Purpose: A Christian Business Coach Perspective
This article was written by Jim Miley and published by Crossroads Professional Coaching.
I was talking with a long-time friend, Mathias, over dinner when the conversation wandered onto the subject of purpose.
It was a disheartening conversation for me as Mathias is someone I care for deeply. I listened as my friend shared that he had no real sense of purpose. He feels his purpose is simply to live moment to moment. He had no motivation to work for the greater good nor a sense of spiritual fellowship with others. Sharing my Faith in Christ only resulted in eye rolls.
Mathias is a gifted young man: extremely bright, intellectually curious, professionally accomplished, musically talented, and very personable. Extraordinary gifts, without a clear purpose, can result in a lot of cognitive dissonance within the gifted. All this potential energy is somewhat randomly applied in all directions, like nuclear fission without containment.
In seeking a purpose that satisfied Mathias, he took an interest in Buddhism and Eastern meditation. He shared a story of a famous monk finding contentment just sitting in one spot, staring at a wall for nine years. Our conversation came to a close, with Mathias proclaiming, “We can’t really know anything.”
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 1 Cor 1:18
Business of The World We Live In
I share the story of Mathias as he represents an ever-present and growing population of lost in our culture, which likely means in your business circles. According to Gallup, slightly more than one-third of U.S. young adults have no religious affiliation in polling published in 2024.
Many people, including Mathias, don’t recognize any objective reasons to be concerned with a person’s sense of purpose and, by extension, their faith or worldviews.
Individual purpose has a large impact on how your staff performs as a team. How your staff performs as a team has a large impact on how your business performs. How your business demonstrates purpose and performs has a large impact on staff fulfilling their individual sense of purpose.
It’s important to note the relationship between purpose and work performance as bi-directional; meaning that individual purpose affects business performance and business purpose affects individual performance.
My friend Mathias wrestles with apathy at work and is not very motivated to support team success. Mathias is very concerned with individual recognition and achievement. With no unified sense of purpose, Mathias can’t “in good faith” get behind any work initiatives. He can do the work for the money or recognition for some period of time, but those rewards are hollow without a greater cause. No amount of staring at the wall in meditation satisfies the thirst of the soul without purpose.
Purpose impacts a business positively to the extent it is shared across team members and adversely to the extent it is not shared across team members.
Employee Engagement
I grew up professionally in a Fortune 500 company where employee engagement initiatives are driven by HR. We had all sorts of activities, surveys, reports, new activities resulting from surveys, meetings, benefits, and more surveys. They all were in an attempt to keep employees engaged in our workplace. It seemed like an endless cycle of chasing our tail in hopes of making everyone happy. Trying to please people by adding various performative activities throughout the entirety of our global footprint.
It always felt like we had given up on getting a unified purpose of being the world’s premier provider of our widgets and began placating the inevitable discontent associated with making widgets by adding better snacks in the lunch room.
I agree with employee engagement as a concept and good practice, although it is no match for finding unity of purpose across the organization. Where, in turn, both fulfilling work and business performance are the objectives. There is always something missing from the individual looking for a fullness of purpose from the employer; the employee is never quite satisfied, and the employer just can’t find the itch to scratch it.
Do All To The Glory of God
…do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. 1 Cor 10: 31-33
Purpose defined by God satisfies the thirst suffered by my friend Mathias. The suffering of employees feeling disengaged. Also, the business leader wondering why their team doesn’t seem to love widgets as they do.
Defined by love of your fellow man and service to others to the Glory of God, not to myself, is an enduring purpose.
Purpose to build up the fellowship of believers while simultaneously not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved, is the purpose we are called to embrace.
Christian Business Coaching Perspective on Purpose
Lead by example. It starts with our understanding of leading according to the purposes God has laid before us. Recognize your role as a servant leader in fulfilling God’s purpose. Understandably the whirlwind of daily activities distracts us. Although, we must fight those distractions to keep the higher calling as our guiding values that drive us to fulfill our purpose. Prayer, meditation, and spiritual disciplines are the tools to strengthen your resolve. They help to hold fast to your eternal purpose while running a successful business.
Be a light to a dark world. All of your employees may not share your Faith, but that’s okay.
… just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. 1 Cor. 10:33
You don’t get to determine who believes or is saved; only the Holy Spirit holds that authority. However, setting an example of your company’s core values and behaviors is your job.
Through your Christian business principles, show your team that you have a higher purpose than making or serving widgets. Your purpose will often become their purpose. It will also often become apparent when someone doesn’t share your purpose. If someone can’t work for the good of the team, they should move on. Better is the person who stays under your leadership, as you may have the opportunity to serve them and possibly see them be saved.