In every team, there’s one question: “What’s the point (anymore) of what we’re doing? ” Only meaning, beyond bonus systems or career promises, is capable of sustaining collective performance. Managers are the lever that makes it tangible.
For a long time, we believed that values and purpose alone were enough to engage teams. But what truly mobilizes people is the way they are embodied and translated into daily practice : a briefing, feedback, a decision, etc.
Restore depth to what truly matters.
In our fields, projects move at breakneck speed, sometimes at the expense of understanding their real impact: we must then restore the sense of usefulness.
Example: a UX manager might start a project not with a list of specs, but with a clear intention: “Our goal isn’t just to reduce bounce rate, but to rebuild trust from the first 10 seconds.”
Another simple but powerful lever: make the impact of your work visible. User testimonials shared with the team, concrete impact data, feedback from peers or other teams; it’s in this mirror of impact that intrinsic motivation is reborn.
Rewrite meaning trajectories over short horizons.
In an uncertain context, the grand vision is no longer enough: you need clear three-month targets that carry meaning.
Example: instead of saying “we’re restructuring our offering”, a marketing director can set a short-term target: “By the end of September, we will have tested 3 new ways to speak to our most skeptical customers.”
This approach provides clear direction and creates a sense of shared momentum. Meaning becomes here a tool for tactical alignment.
Restore the power to act.
One of the strongest destroyers of meaning is the feeling of powerlessness. In times of crisis, teams adapt and execute, but stay silent and distance themselves from the “why”.
Managers have the power to restore zones of autonomy, however modest:
- Micro-challenges : “What’s the micro-detail preventing us from moving faster or better? Find it. Test a solution this week.”
- Flexibility on briefs : allow teams to rephrase a request to make it more engaging.
- Out-of-the-box initiatives : launch a parallel useful project (e.g., in-house onboarding guide), valued as an act of initiative.
These practices activate both creativity, sense of contribution, and pride in acting, even in uncertainty.
Make meaning a “living” conversation.
Meaning is not a finished object distributed to the team once and for all. It is co-constructed. This happens through simple questions, asked regularly : “Does this project make sense to you?”, “What struck you most this month?”, “If you had to sum up what we’re trying to accomplish, what would you say?”
Example: A digital content manager organizes a “meaning circle” at the end of each sprint, where everyone shares something that made them proud, frustrated, or surprised. This 15-minute ritual transforms the culture.
This is a posture of managerial curiosity, which nourishes engagement.
Embody what you want to convey.
Finally, nothing creates more dissonance than a manager who preaches well-being and work-life balance while overloading their teams, or who champions transparency without admitting what they don’t know.
Embodiment is coherence between words and actions.
Saying: “I don’t know yet, but here’s how we move forward “, refusing an overloaded project: “No, that exceeds our capacity, and protecting the team is more strategic than this short-term gain “, sharing a mistake as a learning opportunity—these practices don’t weaken authority; they strengthen it! They build credibility, and therefore the ability to mobilize.
Meaning is not an “HR bonus”: carrying it is an integral part of the manager’s daily role, and even more so when everything is shaking.