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Regaining motivation at work starts with understanding what makes sense to you. Lasting motivation stems from the alignment between our personal values and our professional missions. Against a backdrop of rapid change and the quest for balance, many employees are seeking to restore meaning to their day-to-day work. It is this inner clarity that becomes a driving force for commitment and fulfillment. Find out how to identify and nurture this motivation on a daily basis.
Motivation is more than just a positive state of mind. It's based on a clear understanding of the usefulness of one's work and the role each person plays in a collective project. When an employee understands why he or she is doing something and why it matters, energy, confidence and pleasure are restored.
Gallup' s State of the Global Workplace 2024 report confirms this trend: only 23% of employees worldwide say they are fully engaged in their work, while 62% say they are "not engaged" and 15% actively disengaged(Gallup, 2024). In other words, almost three-quarters of employees are not emotionally involved in their work. The study also shows that the main factor in engagement is clarity of role and meaning, well ahead of remuneration.
Example: an HR manager pilots an inclusion project that she herself proposed. She puts new energy into it, and this conviction radiates out to the whole team. The project becomes a collective driving force, not just a task.
The manager's role is no longer to "motivate", but to make the purpose visible. By linking daily missions to the company's raison d'être, he or she transforms a routine activity into a meaningful contribution.
Rediscovering meaning begins with introspection. It's about clarifying what really drives us, beyond obligations or performance injunctions. This personal "why" can take the form of an inner driving force: to contribute, to learn, to pass on, to innovate or to protect. Take a moment to think back to situations where you have felt pleasure in acting: a mission carried out with conviction, a smooth collaboration, a collective success. These moments reveal your unique contribution.
Example: a project manager realizes that what motivates him most is simplifying: simplifying processes, clarifying roles, making cooperation more fluid. By identifying this common thread, he better understands his strengths and rediscovers the pleasure of managing.
A McKinsey & Company study (2024 ) shows that employees feel more motivated when their personal objectives are clearly linked to those of the company(McKinsey, 2024). In other words, motivation is not an individual affair: it is built on the connection between one's "why" and the collective mission.
A good practice is to formulate its raison d'être in two simple sentencesaround an action verb:
This formulation serves as a compass to guide our choices and priorities.
Certain beliefs limit our ability to understand what really motivates us.
Example: a female employee discovers that her driving force is no longer "learning" but "passing on". She asks to co-lead in-house training courses, and rediscovers her pleasure and legitimacy.
Best practice: set aside some time as a team to discuss your current sources of motivation. This kind of conversation strengthens mutual understanding and helps everyone refocus on what matters.
To maintain lasting motivation, you need to learn to listen for the weak signals: moments of fluid concentration and satisfaction, but also signs of weariness or boredom. Ask yourself: which projects make me want to excel? Which tasks leave me indifferent? Who do I enjoy working with the most?
Example: a trainer realizes that she feels more alive when she co-constructs her courses with managers, rather than when she runs top-down sessions on her own. This observation enabled her to adjust her role and rediscover her sense of pleasure.
Best practice: keep a "motivation diary" for two weeks. Note moments of satisfaction and those of demotivation, without judgment. As you reread your notes, the patterns will become clear: autonomy, creativity, human connection, usefulness... These patterns are your levers of meaning.
Identifying your "why" is one step; sharing it is another. Putting words to what motivates us reinforces the coherence of our choices and inspires those around us.
Example: a salesperson reformulates his meaning this way: "I help my customers grow faster through simple solutions." By uttering this sentence, he redefines his posture and his customer relationship: less product talk, more service.
Best practice: express your "why" during an annual appraisal, a team review or an onboarding session. Managers can also share theirs: this creates transparency and legitimizes the diversity of motivations.
Clarifying what makes sense is useful, but it needs to be translated into concrete action.
Examine your current activities and identify those that resonate with your raison d'être. Often, a minority of your missions are the focus of most of your motivation.
For example, a management controller with a passion for teaching offered to train new recruits to read dashboards. This project, born of a personal initiative, gave new meaning to his role and reinforced his usefulness within the organization.
Learning in a field that makes sense multiplies motivation. When you learn a subject you're passionate about, progress becomes natural.
Example: a product manager with a passion for UX takes a short course on experience design. This increase in skills enables her to manage more cross-functional projects, at the frontier between marketing and innovation.
Best practice: choose a fun skill to develop each semester. It's not necessarily the one expected by your job description, but the one that keeps your curiosity alive.
The professional development plan is not just an HR document: it's a compass for evolution. Each objective can be linked to an intention: "Why do I want to learn this?", "What impact will this have on my employees or customers?"
In the NUMA program Analyze your motivational levers, participants map their sources of energy to guide their trajectory. They learn to link each piece of learning to a meaningful intention: better support, transmission, transformation. This approach makes motivation measurable and actionable.
Meaning is not just an individual quest; it is also built through daily interactions. A manager can have a considerable impact on employee motivation by acting on three essential levers:
Example: in a service company, managers have introduced a monthly "moment of meaning" ritual: each team shares a proud achievement and explains its impact. In just a few weeks, cohesion and pride of belonging soared.
Best practice: transform your team meetings into meaningful spaces: a time to say what motivates, recognize efforts, celebrate successes. These moments nourish commitment in a much more lasting way than a one-off bonus.
Deloitte' s Leading Workplace Well-being 2024 report highlights a striking gap: 90% of managers believe that work in their company has a positive effect on well-being and meaning, but only 60% of employees share this perception(Deloitte, 2024). This gap underscores the importance of moving from rhetoric to practice: meaning is built in daily actions, not just in stated values.
Finding meaning at work means linking our actions to a living, evolving raison d'être. This calls for lucidity, dialogue and courage: saying what no longer makes sense, revisiting priorities, allowing yourself to evolve. But it's also a powerful lever for sustainable performance. A team aligned with its common "why" moves forward faster, more serenely and with greater enthusiasm.
Regaining motivation at work starts with understanding what makes sense to you. Lasting motivation stems from the alignment between our personal values and our professional missions. Against a backdrop of rapid change and the quest for balance, many employees are seeking to restore meaning to their day-to-day work. It is this inner clarity that becomes a driving force for commitment and fulfillment. Find out how to identify and nurture this motivation on a daily basis.
Motivation is more than just a positive state of mind. It's based on a clear understanding of the usefulness of one's work and the role each person plays in a collective project. When an employee understands why he or she is doing something and why it matters, energy, confidence and pleasure are restored.
Gallup' s State of the Global Workplace 2024 report confirms this trend: only 23% of employees worldwide say they are fully engaged in their work, while 62% say they are "not engaged" and 15% actively disengaged(Gallup, 2024). In other words, almost three-quarters of employees are not emotionally involved in their work. The study also shows that the main factor in engagement is clarity of role and meaning, well ahead of remuneration.
Example: an HR manager pilots an inclusion project that she herself proposed. She puts new energy into it, and this conviction radiates out to the whole team. The project becomes a collective driving force, not just a task.
The manager's role is no longer to "motivate", but to make the purpose visible. By linking daily missions to the company's raison d'être, he or she transforms a routine activity into a meaningful contribution.
Rediscovering meaning begins with introspection. It's about clarifying what really drives us, beyond obligations or performance injunctions. This personal "why" can take the form of an inner driving force: to contribute, to learn, to pass on, to innovate or to protect. Take a moment to think back to situations where you have felt pleasure in acting: a mission carried out with conviction, a smooth collaboration, a collective success. These moments reveal your unique contribution.
Example: a project manager realizes that what motivates him most is simplifying: simplifying processes, clarifying roles, making cooperation more fluid. By identifying this common thread, he better understands his strengths and rediscovers the pleasure of managing.
A McKinsey & Company study (2024 ) shows that employees feel more motivated when their personal objectives are clearly linked to those of the company(McKinsey, 2024). In other words, motivation is not an individual affair: it is built on the connection between one's "why" and the collective mission.
A good practice is to formulate its raison d'être in two simple sentencesaround an action verb:
This formulation serves as a compass to guide our choices and priorities.
Certain beliefs limit our ability to understand what really motivates us.
Example: a female employee discovers that her driving force is no longer "learning" but "passing on". She asks to co-lead in-house training courses, and rediscovers her pleasure and legitimacy.
Best practice: set aside some time as a team to discuss your current sources of motivation. This kind of conversation strengthens mutual understanding and helps everyone refocus on what matters.
To maintain lasting motivation, you need to learn to listen for the weak signals: moments of fluid concentration and satisfaction, but also signs of weariness or boredom. Ask yourself: which projects make me want to excel? Which tasks leave me indifferent? Who do I enjoy working with the most?
Example: a trainer realizes that she feels more alive when she co-constructs her courses with managers, rather than when she runs top-down sessions on her own. This observation enabled her to adjust her role and rediscover her sense of pleasure.
Best practice: keep a "motivation diary" for two weeks. Note moments of satisfaction and those of demotivation, without judgment. As you reread your notes, the patterns will become clear: autonomy, creativity, human connection, usefulness... These patterns are your levers of meaning.
Identifying your "why" is one step; sharing it is another. Putting words to what motivates us reinforces the coherence of our choices and inspires those around us.
Example: a salesperson reformulates his meaning this way: "I help my customers grow faster through simple solutions." By uttering this sentence, he redefines his posture and his customer relationship: less product talk, more service.
Best practice: express your "why" during an annual appraisal, a team review or an onboarding session. Managers can also share theirs: this creates transparency and legitimizes the diversity of motivations.
Clarifying what makes sense is useful, but it needs to be translated into concrete action.
Examine your current activities and identify those that resonate with your raison d'être. Often, a minority of your missions are the focus of most of your motivation.
For example, a management controller with a passion for teaching offered to train new recruits to read dashboards. This project, born of a personal initiative, gave new meaning to his role and reinforced his usefulness within the organization.
Learning in a field that makes sense multiplies motivation. When you learn a subject you're passionate about, progress becomes natural.
Example: a product manager with a passion for UX takes a short course on experience design. This increase in skills enables her to manage more cross-functional projects, at the frontier between marketing and innovation.
Best practice: choose a fun skill to develop each semester. It's not necessarily the one expected by your job description, but the one that keeps your curiosity alive.
The professional development plan is not just an HR document: it's a compass for evolution. Each objective can be linked to an intention: "Why do I want to learn this?", "What impact will this have on my employees or customers?"
In the NUMA program Analyze your motivational levers, participants map their sources of energy to guide their trajectory. They learn to link each piece of learning to a meaningful intention: better support, transmission, transformation. This approach makes motivation measurable and actionable.
Meaning is not just an individual quest; it is also built through daily interactions. A manager can have a considerable impact on employee motivation by acting on three essential levers:
Example: in a service company, managers have introduced a monthly "moment of meaning" ritual: each team shares a proud achievement and explains its impact. In just a few weeks, cohesion and pride of belonging soared.
Best practice: transform your team meetings into meaningful spaces: a time to say what motivates, recognize efforts, celebrate successes. These moments nourish commitment in a much more lasting way than a one-off bonus.
Deloitte' s Leading Workplace Well-being 2024 report highlights a striking gap: 90% of managers believe that work in their company has a positive effect on well-being and meaning, but only 60% of employees share this perception(Deloitte, 2024). This gap underscores the importance of moving from rhetoric to practice: meaning is built in daily actions, not just in stated values.
Finding meaning at work means linking our actions to a living, evolving raison d'être. This calls for lucidity, dialogue and courage: saying what no longer makes sense, revisiting priorities, allowing yourself to evolve. But it's also a powerful lever for sustainable performance. A team aligned with its common "why" moves forward faster, more serenely and with greater enthusiasm.
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