If you will, see the Great Work as a transcendence and extension of life's (apparent) limits, which, as cosmology and evolutionary history shows us, are few if any. More directly we might see this transformation inherent in the Great Work in terms of self-actualization, that is, self-realization of both people and planet.
As with his astute observation of life's purpose in "ever greater seeing," Teilhard de Chardin articulates as well what appears the gist of the Great Work as it applies to human evolution and our highest aspirations.