Employees are constantly wondering if anyone really gives a rip around the workplace. That’s why a leader’s “caring” continues to be one of the top 5 motivators on the job. In study after study, employees say they “want to work for someone who is concerned when we have problems.”
If you’re a boss, you need to remember that a paycheck doesn’t show that you care. Everyone gets a paycheck. What shows that you care is spending time with employees, listening to them, and asking how they are doing personally and professionally.
If you don’t “show” that you care, employees conclude that you don’t. Then they reciprocate, and they stop caring too. Remember boss, when the problems of others matter to YOU, your success will matter to them.
If you’re not sure about your “caring” skills, take on this one-week challenge. For one week, treat every person you meet, without a single exception, as the most important person on earth. You will make an amazingly, wonderful discovery. They will begin to treat you the same way. As I tell my consulting clients, “When you look for the good in others, you discover the best in yourself.”
I’m not saying it’s easy. After all, we’re all busy. And some people’s problems are hard to care about.
But that’s not the issue. As one father said to his son, “Remember that you show courtesy to others, not because they are gentlemen, but because you are.”