What are my priorities as a leader? This is a question that new and experienced managers alike often ask. While I could provide a picture-perfect answer from a hundred or so leadership frameworks, the answer is that leaders must prioritise care for themselves, employees, customers, and the business.
What is care? Simply put, it is taking action to ensure the health and welfare of something or someone who is of importance.
Which is more important? None. They are all equally crucial for cultivating a caring, healthy, positive and sustainable successful workplace.
In this edition of The Intentional Leader, I explore the Four Priorities of Care, what they are, and what balance looks like.
Care for Self
Leaders cannot care for their people, customers or the business if they do not care for themselves.
Establish Healthy Boundaries: Healthy boundaries are essential for a healthy work-life balance. They do not mean that you don't work on evenings or weekends. Instead, you set boundaries where constant excessive work might negatively impact your well-being.
Prioritise Physical Health: Physical health impacts energy levels, cognitive function, and productivity. Start building exercise, good nutrition and sleep into your daily routine.
Nurture Mental Health: Mental health directly affects our physical wellness. It also influences emotional and social awareness and how we regulate feelings. Start incorporating self-reflection into your routine and engage in activities that help you relax and rejuvenate.
Strengthen Social Health: Social health is our ability to interact and form meaningful relationships. Strengthening your social health will help you build strong interpersonal relationships with others.
Continuous Learning and Growth: Be a champion for ongoing personal and professional development to stay competitive and fulfilled.
Practice Gratitude: There's often a narrative behind our thinking and acting. Take the time to look at things positively and remind yourself of things you are grateful for.
Build a Support Network: Self-care doesn't mean doing everything alone. Surround yourself with a network of people who make you feel safe and can provide guidance, encouragement, and a sense of belonging.
Seek Help: Don't wait too long. Speak to an experienced healthcare professional if you experience weight loss, lack of sleep, difficulty concentrating, or harmful thoughts.
Care for People
If you take care of your people, they will care for your customers and the business.
Continuous Learning and Growth: Advocate for lifelong learning and professional development to stay relative and fulfilled. Engage in regular conversations with your people about their development needs.
Establish Healthy Boundaries: Healthy boundaries are essential for a healthy work-life balance. Engage in regular conversation with your people about their boundaries and how they are managing them.
Manage Workloads: Be mindful of how the workload is distributed within your team. Avoid overloading individuals, and show you care by conversing with your people on how they are coping.
Promote Physical Well-Being: Physical health impacts energy levels, cognitive function, and productivity. Create opportunities for your team to get exercise, good nutrition, and sleep into their daily routine.
Promote Mental Health: Mental health directly affects our physical wellness and how we regulate feelings. Create opportunities for your people to relax, rejuvenate, and practice self-reflection.
Promote Social Health: Social health is our ability to interact and form meaningful relationships with others. Create opportunities for your people to build strong interpersonal relationships.
Demonstrate Genuine Curiosity: How well do you know your people? What are they working towards? What's important to them? What do they find meaningful in a career? Converse with your people regularly to better understand and support them.
Express Gratitude: Take the time to express gratitude and show appreciation for your people's efforts and contributions. A simple thank-you or acknowledgement of their hard work can go a long way.
Build a Positive Work Environment: Foster a positive work environment where team members feel motivated, inspired, and empowered to do their best work. Make sure you understand what makes your people tick.
Provide Flexible Work Arrangements: Recognise that your people have unique needs and responsibilities outside of work. Offer flexibility in work arrangements to accommodate individual preferences and circumstances.
Care When it Counts: Be empathetic and supportive when team members face personal or professional challenges. Offer a listening ear and provide assistance or support as needed.
Provide Help: Encourage your people to speak to an experienced healthcare professional if they experience weight loss, lack of sleep, difficulty concentrating or harmful thoughts.
Lead by Example: Set a positive example for your team by demonstrating self-care. Share what you are doing to care for yourself.
Care for Customers
If you take care of your customers, they will care for your people and the business.
Give Customers a Voice: Customers feel appreciated and valued when they feel heard. Seek regular customer feedback on your product or service offering and what is important to them.
Understand Customer Needs: Knowing your customers is critical to cultivating mutually beneficial relationships. Engage in activities that will help you to know your customers inside and out.
Deepen Connections: Get to know your customers beyond your work interactions. What are their interests and hobbies? What do you share in common? The deeper you know them, the deeper the human connection.
Building Relationships: Develop strategies for building long-term customer relationships, such as regular communication and exceptional customer service.
Go The Extra Mile: Demonstrate your appreciation and care for customers by going the extra mile. Don't settle for average; focus on delighting your customers.
Customer Feedback: Discuss the role of customer feedback in continuous business improvement and innovation.
Care for The Business
If you take care of the business, it will take care of you, your people and your customers.
Deliver Impact: What does real impact look like for the business? What can we do as individuals and as a team to deliver impact? Engage in conversations that help your team focus on impact.
A Clear Purpose: Why do we exist? Ensure you and your people are clear about your purpose. Ideally, you would involve them in defining a shared purpose and promise.
Live the Values: What values do we hold dear? What values guide how we show up for ourselves, our customers and the business? How are our values aligned to that of the business?
Contribution to the Business: What's our role, and how do we contribute to the bigger picture? Ensure your people know how they contribute to the bigger picture. This helps build pride and engagement.
Ethical Practices: Emphasise the importance of maintaining ethical standards and practices in all dealings with and on behalf of the employer.
In Conclusion
Demonstrating care is not a weakness. Demonstrating care for ourselves, our people, our customers, and the business is an absolute strength. Leaders who demonstrate care cultivate a caring, healthy, positive, sustainable, and thriving workplace.