Research finds when employees believe their work is meaningful, engagement increases 250 percent.

Additionally, 71 percent of Millennials — the future leaders of our organizations — feel meaning is a top career factor defining success. And research from McKinsey found that over 2,000 executives in one of their studies placed meaningful work as the strongest influence on life satisfaction.

From the youngest leaders to the most senior, meaningful work is key to finding fulfillment–personally and professionally.

Both meaning and engagement solutions are found in more human and intrinsic motivating factors. But, first, we need to reconsider what we think about the experience of work.

Despite the deepening understanding of meaning’s place in contemporary workplaces, too many businesses fail to leverage its value. Consequently, employees’ productivity, commitment, and pride go largely untapped.

Meaningful work isn’t a pie-in-the-sky notion. It’s a practical mindset to creating an optimistic workplace, engaging employees and inspiring extraordinary performance.

Weaving in stories from organizations Shawn has worked with and visited, and coupled with the latest research, this talk illuminates practical actions audiences can apply “Monday morning” when they return to the office.

• The five habits of meaning makers that inspire extraordinary performance
• The types of meaning and their motivating “ingredients”
• The organizational “noise” that distracts employees’ from finding meaning in their work