contributing to something larger than yourself
• Creating value for others

2. Growth and Mastery

• Learning and developing new skills
• Stretching your capabilities
• Becoming better at what you do
• Taking on meaningful challenges

3. Autonomy and Agency

• Having choice in how you work
• Control over your approach
• Ability to influence outcomes
• Freedom to make decisions

4. Connection and Belonging

• Working with people you respect
• Being part of something together
• Relationships that matter
• Feeling valued and appreciated

5. Purpose and Values Alignment

• Work that aligns with what matters to you
• Using your strengths and talents
• Doing work that fits who you are
• Living your values through work

Important: Different people find meaning in different sources. There’s no “right” way to find meaning.

The Meaning Gap:

Three types of meaning problems:

Invisible meaning: The work is meaningful but you can’t see the impact or connection

Structural barriers: Systems or constraints prevent meaningful work

Misalignment: Mismatch between what you find meaningful and what you do

Good news: All three can be addressed, though they require different approaches.

SEGMENT 3: Discovering Your Meaning Drivers (20 minutes)

Framework Share: Your Meaning Profile (3 min)

Everyone has a unique “meaning profile”—a combination of sources that matter most to them. Understanding yours helps you:

• Recognise meaning when it’s present
• Identify what’s missing when work feels hollow
• Make choices that increase meaning
• Communicate your needs to others

Today you’ll identify your primary meaning drivers.

Activity: “Meaning Mapping” (17 min)

Setup: Participants complete Meaningful Work Assessment

Individual Work (10 min):

Using the assessment handout:

Part 1: Rate how important each source of meaning is to you (5 min)

Part 2: Rate how present each source is in your current work (5 min)

Calculate your meaning gap for each source

Pair Analysis (5 min):

Share with a partner:

• Your top 2-3 meaning drivers (what matters most)
• Your biggest meaning gap (importance high, presence low)
• One surprise from the assessment

Brief Share-Out (2 min):

Quick popcorn: “My biggest meaning driver is…”

Facilitator notes the variety of meaning profiles in the room

Facilitator Note: Some may find all sources equally important—push them to identify which they’d miss most if absent. Others may discover their current work scores low across all sources—validate this awareness as the first step to change. Watch for participants whose meaning gaps are small—celebrate this and have them share what’s working. The assessment creates data for the rest of the workshop.

SEGMENT 4: Finding Meaning in Current Work (25 minutes)

Framework Share: Making Meaning Visible (8 min)

The Problem:

Often meaning is present but invisible. We don’t notice impact, forget why tasks matter, or lose sight of the bigger picture in daily urgency.

The Solution: Reframe and Reconnect

Three Meaning-Making Strategies:

1. Impact Tracing

• Follow your work to its ultimate impact
• Ask: “Who benefits from this? How?”
• Connect tasks to outcomes
• Make invisible impact visible

Example:

• Not just “I process expense reports”
• But “I ensure people are reimbursed so they can focus on their work without financial stress”

2. Strength Spotting

• Identify where you use your talents
• Notice what energises you
• Recognise your unique contribution
• Find the craft in your work

Example:

• Not just “routine data entry”
• But “I bring precision and attention to detail that ensures accuracy”

3. Purpose Linking

• Connect daily tasks to bigger purpose
• Remember why this work exists
• See your role in the whole
• Find significance in small things

Example:

• Not just “scheduling meetings”
• But “I create the space where important decisions get made”

Key Insight: Same task, different frame. The work doesn’t change, but meaning increases when you see it differently.

When Reframing Isn’t Enough:

Sometimes work genuinely lacks meaning or meaning is blocked by structural barriers. That requires work redesign, not just reframing. We’ll explore that next.

Activity: “Meaning in the Mundane” (17 min)

Purpose: Practice finding meaning in current work, even routine tasks

Individual Reflection (7 min):

Using the Meaning-Making Guide handout:

Choose 2-3 tasks from your regular work (include at least one “mundane” task)

For each task, complete:

• Current view (how you typically think about it)
• Impact trace (who benefits, how)
• Strengths used (what talents you bring)
• Purpose link (how it serves something bigger)
• Reframed view (new way to see this work)

Trio Sharing (8 min):

Groups of 3:

• Each person shares one reframe (2 min each)
• Others help spot additional meaning
• Discuss: What makes reframing easy or difficult?

Brief Debrief (2 min):

• What surprised you about this exercise?
• Did you discover meaning you hadn’t noticed?
• What tasks still feel meaningless?

Facilitator Note: Some tasks may genuinely be hard to reframe meaningfully—validate this rather than forcing positive reframing. The goal is honest exploration, not toxic positivity. For tasks that resist reframing, note them—they may need redesign (next segment). Watch for “aha moments” when someone discovers meaning they hadn’t seen. Encourage specificity in reframes—vague purpose doesn’t create meaning.

SEGMENT 5: Creating More Meaningful Work (30 minutes)

Framework Share: Work Redesign (8 min)

When Reframing Isn’t Enough:

Some work genuinely needs to change to become more meaningful. You have more agency than you might think.

Four Strategies to Increase Meaning:

1. Task Crafting

What it is: Changing which tasks you do, how many, or how you do them

Examples:

• Add tasks that use your strengths
• Reduce tasks that drain meaning (delegate, streamline, eliminate)
• Change how you approach tasks (different method, timing, frequency)

Questions to ask:

• What meaningful work could I take on?
• What meaningless work could I reduce?
• How could I approach this differently?

2. Relationship Crafting

What it is: Changing who you interact with and how

Examples:

• Build connections with people who benefit from your work
• Collaborate more with energising colleagues
• Mentor others (creates meaning through contribution)
• Join communities related to your interests

Questions to ask:

• Who could I connect with to see my impact?
• Which relationships energise me?
• How could I be more helpful to others?

3. Cognitive Crafting

What it is: Changing how you think about your work and its purpose (we practiced this in Segment 4)

Examples:

• Reframe tasks to see their significance
• Connect work to personal values
• View role as part of larger contribution
• Find the challenge and learning in tasks

Questions to ask:

• What story do I tell about my work?
• How does this connect to what I value?
• What am I learning?

4. Structural Crafting

What it is: Changing conditions, boundaries, or systems

Examples:

• Negotiate for more autonomy
• Request different projects or responsibilities
• Change your schedule or location
• Propose process improvements

Questions to ask:

• What conditions would increase meaning?
• What barriers could be removed?
• What could I propose or request?

Important: You can’t change everything, but you have more influence than you think. Start with small experiments.

The Meaning Budget:

Think of your work week as a “meaning budget.” You need enough meaningful activities to balance the necessary but less meaningful ones. Aim for:

• At least 30-40% of time on high-meaning work
• Minimise time on low-meaning work where possible
• Find small moments of meaning throughout

Activity: “Work Redesign Planning” (22 min)

Purpose: Identify concrete ways to increase meaning in your work

Individual Work (10 min):

Using the Work Redesign Toolkit handout:

Step 1: List your biggest meaning gap (from earlier assessment)

Step 2: Brainstorm possibilities across all four strategies:

• What tasks could you craft?
• What relationships could you craft?
• What cognitive reframes would help?
• What structural changes could you propose?

Step 3: Choose 1-2 experiments to try

Pair Consultation (8 min):

Partner up:

• Share your meaning gap and proposed experiments (3 min each)
• Partner helps:
  • Spot additional opportunities
  • Identify potential obstacles
  • Strengthen the plan

Group Share (4 min):

Quick popcorn sharing: “One experiment I’m going to try…”

Facilitator captures the range of approaches

Facilitator Note: Some may feel constrained by role or system—acknowledge real constraints while exploring edges of agency. Push for specificity: “Start small this week” not “someday I’ll…” Watch for people proposing big changes—encourage starting with small experiments first. Some may realise they’re in the wrong role or organisation—validate this insight and help them focus on what’s within current control. The goal is action, not just insight.

SEGMENT 6: Team Commitments for Meaningful Work (20 minutes)

Interactive Teaching: Creating Meaningful Work Together (8 min)

The Challenge:

Meaningful work isn’t just individual—teams can either support or undermine it.

What Teams Can Do:

1. Make Impact Visible

How:

• Share customer/stakeholder feedback regularly
• Tell stories of how work made a difference
• Trace work to its ultimate impact
• Invite beneficiaries to speak to team

Why it matters: Impact is a primary source of meaning, but often invisible

2. Support Autonomy

How:

• Give choice in how work gets done
• Involve people in decisions affecting them
• Trust people to manage their work
• Reduce unnecessary oversight

Why it matters: Autonomy creates ownership and meaning

3. Enable Growth

How:

• Create stretch opportunities
• Support learning and development
• Rotate responsibilities for variety
• Celebrate skill development

Why it matters: Growth is inherently meaningful

4. Build Connection

How:

• Create space for relationships
• Recognise contributions
• Foster belonging and psychological safety
• Work on meaningful things together

Why it matters: Connection to others amplifies meaning

5. Protect Meaningful Work

How:

• Question meaningless requirements
• Streamline bureaucracy where possible
• Advocate for team’s needs
• Push back on meaning-draining work

Why it matters: Teams can’t do everything—prioritise meaning

6. Talk About Meaning

How:

• Regularly discuss what makes work meaningful
• Check in on team meaning levels
• Share what gives you energy
• Normalise meaning as important

Why it matters: What gets talked about gets attention

Team Norms That Support Meaning:

• Celebrate impact, not just effort
• Share stories of meaningful moments
• Support each other’s experiments
• Protect time for meaningful work
• Question work that drains meaning

Activity: “Team Meaning Commitments” (12 min)

Purpose: Identify collective actions to increase meaningful work

Small Groups (7 min):

Groups of 3-4:

Discuss:

• What could we do as a team to make work more meaningful?
• What’s one practice we could start?
• What’s one thing we could stop or reduce?
• What would we need to try this?

Capture 1-2 specific commitments

Whole Group Synthesis (5 min):

Each group shares their commitments (1 min each)

Facilitator captures on flip chart

For intact teams: Identify which commitments to implement

For mixed groups: Note ideas to take back to own teams

Facilitator Note: Push for specificity—not “communicate better” but “share one customer impact story in each team meeting.” Watch for commitments that are all about adding—also identify what to stop or reduce. Some commitments may require organisational change—capture these but focus on what’s within team control. Ensure commitments are sustainable, not one-time heroics. For intact teams, ensure there’s ownership for each commitment.

SEGMENT 7: Integration & Commitment (10 minutes)

Tool Distribution (2 min)

Provide take-home resources:

• Meaningful Work Assessment (already have)
• Sources of Meaning Framework
• Meaning-Making Guide (already have)
• Work Redesign Toolkit (already have)
• Personal Action Plan

Personal Action Planning (5 min)

Individual work using Personal Action Plan handout:

Complete:

• Your primary meaning driver
• One meaning-making practice to start
• One work redesign experiment to try
• How you’ll know it’s working

Facilitator Note: This is silent, focused work. Circulate to support if needed.

Team Capture (2 min)

For intact teams: Record team commitments with owners and timeline

For mixed groups: Each person notes one commitment to bring back

Closing Round (1 min)

Quick popcorn: “One thing I’ll do to increase meaning…”

Facilitator provides:

• Reminder that meaning requires ongoing attention
• Encouragement to experiment and adjust
• Note that small changes can have big impact
• Invitation to share successes with team

Secret Sauce

Energy Management

• Segment 1 should surface both inspiration (peaks) and honesty (valleys)
• Segment 3 is focused individual work—this creates foundation for later activities
• Segment 4 should have “aha moments” as people discover hidden meaning
• Segment 5 is the action peak—help people feel agency
• If energy dips, add 2-minute stretch before Segment 5
• Keep momentum—meaning work can become abstract without concrete action

Common Challenges

“My work is genuinely meaningless.” Validate the experience. Explore: Is meaning invisible or truly absent? If truly absent, focus on work redesign or whether this is the right role.

Cynicism about changing anything. Acknowledge real constraints. Focus on edges of agency: “What’s one small thing within your control?”

Toxic positivity pressure. Be clear: Some work is hard to make meaningful. Goal is honest exploration, not forcing positive reframing.

“I don’t know what’s meaningful to me.” Normal! Use the assessment to explore. Look for patterns in past experiences. What energises vs. drains you?

Individual vs. team tension. One person’s meaningful work may be another’s meaningless task. Explore: How can team support different meaning profiles?

Meaning gaps feel insurmountable. Start small. One experiment. See what happens. Build from there.

Timing Flexibility

• If running behind: Reduce Segment 6 to 15 min (6 min teach, 9 min activity)
• If ahead: Deeper discussion in Segment 5 on obstacles to work redesign
• Can extend Segment 4 if lots of meaning discovery happening

Key Facilitator Moves

In Segment 1: Hold space for honesty about meaningless work—don’t rush to fix it

In Segment 3: Help people identify their unique meaning profile—push against “everything matters equally”

In Segment 4: Watch for genuine “I can’t find meaning in this”—don’t force reframing, move to redesign

In Segment 5: Push for specific, small experiments—not vague intentions or massive changes

In Segment 6: Keep team commitments realistic and within team’s control

Throughout: Balance inspiration with realism—meaning work requires ongoing effort

For Intact Teams vs. Mixed Groups

Intact teams: Can make real team commitments and follow through together. Push for specificity and ownership.

Mixed groups: Focus on individual learning and what they’ll take back. Team discussion becomes practice.

Follow-Up Suggestions

• For intact teams: Review team commitments in 2-4 weeks, adjust as needed
• Individual: Try your experiments for 2-3 weeks, reflect on impact
• Monthly: Share meaningful moments in team meetings
• Quarterly: Reassess your meaning profile—has it shifted?
• Annually: Review what increased meaning and what still needs attention

Success Indicators

You’ll know the workshop worked if:

• Participants can articulate what makes work meaningful for them
• They’ve discovered meaning in work they didn’t notice before
• There’s honest acknowledgment of what genuinely lacks meaning
• People feel agency to increase meaning (not helpless)
• Specific experiments identified to try
• Team has commitments for fostering meaningful work
• Energy in the room about possibilities
• Balance of realism and hope

Appendix: Key Concepts Summary

Meaning Is Both Discovered and Created

Some meaning is already present but invisible—you discover it through reframing. Other meaning must be created through redesigning work. Both matter.

Different Sources for Different People

Impact, growth, autonomy, connection, purpose—everyone has a unique meaning profile. There’s no “right” source of meaning.

Small Changes Can Have Big Impact

You don’t need to redesign your entire job. Small experiments in task, relationship, cognitive, or structural crafting can significantly increase meaning.

Teams Enable or Block Meaning

Individual effort matters, but teams can make it easier or harder to find meaning through their practices, norms, and culture.

Meaning Requires Ongoing Attention

Finding meaning once isn’t enough. It requires regular reflection, adjustment, and renewal as work and circumstances change.

Not All Work Can Be Meaningful

Some tasks are necessary but hard to make meaningful. The goal is enough meaningful work to sustain you, not making every moment meaningful.

Agency Matters

Even small amounts of control and choice dramatically increase meaning. Finding your edges of agency is powerful.