Choose a caring mindset to improve employee engagement

- Have you ever experienced a work situation in which you felt home or in a close circle of trust? Do you know what triggered your sensibility? Our experiences at work and in life generally are defined by these micro-moments. These are single moments of connection we make in a given environment. They can come in a form an eye contact, a smile, or simply by being present. In studying high performing organizations, we found one emotion common in these micro-moments. It is one's sense of caring. This is the degree of affection and compassion people feel and express toward one another. There are great benefits to carrying a caring mindset inside a work environment. In presence of a caring mindset, we recorded workers experience lower absenteeism, less burnout, greater teamwork, and higher job satisfaction. Because of its measurable value, companies such as PepsiCo, Southwest Airlines, and Zappos have begun to explicitly include caring in their leadership principles. The opposite of caring is control. This is the degree of perceived regulation inside a given environment. We find these environments to be mostly made up of conscious and unconscious policies and procedures. How do caring and control mindsets create different dynamics? When we carry a control mindset, we tend to avoid emotions. Our stress hormones get triggered and we become fearful and resistant of change. Unfortunately, this state can sometimes manifest as actions of emotional abuse and power. In a caring mindset however, there's often modeling of value-based positive behaviors. So our brains release positive neurotransmitters that expand our ability to gain and offer emotional connection. As a result, we become more open in our thinking and can better engage with our surroundings. So how can you evolve your mindset from control to caring as a leader? First of all, you need to acknowledge the way we show up, as employees or leaders, is highly dependent on the environment. It's important to create work conditions that trigger collective mental capacity, but we need to equally care about how we are supporting one's social, emotional, and psychological needs. Then you need to model presence. Everyone, whether a high flyer or a struggling employee or a janitor or a VP of Marketing, we all have a need to be seen, to be heard, and to be cared for. It's our number one responsibility to be present with our colleagues. Last, you need to celebrate moments of connection. A quick celebration of a small collaboration can really feed into one's validation of self and at the same, drive belonging for many others inside the organization. Just remember, caring for the sake of caring doesn't work. One can never cheat his or her way outside of authenticity in a given relationship.