Introduction — Why this conversation matters to HR
I sat down with Paul Dunn — one of Hewlett-Packard’s first ten employees in Australia, an international speaker who has reached hundreds of thousands of people, and co‑founder of the global giving initiative B1G1 — to explore a pressing question: how do we make work meaningful in an era of relentless change? This is a conversation for HR professionals, leaders and anyone responsible for attracting, engaging and retaining people.
We covered practical research, memorable metaphors and tangible examples you can apply right now: the Gallup engagement snapshot, a simple “boat” analogy that explains why engagement erodes, the concept of measurable impact (not vague purpose statements), and how HR can lead when technology and AI are reshaping how we work.
The starting point: engagement is worse than most leaders realise
Let’s start with a sharp, simple picture that stuck with us: imagine your organisation as 100 people in a boat, all rowing together. Gallup’s employee engagement data paints a worrying snapshot of that boat:
- 26% are fully engaged — they’re rowing in the right direction and with purpose.
- 62% are passive or disengaged — they’re present, but largely uncommitted; their oars are just in the water.
- 12% are actively disengaged — they’re rowing the other way.
That last statistic is crucial: the actively disengaged people don’t exist in isolation. They talk, influence, and can drag the passive majority toward lower morale and poorer performance. HR’s task isn’t just tactical (benefits, payroll, compliance); it’s strategic: how do we flip those numbers?
From purpose statements to measurable impact
Words like “purpose” and “vision” have high emotional value but low operational clarity if they aren’t translated into measurable action. Purpose written on a wall risks becoming wallpaper.
Paul shared a powerful idea that reframes the problem: focus on impact. Instead of asking “What’s our purpose?” ask “What measurable good do we create when we do our work well?”
Examples make the difference. Imagine an e‑commerce packing team placing a small card in every parcel that shows a measurable social outcome tied to that sale. When employees can see, in real time, that their daily work helped provide clean water, a child’s education or life‑changing support, their daily activity becomes tied to something bigger than themselves. That is inherently motivating and measurable.
The B1G1 approach: democratise corporate giving
B1G1 (Buy1‑Give1) flips the traditional CSR model. Instead of a yearly corporate cheque or a symbolic donation, impact becomes embedded in everyday transactions and decisions. Paul described how organisations—gyms, law firms, manufacturers—link specific business activities to measurable outcomes. The benefits are real:
- Impact is visible and trackable, not just a PR line.
- Employees choose the impact they care about, increasing intrinsic motivation.
- Clients and partners can participate, strengthening relationships and differentiating the brand.
Paul shared that B1G1 members have already recorded hundreds of millions of impacts globally, and for many organisations the change is cultural as much as financial.
Clarity and vision: the leadership double act
A recurring theme was clarity. Paul offered a memorable phrase we should all keep on a post‑it:
“When your vision becomes more powerful than your memory, your future becomes more powerful than your past.”
Clarity of vision filters down through strategy to job design, performance metrics and, crucially, employee experience. HR must be able to translate high‑level vision into daily practices that people can see and measure. That’s the bridge between leadership intent and employee behaviour.
Why vision without innovation fails
Vision and strategy are necessary but not sufficient. History is littered with companies whose vision was clear but whose strategy failed to adapt (think Blockbuster, Kodak). Paul’s point is simple: if your strategy ignores innovation and the changing context — especially technology — you’re building brittle plans.
AI, technology and HR’s evolving role
We’re at a tipping point: remote work, digital tools, automation and AI are changing what work looks like. Two things matter right now for HR:
- Build strategy and guardrails for technology adoption. Don’t wait for the perfect answer — create a principled, practical approach so people know how to use AI safely and to the organisation’s benefit.
- Shift focus from time‑based outputs to outcome‑based value. If an AI tool reduces the time needed to produce a deliverable from two hours to two minutes, don’t panic about lost billable hours. Reimagine the role and charge for transformed outcomes or packaged transformation services, not time.
Paul urged HR professionals to be part of shaping those strategies — not passive implementers. HR can help design policies that balance innovation and guardrails, while using impact metrics to keep the human purpose front and centre.
Practical steps HR can take today
From the conversation we can extract a pragmatic playbook HR leaders can start using now. These aren’t pipe dreams — they are actionable steps you can pilot this quarter.
- Measure engagement properly: go beyond pulse surveys. Map engagement across teams, connect to performance and understand who’s passive and who’s actively disengaged.
- Define outcome KPIs: for each role, identify the outcomes that matter. Where possible, add an impact KPI (e.g., number of lives affected, tonnes of emissions avoided, learning hours delivered).
- Embed micro‑impacts into workflows: allow employees to choose small, visible impacts tied to everyday tasks (shipping a parcel, completing a client delivery, landing a sale).
- Communicate impact regularly: make outcomes visible in dashboards, huddles and recognition programs. Replace “monthly revenue” banners with “monthly lives changed” metrics where appropriate.
- Re‑think value and pricing: where time used to be the billing unit, shift to packaged outcomes and transformation pricing.
- Design AI guardrails: create champion groups that test tools, document use cases, and develop ethical and operational policies before full rollouts.
- Leader clarity workshops: run short sessions to connect senior leadership’s vision to concrete, measurable outcomes for every department.
Real examples that demonstrate the power of measurable impact
Paul shared concrete stories that show how this approach transcends industry stereotypes:
- Anytime Fitness: members’ check‑ins translate into clean water or education impacts, turning a routine fitness behaviour into a source of meaning.
- Law firms: departments pick specific impacts to support and track them daily, turning client work into an opportunity for measurable social benefit without being preachy.
- Manufacturing lines: packers include a card that explains the social outcome tied to that order — simple, repeatable and deeply motivating.
These examples emphasise that embedding impact doesn’t require grand gestures; it requires consistent, visible connections between work and measurable good.
Mindset and language: how we think about “mattering”
Part of the conversation focused on the human need to matter. Paul referenced the idea that when we’re born we cry out to be noticed — that need for significance never fully goes away. The powerful psychological shift is that measurable impact supplies a daily reminder that your work matters to someone beyond payroll.
Shifting language from “corporate social responsibility” to “everyday impact” changes how employees internalise the organisation’s purpose. “CSR” often feels like a top‑down checkbox. Impact embedded in daily tasks feels like a personal choice and is immediately measurable.
Final thought: HR at the crossroads — influence or follow?
HR sits at a crossroads between policy, people and strategy. Paul’s message was clear: the role will become more complex, but also more powerful. If HR chooses to be the translator—turning vision into measurable outcomes, and designing the guardrails for technology—then it becomes indispensable.
“The purpose of every great company now is to foster human flourishing.”
That quote, drawn from contemporary thinking about business purpose, is less a platitude and more a challenge: can your HR function help operationalise human flourishing in ways people can see and measure every day?
Where to go from here
If you want to explore practical next steps:
- Map your organisation’s engagement using the boat analogy — identify who rows forward, who’s passive, and who’s leaking energy in the wrong direction.
- Run a 90‑day pilot that ties a small, repeatable employee activity to a measurable impact (water, education, health). Track it publicly and celebrate the results.
- Bring leadership together for a clarity workshop: articulate a vision statement that can be translated into concrete outcomes within teams.
- Create a cross‑functional AI and ethics working group: define use cases, risks and an employee communication plan.
For HR leaders, the practical promise is real: measurable impact increases engagement, improves recruitment and retention, and creates a simpler, clearer narrative employees can believe in.
Resources and credits
Learn more about the work Paul discussed at b1g1.com and consider how small, measurable impacts could fit into your talent strategy. If you’re an HR leader navigating AI or struggling to move engagement metrics, start with clarity: define outcomes and make impact visible.
Closing
The world of work is changing fast — faster than at any point in living memory — and HR is uniquely placed to steer organisations through this. By shifting from abstract purpose statements to measurable, everyday impact and by adopting a clear, innovation‑friendly stance toward technology, HR can move your organisation from a passive boat crew to a committed, purpose‑driven team.
That’s the challenge — and the opportunity.
