Four lessons for leaders and individuals who want impact, productivity and motivation to engage and thrive at work.
In 30+ years as a working adult, I am grateful for work experiences where I was engaged and thriving. I also appreciate work experiences that taught me how to survive when I couldn't thrive. Both instances have taught me life skills and insights into the value I gain from work. They have also taught me that I am more than what I do for work.
Let's be honest. Work will always be work, something we do to earn a living, to live the life we want, and to provide for those who depend on us. No matter how much of a dream job you have, there will always be some stress involved as that is the nature of work.
When the stress is healthy and drives us to be creative and productive, we are engaged and thriving. When the stress is unhealthy, overwhelming or toxic, we become emotionally detached and disengaged to protect ourselves.
How would you describe your current work mindset? Are you engaged and thriving at work? Are you motivated and productive?
If your answer is yes, then congratulations! You are in the 21% of those surveyed in Gallop's world poll who say that they are engaged at work. But what about the other 79%?
Here are some insights from Gallop's State of The Global Workplace 2022 Report: The Voice of the World's Employees:
"Gallup’s analysis of 112, 312 business units in 96 countries found a strong link between engagement and performance outcomes, such as retention, productivity, safety and profitability."
"Gallup finds 60% of people are emotionally detached at work and 19% are miserable."
"A manager’s effect on a workplace is so significant that Gallup can predict 70% of the variance in team engagement just by getting to know the boss."
The report confirms what I already know from my own work experiences and from 20+ years of experience in learning and development, consulting, and coaching.
Employees who are lucky enough to have a great manager/leader are more likely to be engaged, motivated and thrive at work.
If you are a leader or manager, what can you do to become a better one that fosters engagement and helps employees to thrive at work? If you are an employee, how can you proactively help yourself to build an engaged mindset and find self-motivation to thrive at work?
The good news is that leadership skills can be learned and can help to improve your motivation and impact when leading yourself and leading a team. Here are four lessons on how to build an engaged mindset and thrive at work.
Lesson 1: Commit to Something
Feeling a sense of commitment is an essential part of motivation and being able to thrive at work. It gives us a sense of belonging and something to work toward.
Visions and missions are necessary, but sometimes are too aspirational or too vague to have direct motivation for our daily work. We all need a goal, objective or at least a finish line to work toward. It gives us a sense of direction and a feeling of accomplishment when we achieve short-term goals.
When Leading Self
Commit to your own code of conduct. Identify the behaviours you admire and look up to in an ideal leader and conduct yourself in the same way. When you conduct yourself according to your moral compass, you will feel a sense of achievement and pride in who you are at work.
Commit your time and energy to the right place. Get clear on your to-do list. Make sure your to-do list is aligned with your manager's and your team's list. This will ensure that you are not misplacing time and energy for overall productivity. When your productivity and contributions are aligned, the results will build your value to your manager and team.
When Leading Others:
Commit to Clarity. People can't follow when there is no path. As a leader, it is your responsibility to help guide your team to the check points and finish line. If you are clear in communicating objectives, goals, timelines and support, you are setting up your team to commit, engage and thrive.
Commit to Understanding. A leader's view may not always be the right view. You benefit from listening and learning from others so that you can assess and analyze with a 20/20 vision. Seeing and understand other viewpoints will help you to gain commitment and engagement.
Lesson 2: Be a Positive Contributor
Energy is infectious and intent is transparent. People can instinctively sense the mental and emotional state that we are in. So if you want to have an engaging environment, you need to first create one within yourself.
When Leading Self:
Show up to help. When you have the intention to help someone, you think and behave differently. Compassion kicks in and acts from a giving mindset. When you help others, you feel engaged and good about yourself as a human being.
Understand the obstacles, but look for the opportunities. When you dwell on the obstacles, stress levels grow and lead you to disengage. So instead, understand and accept the obstacles when they arise. But put your focus on opportunities to resolve the obstacles. Finding opportunities and possibilities builds hope which fosters engagement.
When Leading Others:
Show up to help. As a leader, you are there to guide and support your team. When you have the intention to help instead of "supervising", "directing" or "criticizing", you show that you are working together with your team. Compassionate leaders build engagement when they make their teams feel safe.
Give trust and opportunities. As a leader, you may think your way is the right way and panic to take over when the team encounters obstacles. When you do that, it breaks the trust and disempowers your team. Instead, give your team trust and the opportunity to resolve obstacles on their own. This will make your team motivated and empowered to engage.
Lesson 3: Build Connections That Motivate
Studies show that a sense of belonging is a key factor in workplace engagement. People feel more attachment to those they work with rather than to their company or organization. After all, the time we spend at work in a lifetime is more than the hours we spend sleeping. Who we surround ourselves with at work matters to how well we engage and thrive.
When Leading Self:
Connect with like-hearted people. When you meet someone who is like-hearted, it feels like you've known them forever and they "get you" on a values and philosophical level. Having a select few of your kindred spirit connections will give you a community of support and a sense of belonging.
Connect with diverse-minded people. You need diverse viewpoints to innovate and grow. Connecting with diverse-minded people will help you broaden your perspective and knowledge. While like-minded people support your thinking, you miss out on alternative solutions from a differing viewpoint. Collaborating and broadening your knowledge will ignite your engagement.
When Leading Others:
Connect! Many leaders stay safely tucked away in their offices, thinking they need to lead from the top down. The real impact is leading alongside, being accessible and aware of what your team is experiencing. They are not looking for a best friend in you, but they are looking for active support and guidance when they need it.
Build trust connections. People trust what you do more than what you say. Build trust connections by aligning what you say and what you do. Be consistent in your behaviour of respect, fairness, recognition and discipline to everyone. Be consistent in how you show up for work every day as an engaged leader.
Lesson 4: Recognize and Celebrate Each Other's Accomplishments
The abundance mindset of " your success is my success" is a mindset that fosters engagement and gives motivation for everyone to thrive. Unfortunately, many corporate cultures are structured for a scarcity mindset and competition between employees and teams.
When you adopt an abundance mindset, you feel secure about your abilities and contributions. When you feel security for what you have, you are open to giving help to others and recognizing their contributions.
So how can we build our abundance mindset and foster a culture of it for our team?
When Leading Self:
Compete against yourself, not others. There is no one uniquely like us as an individual human beings in the world. So why do we insist on competing against other unique individuals when there is no comparison? We can compete against our own abilities and be better than we were yesterday or last month. Whenever you invest in self-development, you are engaged and building your ability to thrive.
Have gratitude for your abilities and accomplishments. We sometimes are just so busy doing the work that we don't acknowledge the great work that we do. Taking stock and making a gratitude list of your daily/weekly accomplishments and celebrating your abilities will help you to see how engaged you are and motivate you to do more.
When Leading Others:
Celebrate individual contributions. Build a team culture of mutual recognition and support by consistently celebrating individual contributions as a part of team achievements. People feel valued and motivated when they know their contributions to team success are recognized. Show them it's okay to be happy for their teammate's success because it's ultimately the team's success.
Recognize and celebrate diversity. Diversity is necessary for creativity and innovation. Demonstrate that diverging viewpoints and ideas will be heard with openness and respect. Encourage collaboration to flesh out possible solutions with objectivity. Create a culture where it's not about "being right" but rather "doing the right thing" for the best results.
Find out more on how to build an abundance mindset in my blog "Why an Abundance Mindset is Needed More Than Ever".
At The End Of The Day
Work will always be work, with some healthy doses of stress to stimulate and motivate us to engage and grow. Work gives us a sense of accomplishment and contribution. And when in balance, work helps us appreciate the life we create for ourselves and those we provide for. How engaged we are at work impacts how we engage in our lives outside of work.
According to Gallop's State of The Global Workplace 2022 Report: The Voice of the World's Employees:
Overall well-being influences life at work. Employees who are engaged at work but not thriving have a 61% higher likelihood of ongoing burnout than those who are engaged and thriving.
Teams with thriving workers see significantly lower absenteeism, turnover and accidents; they also see higher customer loyalty.
How people experience work influences their lives outside of work. Employees who consistently experience high levels of burnout at work say their job makes it difficult to fulfill their family responsibilities.
"The point is: Well-being at work isn’t at odds with anyone’s agenda."
Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallop Inc.
The only regret I have in my 30+ years as a working adult is how unhealthy stress at work spilled over into my life outside of work. During the high-stress years of building my corporate career, I was often a grumpy mom and wife. I was also extremely negligent on self-care and self-compassion and ignored symptoms of burnout.
I've learned that work is not life, just a part of it. There is no separation between well-being at work and outside of work. There is only your well-being.
The better we are at engaging and thriving in our work environment, the better we will engage and thrive in our lives.
To learn more about the impact of employee engagement and how to improve it, see the helpful articles below.
How to Improve Employee Engagement in the Workplace - Online Article - gallop.com
Creating a Culture of Belonging / Deloitte Insights - Online Article - www2.deloitte.com
Why Great Managers Are So Rare - Business Journal - gallop.com
I would love to start a conversation! Leave a comment!
How engaged are you at work?
How has your engagement level at work impacted your life outside of work?
What will you do to improve your well-being at work and outside of work?
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