Do you love your job?
Do you love your job? This is a question every one of your managers should ask of their team members.
Let’s first look at what love means in a relationship. When you love someone (in a healthy way)…
You feel connected.
You feel cared for.
You feel trusted.
You feel secure.
You feel admired.
To love your job is no different. Research shows that once basic financial needs are met, salary is not the key driver of loving your job.
Instead, these are the needs that matter more:
Having a manager who supports you and helps you grow.
Doing work that taps into your strengths.
Feeling a sense of purpose in the work you do.
Having good relationships with co-workers.
Feeling a sense of autonomy and being trusted.
But does love make a difference in the workplace? Absolutely.
Gallup’s latest employee engagement research revealed starting differences in teams that were engaged as compared to teams that were not. Teams in the top quartile of engaged versus the teams in the lowest quartile of engagement experienced the following:
78% less absenteeism
51% less turnover
28% less theft
63% fewer safety incidents/accidents
32% fewer quality defects
To be truly engaged with your work, you experience an emotional connection to what you’re doing. Loving what you do is simply taking engagement to a whole new level.
This is exactly what Doug Conant set out to do when he first stepped into the CEO role of the Campbell Soup Company in 2001. The company was a mess. The company’s stock was in a free fall. The culture was toxic and hemorrhaging its best talent. Doug realized that in order to win in the marketplace, he first had to win in the workplace.
As Doug described at a leadership conference at Harvard in 2013, "We needed to reach employees on four levels: People needed to make a living, they needed to feel loved, they needed to learn, and they needed to feel like they were part of something special and leave a legacy behind. Hitting on those four cylinders, we were able to create a very powerful culture."
Doug followed a “tough on standards, tender-hearted with people” approach that led to a cumulative total shareholder return of 64% — nearly five times higher than the S&P average. Perhaps even more importantly, his approach led to a 17:1 engagement rate, meaning that for every 17 employees, only one was disengaged, thus far outperforming the Gallup “gold standard” of 12:1.
If you’re an executive who’s looking to empower your managers, below are a list of questions you can share with them.
Equipping your managers with these questions could help each manager shine a light on whether their team members are engaged or “in love” with their work — or if their team members are very much “out of love” with their work.
Encourage your managers to schedule one-on-one sessions with their team members to uncover what’s really going on for them. The answers may be eye-opening!
Question #1: Do you look forward to going to work?
If they say “yes,” find out specifics of what they enjoy doing at work.
If they say “no,” find out specifics of what they dread about work.
If they say “sometimes,” find out what tips the balance for them.
Question #2: Do you feel like you’re good at what you do?
If they say “yes,” ask more about the tasks and projects they enjoy.
If they say “no,” find out what responsibilities and duties are depleting them.
If they say “sometimes,” get clarity about what comes easily for them and where they struggle.
Question #3: Do you have autonomy and the ability to make your own decisions?
If they say “yes,” see if they can share examples of when they feel they have autonomy.
If they say “no,” find out when and how they feel micro-managed.
If they say “sometimes,” probe into situations where they feel empowered and times when they feel disempowered.
Question #4: Do you like the people you work with?
If they say “yes,” see if you can find out what they enjoy about their co-workers and what led to building these relationships.
If they say “no,” see if you can start to uncover what’s keeping them from building healthy relationships with others.
If they say “sometimes,” try to gain a deeper understanding of the social dynamics in play on your team.
Question #5: Do you feel a sense of purpose and meaning at work?
If they say “yes,” try to dig into details of what’s meaningful to them in their daily activities.
If they say “no,” listen with open ears and an open heart to understand what’s leaving them feeling unfulfilled.
If they say “sometimes,” see if you can detect patterns of when they feel a sense of purpose at work and when they don’t.
Question #6: Do you feel you get recognized for the work you do?
If they say “yes,” find out what type of recognition feels genuine and real to them and why.
If they say “no,” be willing to hear the full scope of what makes them feel invisible and unrecognized at work.
If they say “sometimes,” take the time to suss out when they feel acknowledged and when they don’t.
These questions may reveal some difficult truths. And yet, helping your managers start to address the root causes of disengagement in their team can create such a positive impact for their team members — and for themselves!
Want to bring out the best in your managers? Reach out today to schedule a free consultation.