Harvard-trained psychiatrist Gabriella Rosen Kellerman says that a sense of mattering is crucial to increase your motivation at work, and earlier this month, Wharton behavioral psychologist Adam Grant echoed the sentiment. 

In her book “Tomorrowmind” which she co-wrote with University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman, Kellerman categorizes a sense of mattering as one of the three core skills that determine “who’s able to succeed in the tremendous uncertainty and volatility” of the modern workplace. Through research, they found that mattering is directly linked to positive business outcomes such as having a higher job satisfaction and more likelihood of getting a promotion.

Those who have developed a sense of mattering at work feel like their efforts matter and serve a purpose. But due to the nature of modern work, we can rarely see our direct impact in real time. This disconnect between our effort and impact has been shown to increase work stress and burnout. 

“It might not inherently be life-changing, but just knowing that we’re being of service to another human being is so meaningful,” Kellerman tells CNBC Make It. “And part of what we need managers to do is to narrate that story of mattering in an effective way.”

Kellerman and Grant shared their top tips to cultivate a sense of purpose and meaning about your work, and to help motivate your employees and yourself.

Share the stories of those impacted by the work

In a panel discussion led by Kellerman at the inaugural conference The Collaborative, hosted by coaching company Better Up’s Center for Purpose and Performance earlier this month, Grant said his “favorite set of findings from all the work” he has done goes back to his early experiments with the fundraising department at the University of Michigan.

He theorized that a lack of motivation he was witnessing could be resolved if the employees could see the recipients of the money they were raising. So he brought in scholarship students affected positively by this fundraising. “[The student] basically made clear to the callers that without their work, his life would be different and worse, in his opinion,” Grant says. Even just 5 minutes with that student increased weekly call time and revenue generated by the center. 

It’s not enough for managers to articulate the importance of their employees’ work, the stories and faces of these direct beneficiaries need to be shared in the organization, Grant says.

“In some of these experiments, we had leaders deliver the exact same message and it didn’t work because they couldn’t speak to the firsthand experience and people knew they had ulterior motives to try to convince you to work hard or for longer,” Grant said. “Whereas when we brought in a customer, a client or an end user to give a personal testimonial, people were able to say ‘Okay, there are humans who would be worse off if my job didn’t exist.'”

To motivate employees and create a sense of purpose, managers should make a list of all the jobs at their company and ask if each of those jobs didn’t exist, who would be worse off, Grant suggested. The people they find as the answers to that question are those who they should reach out to bring their stories to the organization, he added.

Use a “mattering map” to show the ripple effect of employees’ work

Kellerman also suggests using a tool for managers that she developed alongside Seligman and other researchers, called a “mattering map.” In this map of concentric circles, managers can show the ripple effects that each employee’s work has in the organization and beyond.

The innermost circle has the name of the employee and the values they embody. Each ring beyond that goes further and further out in the organization, showcasing the teams and individuals that your work has had an impact on, until the last circle, which is about the organization’s outcomes and metrics. The manager should reach out to people in each of these circles to get stories about their work outcomes and how they use the work done by that specific employee or team, Kellerman suggests.

Having these conversations regularly makes employees feel appreciated and showing their worth to the organization with concrete examples increases their motivation to perform, Kellerman says. 

Don’t wait for your managers to take action

While mattering is most successfully cultivated when coming from others, you can also try to achieve this on your own with “a bit of detective work,” Kellerman says. Keeping track of your accomplishments, milestones and the feedback you receive can help you see your improvement and impact in real time. 

You can also take action in starting this culture of appreciation in your organization yourself. “Even if you’re not a manager yourself, do it for your peers,” Kellerman says. You can ask your colleagues to do an exchange of mattering together, to show appreciation for each other’s work.

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