What is it that energizes and engages a workforce? The need to be doing something important and worthwhile is part of our human nature. It is the feeling of care and not any mathematical proof that engages our spirit and not just our hands. The typical manager that is “Managing By Objective” will not always recognize that “feelings are facts” to most people. Feelings are easy to ignore because you don’t have any way to accurately track them, but knowing that they are the key driver for many of our decisions is critical. MBF or “Managing By Feelings” is not written about in the annuls of business literature but maybe it should be.
Lou Holtz, the renowned Notre Dame University football coach once said that every student he ever coached wanted to know three things. Number one was “do you care about me?” Number two was “can I trust you?” And, number three was “are you committed to the success of this team?” All three questions are about feelings and you might ask what do they have to do with physical fitness, athletic talent and winning football games? Everything! Feelings of trust and care do have a place in sports teams and in corporations, they are the switch that turns on the heart and soul. Employees can spot indifference in an instant and will give what they get, as in “if you don’t’ care about me and my future growth personally and professionally why would you expect me to care about you?”
There must be a mutual benefit between employer and employee, if there is no care in the workplace it’s likely there is zero trust! Lack of trust is what fosters most adversarial relationships between management and labor. Nucor Steel had a policy that when things got tough the management team took a bigger cut in wages than labor did. Do you think that would inspire some trust with their workforce? How much harder and smarter would you want to work for a team leader that gave him or herself a pay cut before they gave you one? Care breeds trust and trust breeds commitment.
But what about the commitment to the success of the team? There is a point where you have picked your team and put them in play whether it is in the workplace or on the field and at that time it is meant to be a cohesive unit. But even then there will be issues that come up, whether it is performance or relationship related and each team member needs to know that there is a commitment to the success of the whole team as well as the individual members. No one individual member is more important than the team, and teams will perform better knowing that the best player/performer or worst player/performer will be worked with and coached or disciplined not just removed on a whim or a bad mood. In order for teams to improve there has to be times of learning and collaboration not just work. It is pretty hard to show commitment to the success of a team when you don’t take time to teach and coach and to listen and learn from the team. The work has to get done but paying attention to the feelings of trust and care and commitment will get it done faster and with more energy and effectiveness.
Lou Holtz, the renowned Notre Dame University football coach once said that every student he ever coached wanted to know three things. Number one was “do you care about me?” Number two was “can I trust you?” And, number three was “are you committed to the success of this team?” All three questions are about feelings and you might ask what do they have to do with physical fitness, athletic talent and winning football games? Everything! Feelings of trust and care do have a place in sports teams and in corporations, they are the switch that turns on the heart and soul. Employees can spot indifference in an instant and will give what they get, as in “if you don’t’ care about me and my future growth personally and professionally why would you expect me to care about you?”
There must be a mutual benefit between employer and employee, if there is no care in the workplace it’s likely there is zero trust! Lack of trust is what fosters most adversarial relationships between management and labor. Nucor Steel had a policy that when things got tough the management team took a bigger cut in wages than labor did. Do you think that would inspire some trust with their workforce? How much harder and smarter would you want to work for a team leader that gave him or herself a pay cut before they gave you one? Care breeds trust and trust breeds commitment.
But what about the commitment to the success of the team? There is a point where you have picked your team and put them in play whether it is in the workplace or on the field and at that time it is meant to be a cohesive unit. But even then there will be issues that come up, whether it is performance or relationship related and each team member needs to know that there is a commitment to the success of the whole team as well as the individual members. No one individual member is more important than the team, and teams will perform better knowing that the best player/performer or worst player/performer will be worked with and coached or disciplined not just removed on a whim or a bad mood. In order for teams to improve there has to be times of learning and collaboration not just work. It is pretty hard to show commitment to the success of a team when you don’t take time to teach and coach and to listen and learn from the team. The work has to get done but paying attention to the feelings of trust and care and commitment will get it done faster and with more energy and effectiveness.
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