Purpose, Vocation, & Significance: Coaching Questions to Align Your Calling & Career
I remember when I started working with one of my coaching clients. Let's call her Nicole. Nicole had recently been promoted to Operations Manager at her company. When I read through her coaching application, she seemed to have checked all the boxes:
✅ Fortune 500 company
✅ Job Title
✅ Salary
✅ Married
But when I read through her coaching application, she was unhappy. Not because of her position. Not because of her salary. Not because of her manager. Nicole felt disconnected from her work and didn't know where to begin.
As her coach, I began to dig deep, excavating her desires by asking probing questions that I typically use with clients who are beginning their purpose discovery journey. I asked her, "Do you like your job?"
“I love my salary,” she said.
“Yes, but do you wake up with a sense of purpose and anticipation each day?“ I asked.
“Not really,” she said. “This role is remote, and I have a hard time bringing myself to sit down at the kitchen table each day to begin work. Between the microaggressions I experience and the nature of the work, I am burnt out and questioning whether this is the company and role for me.”
On paper, she had what many people aspired to, the job title, salary, position, the relationship, but there was more to what she was seeking underneath the surface. Nicole wasn't just seeking a salary. She was seeking significance and belonging.
We all crave significance and belonging, and much of that desire stems from when work originated in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 1:26-27 (NLT), we observe that we were created with belonging, purpose, and significance.
"Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.' So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female created them."
Our purpose was to reign or rule, as some translations state, and our significance came from being made in His image. We immediately belonged. We knew we mattered. We had direction. We knew how we were uniquely designed to contribute, and we were provided with a safe environment and the proper resources and relationships for us to flourish in our work. Every human need was met. It wasn't until the Fall that we became aware of these needs, seeking to fulfill only what God originally could. As a result, we feel the effects of the Fall within our work — trying to make ends meet to put food on the table, layoffs, finding the right role, unfair treatment, and discrimination at work, longing to be recognized and rewarded, seeking a sense of purpose and fulfillment from within our work — these are just some of the challenges that now shape our experience. We went from thriving to toiling — quiet quitting and giving the bare minimum to just get by.
Work wasn't designed to be this way. At God's best, He created us to rule over the earth by leveraging our authority and relationships to be fruitful in the area of work that He has called us to. Calling is best considered in the context of purpose. Your purpose is found where your design, passion, preparation, and calling converge.
While there are many definitions of calling, I like to define it as an external commission given by God to serve the greater good through your unique giftings, or in other words, how you were designed to serve others by God. Many people think of calling as this abstract and lofty idea where they are waiting for an audible voice from heaven or God to come to them in some sort of dream or vision where He lays out their life plan. While for some, that may be the case, for many of us, it is subtly revealed through repeated experiences that draw us to solve a particular problem or serve a specific group of people over some time.
Life Coach Tony Stoltzfus shares that there are essentially four facets to calling:
A message you embody
To a specific audience
For an ultimate impact
Through a unique task.
There is a message that has been placed inside us that is waiting to be shared that impacts others through our work. That message has been developed over years of preparation, specific experiences that have prepared us to serve and impact the people God has called us to, and there are specific stages where you are most effective at conveying that message. For Nicole, it turned out that her passion for beauty and wellness and her past experiences dealing with prejudice at a young age and throughout her career birthed in her a message that there is beauty in brokenness. She felt called to African American women who experienced similar injustices in their lives and the workplace. Nicole desired to bring beauty, justice, and restoration for these women not only through the business she was creating but in the corporate sector too. After receiving clarity in her calling, Nicole knew how she could craft her current role to align more with her purpose, passions, and strengths while she sought to find a workplace whose culture better aligned with her values.
But how did she discover her calling? It starts with becoming aware of your purpose, passions, strengths, and the areas that you are best designed to function in to carry out your calling. In organizational psychology, we call this person-environment fit. Person-environment fit is the degree to which an individual's characteristics fit or aligns with their environment. People tend to seek environments that match their environment. There are four dimensions of person-environment fit:
Person-vocation fit is the fit between a person's interests, abilities, values, personality, and chosen profession.
Coaching Question: Do your passions, interests, abilities, values, and personality fit with your occupation?
Person-job fit refers to how well a person's characteristics match the description of the specific job or role.
Coaching Question: Do your strengths, expertise, and experience meet the role's needs? Does the role align with your purpose, goals, and personal needs?
Person-organization fit is regarding how well an individual’s purpose, values, beliefs, personality, and the organization's culture, values, and norms align with one another.
Coaching Question: Do your purpose, values, beliefs, and personality align with the organization's culture, mission, and values?
Person-group fit is the degree to which a person fits with the work style, skills, and goals of their manager and team.
Coaching Question: Does your personality and work style align with your manager and workgroup?
When you are aware of your purpose, passions, and strengths, you will be able to discern which careers, roles, and organizations will enable you to thrive, increasing the chances of finding more meaning and fulfillment in your role.
Here are some powerful coaching questions and exercises to help you uncover your purpose.
Coaching Questions:
What are your strengths or areas you naturally excel in?
What issues or problems am I passionate about or want to solve?
What experiences have you gone through that you sense have prepared you for what may be your purpose? As a result of this experience, what message was birthed in you that you feel called to share with others?
What do these insights tell you about what you may be called to do in your life and work?
Coaching Exercises:
Think about your biggest accomplishments and identify three to five strengths that supported them.
Consider the different roles and responsibilities you fill in life and work. Identify what tasks or activities give you energy and which tasks drain you.
Create a list of values that influence your decisions, behavior, and lifestyle you also want to live out at work.
Create an ideal job description that lets you spend 80% of your time working within your strengths.
Hire a coach or find a mentor that can help you navigate your purpose discovery journey. Learn more about PWI's Signature Private Coaching Programs here.
Remember, you were made with purpose for a purpose. Are you like how Nicole was, settling for a salary? Seek significance. You were created to reign and rule. It is up to you to uncover your purpose and understand your unique design so you can excel and thrive in the places and spaces God has called you to.
