Creating A Culture of Caring

A 2022 survey found that 44% of workers are looking for a new job. There are now two job openings for every person seeking a job, and baby boomers are turning 65 — retirement age — at a rate of 10,000 per day, with about 5,900 retiring each day. Gallup surveys show only about 31% of people are engaged at work — wow! Human resources executives say that the attraction and retention of engaged employees is the No. 1 challenge they face.

What can be done to attract, retain, and engage the people we need to be successful? One important strategy is to intentionally strive to create a culture of caring. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines caring as “feeling or showing concern for or kindness to others.”

Research and surveys have identified several benefits to having a culture of caring, such as:

• Increased productivity.
• Higher engagement, job satisfaction, and motivation.
• Improved workplace connections and sense of community.
• Lower absenteeism and workplace stress.
• Greater trust in employers.
• Competitive advantage, including lower turnover rates and being an employer of choice.

Tips to Create a Culture of Caring

Here are 10 ideas that can help.

1. Show You Care

As leaders, we need to show that we care and model the attitude and behaviors we hope to see in our teams. There is an important concept called “shadow of the leader” — people are watching us to see what example we are setting. To create a deeper culture of caring, we need to show the way.

We can show we care with our words and with our actions. Included are thoughtful gestures like sending emails, texts, cards, or notes to our teammates when they perform well or face a difficult situation. We can surprise our team with bringing in ice cream bars on a hot afternoon, or sending people home early on a Friday afternoon after a busy week — the potential ideas are endless. That being said, here are additional tips that can help us show that we truly care about our team members and other stakeholders.

2. Demonstrate Compassion and Empathy

We have a huge impact on how our team members feel. One brain imaging study found that when employees recalled a boss who had been unkind or callous, they showed increased activation in areas of the brain associated with avoidance and negative emotion; the opposite was true when they recalled an empathic boss. Researchers at the University of Michigan suggest that leaders who demonstrate compassion toward employees foster individual and collective resilience in challenging times (like we live in now). Showing compassion to others is good for them and for us, as the Dalai Lama suggests: “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

3. Get to Know Your Team

Our team members are not mere workers, but human beings with fears, dreams, challenges, aspirations, passions, and families. Let’s get to know them (within reasonable bounds). Asking open-ended questions, looking for opportunities to have some fun during work hours, and spending time with people outside of normal work hours can be helpful. Over the years, my teams and I have gone bowling, played miniature golf, attended movies, cheered on our local NBA team (Go Blazers!), and enjoyed many visits to nearby restaurants or had food brought into the workplace.

4. Foster Social Connections

Multiple studies confirm that positive social connections at work produce highly desirable results. For example, people get sick less often; recover twice as fast from surgery; experience less depression; learn faster and remember longer; tolerate pain and discomfort better; display more mental acuity; and perform better on the job. On the other hand, research at the University of California found that the probability of dying early is 70% higher for people with poor social relationships.

We can encourage social connections among our team members in a variety of ways, such as dedicating space to taking breaks together, having team building meetings and activities (refer to tip No. 3 above), acknowledging work anniversaries, celebrating birthdays and other life events, and sometimes just having some fun and laughing together. I like this quote from industrialist Andrew Carnegie: “There is little success where there is little laughter.”

5. Ensure a Moderate Workload and Work Hours for Every Employee

There is no place for burning out people in a culture of caring. We should ensure every employee has a reasonable workload and can handle their responsibilities without stress and panic. Experts say that 60-80% of workplace accidents are attributed to stress, and that 80% of doctor visits are related to stress. One large-scale study showed a strong link between leadership behavior and heart disease in employees. Stress-producing bosses are literally bad for the heart — let’s not be that kind of boss.

6. Practice Continual Recognition and Appreciation

Everybody likes to receive positive recognition and appreciation. In all my years of leadership in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations, I have never had anyone complain they were receiving too much recognition and appreciation. For recognition and appreciation to be most effective and motivating, it needs to be ongoing and not just an occasional occurrence. Author Zig Ziglar stated, “People say that motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend it daily.”

7. Be a Psychological Safe Place

Amy Edmondson, a business professor at Harvard, is considered a leading expert on psychological safety. Her research shows that a culture of safety — where leaders are inclusive, humble, and forgiving, and who encourage their staff to speak up and ask for help — leads to better learning and performance outcomes. Rather than creating a culture of fear of negative consequences, feeling safe in the workplace encourages people to learn new things, be innovative, and own up to and learn when a mistake happens.

8. Celebrate Success

When we see our team members demonstrate the caring behaviors we want, we need to positively reinforce and celebrate them. Management guru Ken Blanchard has long promoted the concept of MBWA (management by walking around) and catching people doing something right — then immediately giving sincere praise.

9. Hire With Care

We should be very careful when we hire new team members. When we are developing a caring and positive culture, we need actively engaged team members who believe in the culture we are creating. Adhering to strict screening and onboarding processes will help us bring on new people that will enhance our team. One way to find potential new hires who will fit the culture is to encourage referrals from existing team members.

10. Extend a Caring Culture Beyond the Workplace

Part of the way our team culture is defined is how we interact with people outside our immediate team. Outsiders include coworkers from other departments and our vendors and suppliers. Caring for these people will be a true win-win; they will respond well and feel appreciated, and we and our teams will receive high-quality support. It’s also very important to extend care to our internal and external customers. Customers want to know we value them, not just their money.

Closing thought: Psychologist William James counseled, “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” When we intentionally act to develop a caring culture. our team members and stakeholders will benefit and feel good — and so will we as leaders.