You should try to understand the top five drivers of employee engagement and #1 on the list was: Management is sincerely interested in employee well-being. What is meant by the term “employee well-being?” I like the way Towers Watson defines it as encompassing three interconnected aspects of an individual’s “work life”:
- Physical health — overall health, energy/stamina;
- Psychological health — stress/anxiety, intrinsic satisfaction, accomplishment, optimism, confidence, control, empowerment, safety; and
- Social “health” — work relationships, balance in work and personal life, equity, fairness, respect, social connectedness.
Psychological and social healths are the essence of emotional intelligence (EQ), particularly for leaders and their employees. If you recall, EQ is comprised of two major components: 1) personal competence and 2) social competence. I firmly believe psychological health has everything to do with leaders who understand how important their self-awareness and self-regulation is to create the environment necessary to build their employees’ self-confidence, optimism, commitment and results orientation…the personal competence of EQ. The latter, social competence, has to do with social health: are we aware of our impact on others and the relationships we create? Social awareness and social skills are crucial to working relationships, respect and connectedness.
I then distill these two EQ components down even further with one simple statement:
“Show your employees you care about them as a person.”
Connect to the person that is your employee. When you connect to the person, you also connect to the employee in a deeply meaningful way. This does not mean becoming best friends and partying with the team, it means conversations about family, friends and weekend plans. It is not conversations about work.