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Why Purpose Matters More Now Than Ever

In a book I published with Oak Tree Press a number of years ago: Our Learning Brain, I reminded us that adults learn and change only when there is meaningful engagement and psychological safety. This is valid now just as it was then. When uncertainty rises or pressure increases the brain’s threat system activates. The amygdala begins scanning for danger, narrowing attention and pushing the nervous system toward self-protection rather than growth.

Its important to consider that research now confirms that the amygdala is not only a detector of threat but also responds to emotional significance and reward. As the brain’s centre for emotional relevance, it reacts strongly when work feels meaningful, purposeful, or connected to something that matters. When we experience clarity, fairness, and meaning, the amygdala quiets its defensive response and shifts toward openness, curiosity, and engagement.

 

Purpose gives the brain a direction.

When we reconnect to purpose, it influences:

• Dopamine (motivation and anticipation)
• Acetylcholine (attention and memory consolidation)
• Glutamate (learning pathways)

Purpose, neurologically speaking, acts as a signal that says: “Pay attention. This matters.” This is why in high-change environments, teams without purpose drift. They drift not because they don’t care, but because their brain literally cannot prioritise. So many conversations I have with leaders and teams about challenges they have transpiring with direct reports or other stakeholders come back to clarity of purpose, and prioritisation based on that. Again, it’s challenging for all of us, as many of us don’t feel like we have the time to spend a few extra moments with our colleagues creating clarity and connecting to purpose.

The amygdala’s activity is fundamentally linked to our ability to engage with and benefit from a sense of purpose at many critical levels, including personal, job role, team and organisational.

 

The VUCA Effect: Why Purpose Identification Alone Isn’t Enough

In our work at Adaptas, with a range of organisations and sectors, we see a recurring pattern: leaders and teams can tell us what the purpose of the organisation is, and they can generally tell us what the purpose of their team is. Although we often hear 2-3 different versions of the purpose from within any one team, depending on each individual person’s role and their objectives in that role.

This is often because:

1. The purpose is too abstract

2. It isn’t connected to daily behaviour

3. It isn’t integrated into decision-making

4. It isn’t emotionally meaningful

Bringing your team together to have non-transactional conversations helps uncover the differences in opinion and understanding. Finding alignment on purpose then:

1. makes the purpose more tangible

2. connects it to daily behaviour

3. impacts communication, decision-making, and well-being positively

In another book I published with Oak Tree Press: Developing Learning Habits, I highlighted that adults require emotional salience, the importance or prominence of an emotional experience, to embed new and more effective habits. What exactly is emotional salience? Well for example, it might be an event that makes something stand out due to its emotional importance for the person. Emotional salience plays a crucial role in the encoding process of memory, making memories linked to strong emotions more vivid and easier to recall.  If something is emotionally salient it captures attention, becomes more memorable, and then impacts decision-making and the actions we take.

For example, in my experience, when a manager listens to and acknowledges an employee’s feedback about a project rather than half listening, ignoring the feedback or becoming defensive, this can create more emotional salience for the employee. Similarly when teams and organisations discuss the purpose of the organisation or the purpose of the team, instead of making assumptions that everyone understands the purpose of the organisation (or team or role), it makes it all more emotionally salient.

Emotional salience can assist in creating emotional resonance with each other in achieving that purpose: Emotional resonance is when we feel more aligned with each other and motivated to support each other because we feel seen and heard. And we all need this right now, in this time of uncertainty.

Without emotional resonance, the ability of a message to connect with people’s feelings and values (even the best corporate messaging) falls flat. A purpose that cannot be felt, cannot guide.

 

Purpose Matters in Organisations: Insight from Deloitte’s 2014 Core Beliefs & Culture Survey

Back in 2014, Deloitte’s Core Beliefs & Culture Survey uncovered something striking about purpose-driven organisations, and the numbers speak for themselves. And I believe these findings are now more relevant for leaders to reflect on than ever.

When employees work somewhere with a genuine sense of purpose, 82% feel confident their company will grow that year. Compare that to just 48% at organisations where purpose is murky or missing. That’s not a small gap.

The long-term picture is even more telling. At purpose-driven companies, 91% of people believe their brand reputation and stakeholder loyalty will get stronger over time. At companies without clear purpose only 49% feel that way.

And it shows up in how these organisations invest, too. Companies with strong purpose are far more likely to put money into the things that matter: new technologies (38% vs. 19%), expanding into new markets (31% vs. 21%), developing products and services (27% vs. 17%), and training and developing their people (25% vs. 11%).

The takeaway? When purpose is authentic it fuels confidence, growth, investment, and long-term stability.

The business case is an important part of the story. Regardless of changes in technology, people are, and always will be part of the business case. Purpose has a deep human role to play. It is the anchor for trust, authenticity, and resilience, especially when everything outside feels uncertain.

 

A Leadership Example: Reclaiming Purpose During Restructuring

One of our clients, a financial services organisation in Dublin, went through a rapid restructuring. The leadership team was overwhelmed with competing priorities, new reporting lines, shifting demands. In the first session, we asked a simple but disarming question from the PERFORM workbook: “Why do you want to do this?”

There was silence.

Then a slow, honest conversation began.

What emerged was not a corporate statement, but something deeply human:

• “We want to build a culture our people are proud to belong to.”
• “We want to lead with integrity in uncertainty.”
• “We want to build resilience and clarity for the next generation of leaders.”

For the first time in months, the room felt grounded. When they reconnected to purpose, their decision-making sharpened. Their communication softened. Their leadership steadied. Purpose changed the tone, not just the strategy.

 

Purpose and Identity: An Overlooked Connection

Purpose is not only why you act,  it is also who you believe yourself to be.

In Developing Learning Habits, I explain that behaviour and the ability to change behaviour flows from identity. When identity and intention misalign, change becomes nearly impossible. We can fall into an identity conflict:

• “I need to appear strong” vs. “I want to lead with openness and humility.”
• “I must have the answers” vs. “I want to create space for my team’s voice.”

When leaders feel this inner contradiction, people and teams sense it immediately. Purpose resolves the conflict by reorienting us all toward what matters most.

 

Practical Reflection: Your Purpose as a Leader

Drawing directly from the PERFORM system workbook, these examples of questions, some of which may feel more relevant than others to you right now, can deepen leadership clarity:

• What does being successful in my life and work ‘look’, ‘sound’ and ‘feel’ like to me? (Success is not always financial or status)
• When am I most alive?
• If I say yes to living purposefully, what do I say no to?
• Why do I want to do this? (for an example, take an action or create a change)
• What can I (or my colleagues, my team, my organisation, my community etc) gain by doing this?
• What do I stand to lose if I don’t do this?
• Which of my values are connected to this purpose?
• How can my purpose become part of my/ our daily rhythm?

Your team, colleagues, families, friends, communities don’t need you to be perfect. They need alignment. They need to know what you stand for and why.

 

Conclusion

Purpose is not a luxury for any of us. Purpose is clarity, safety, and direction.

In a VUCA world, purpose is the most stabilising human competency you can offer,  because understanding and aligning to and with purpose calms the nervous system, aligns the mind to filter for better information and focus, and reduces uncertainty for people.

If you’re curious about how purpose could help your own leadership and teams, Adaptas can help! Contact us on info@adaptastraining.comfor more information on how we can support you.

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