Learn, Share, Grow – Why Engagement Happens in Employees’ Hearts, Not Their Minds

Below is a lesson from Fast Company on what the real drivers are when it comes to human engagement in the workplace, as well as our key learning.

The Blue Courage team is dedicated to continual learning and growth.  We have adopted a concept from Simon Sinek’s Start With Why team called “Learn, Share, Grow”.  We are constantly finding great articles, videos, and readings that have so much learning.  As we learn new and great things, this new knowledge should be shared for everyone to then grow from.

Why Engagement Happens In Employees’ Hearts, Not Their Minds

Winning your employees over to stick with the company long term involves an array of factors–but first among those is love.

BY MARK C. CROWLEY

What are the real drivers of human engagement in the workplace?

What are those things that consistently inspire people to fully commit themselves in their jobs and to willingly scale mountains for their bosses and organizations?

For the past two-plus years, I’ve been singularly focused on answering these big questions and to boiling answers down to a true bottom-line. In the service of organizations everywhere, my singular mission has been to identify the few critical leadership practices that affect people so deeply that they become uncommonly loyal, committed, and productive.

And to distill all I’ve discovered down to just one word, what workers across the globe need in order to thrive and exceptionally perform in their jobs is love.

Continue reading here.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3041948/why-engagement-happens-in-employeess-hearts-not-their-minds

Key Learnings:

• What workers across the globe need in order to thrive and exceptionally perform in their jobs is love
• The love I’m speaking of relates to the experience of positive emotions–the foundation of human motivation.
• People today want and need much more in exchange for their dedicated efforts. Here’s how we know: Gallup Research and the Conference Board have been independently monitoring employee satisfaction and engagement in more than 100 countries.
• With the exception of health care and on-site daycare (which make people feel valued), few other perks significantly influence engagement.
• How satisfied workers feel in their jobs now determines their overall happiness with life. This monumental shift means that job fulfillment has become essential to people everywhere.
• The decision to be engaged is made in worker’s hearts–not minds.
• Feelings and emotions drive human behavior–what people care most about and commit themselves to in their lives.
• How leaders and organizations make people feel in their jobs has the greatest impact on their performance by far.
• What truly inspires worker engagement in the 21st century can best be described as “emotional currency”:
  • Having a supervisor that cares about us, our well-being, and personal growth
  • Having an authentic advocacy for the development and success of others should be prerequisite for selection into all leadership roles.
  • Doing work that we enjoy and have the talents to perform
  • People can’t ever be fully engaged if their hearts aren’t in the work.
  • Routinely feeling valued, appreciated, and having a deep belief that the work we do matters
  • Any company focused exclusively on driving profits–without a compelling mission–will inherently neuter engagement
  • Having strong bonds with other people on the team, especially with our supervisors.
  • Feeling connected with and genuinely supported by others at work is a surprisingly significant driver of engagement and loyalty.
• Love, as our “supreme emotion,” affects everything human beings “feel, think, do, and become.”
• Love to be one of the positive emotions that range from joy, inspiration, interest, pride, and hope. But love is the feeling of any of those emotions co-experienced with another person or group.
• Love transforms people into making them more positive, resilient, optimistic, persistent, healthier, and happier. The body’s biochemistry is very negatively affected when it’s not consistently received.
• No emotion is long-lasting and people need to experience positive emotions frequently for engagement to remain high
• When people are made to feel cared for, nurtured, and growing, that will serve the organization well. Because those feelings drive commitment and loyalty just like it would in any relationship.
• Love your people.