Have you ever had a time in your career where you felt you were in exactly the right place, doing the right work and having a fantastic impact? Where you were highly proactive, creative and happy to go above and beyond, although not necessarily working excessive hours.
This is what it feels like to express a sense of calling and recent research* has found the benefits can be huge for the individual and the organisation.
What is Calling and what are the benefits?
Having a calling refers to a feeling or sense of place within a profession, work role or area. It’s experienced as a consuming, meaningful passion towards that area or subject.
A range of studies have found that having a sense of calling is associated with increased well-being, a greater sense of meaning and purpose and higher levels of proactivity for the individual.
The organisation benefits through increased work and organisational commitment and higher levels of organisational citizenship. A highly engaged and proactive workforce is also much more likely to seek out new challenges, solutions and innovations to further the company mission.
What could this mean for organisations, managers and individuals?
Calling is experienced as a pull towards “something”. This means organisations need to be clear what they stand for.
Having a compelling picture of the future they want to create (vision), a clear over-arching goal (purpose) and a realistic way of making it happen (strategy) are all critical to attracting people of calling. Ensuring these are communicated and lived out on a day to day basis will ensure they endure.
The shared values, beliefs, behaviours and norms that exist within an organisation (culture) will also need to support the individual expression of calling. For example, research shows that leaders who are controlling and micro-managing significantly reduce the performance, proactivity and creativity of a people with calling.
Recruiting to attract people who feel called to an organisation will also reinforce the right environment. This could mean being willing to accept people with “chequered” career histories if this is a sign of capable people struggling to find the place they were called to.
It may also be important not to exploit the sense of calling in the workforce. High levels of commitment, proactivity and care can spill over in to burn out and disillusionment if staff don’t feel appreciated, developed and well led.
For individual people, taking the time to reflect on when you have felt most engaged, proactive an creative will give you clues as to your calling. You may also have a sticky idea or an attractor that keeps pulling on your attention and time – is this an unanswered calling for you? What is in that idea or thing that speaks to your intrinsic drivers of fulfilment?
Pinnacle Coaching and Development a specialises in leadership development and career coaching. Contact Gary Armstrong to find out more.
* Primary Reference: Kim, S. S., Pak, J., & Son, S. Y. (2023). Do calling oriented employees take charge in organizations? The role of supervisor close monitoring, intrinsic motivation, and organizational commitment. _Journal of Vocational Behavior. Research Briefing. The Oxford Review. www.oxford-r
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