This a fascinating article on peak experiences that help us thrive. So many leaders I work with have helping their people thrive and grow as their purpose. There are six key themes in the article for life – here’s how they can apply at work. Leaders can help people:
- Invest in relationships. Creating opportunities for people to build relationships at work. You can’t make people have a best friend at work but we know this is a key driver of engagement. As leaders we can create the environment where they can have friends at work. Sarah Wright’s research suggests it’s the basic things – create opportunities for rapport building before meetings, have some social events like a shared lunch and after work drinks.
- Practicing virtues. Relationships are also strengthened when we put others’ needs ahead of our own. Such actions are called virtues and can be practiced so they get easier. Michael Leiter developed the 4As for building good culture and protecting against burnout – accomodating others, appreciating, acknowledging and being aware of the people around you.
- Embrace confelicity. This is an archaic word meaning celebrating the joy of others. Active constructing responding is a great way of doing this and is essential to building relationships. Its also a great tool for leaders to look out for when people are proud of what they have done – to know people better and to recognise what they are proud of.
- Helping. Making time to serve others is one of the best ways to strengthen social ties. When you are of service to another, the other person will nearly always reciprocate, thereby strengthening the relationship. There are great articles on creating a culture of generosity at work where people are encouraged to help each other – building relationships and productivity.
- Purpose. People who have identified their purpose in life and act on it have high levels of satisfaction in their lives. Purpose activities nearly always involve other people, providing a platform to have key moments doing something you love and to accentuate its value by adding a social component. We need to help people connect their work to purpose and remind them of your organisations purpose.
One that’s a bit harder to relate to work is getting a dog. Individuals with social anxiety or other difficulties in forming relationships can strengthen this brain pathway by adopting a dog. This research found that dogs induce peak Immersion experiences and reduce stress. Just walk a dog, and people will approach you to start a conversation and pet Fido. Perhaps facilitating having pets at work?
