Like the fiddler on the roof, we may feel uneasy trying to spread joy for fear of ridicule or worse. Yet when we do, we feel awesome, and we make others feel better too.
Turns out, when we have encounters with people we perceive as good, our brains reward us with oxytocin that soothes us. When we don't get enough of these encounters, our health suffers.
A recent Forbes article by Tracy Brower, PhD challenges managers to step up and be leaders in battling the mental health crisis at work. This means acknowledging that therapy and wellbeing programs (e.g., mindfulness, yoga), while awesome, are not enough. What employees really need is to know they have people who have their backs, who care about them as people and who push them to be engaged and excel. With this security, employees perform better and are stronger.
My friend, Jen Marr, founder of Inspiring Comfort talks about the Empathy-Action gap. When a leader sees someone who is struggling but doesn't take action to demonstrate to the person they have their back, the person continues to suffer, and their performance takes a hit.
While it's awkward to have conversations with a team member who doesn't seem quite right, doing so is part of being a good human, and a good leader.
If you are not sure how to do this, reach out to me. Inspiring Comfort has practical training programs that arm you with what you and your team needs. I am certified to deliver this highly effective training and would like to bring it to your workplace.
When leaders encourage, push and unite their team members, they make work fun. They get their team to take on hard challenging assignments and work together to do amazing things.
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