Last week I made a call to action for you to help your team establish a vision for their life. Because I value your time, I saved the second part of that message for today.
We hear a lot of business owners fretting about the output of their teams. “Where’s the drive?” and “Where’s the initiative?” they ask.
If this is you, I found a scientific solution you’re going to want to pay attention to. Here’s the six-word summary:
Make your workplace bigger than work.
Harvard Business Review’s recent publication on The Neuroscience of Trust, explains the how and why of this. According to leading neuroeconomist Paul J. Zak, trust is the differentiator between high-performing and low-performing workplaces:
“Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, and 40% less burnout.”
Building trust is something we can all agree on, right?
But it’s the next part that might push you out of your comfort zone:
According to Zak, the secret to building high-trust workplaces is to help your people develop in more than just their job:
“High-trust workplaces help people develop personally as well as professionally. Numerous studies show that acquiring new work skills isn’t enough; if you’re not growing as a human being, your performance (on the job) will suffer.”
But you pay them to do a good job, right? If they’re taking your money, they ought to just do it, right?
Not so fast. Decades of research have shown this is not the case. The number one reason people are leaving their jobs is to get away from their boss who isn’t engaging them.
Are you engaging your employees?
Are you helping your employees envision a life bigger than their work?
Our team got together and brainstormed for you
Here are five ideas for making work bigger than work:
- Make a regular one-on-one meeting with your team members where the key objective is to talk about goals outside of daily work
- Post team goals and accomplishments in a public place where everyone can see them (maybe a newsletter?).
- Have a “win for the week” session in your weekly meetings (everyone has to talk about a win outside of work).
- Stop in the middle of the week and have a competitive game (we call ours Franklympics)
- Celebrate spouse anniversaries, kids birthdays, Halloween and other real-life things to bring personal joy into your office.
I can’t promise you that any of this will be easy, but from personal experience, I can promise you it will be worth it.
Now, go push past the comfort zone and make your work bigger than work!
Cheers,
BW
