It’s All About Heart

In the last two blog posts I encouraged you to take the time to affirm someone in your workplace. I assured you that you could be confident that you would in fact change the world in doing so.

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In this post I will give you hard evidence that you can transform the world by affirming those in your workplace (BTW –  this will also impact your community, family, friendships…every connection you have).

In a Corporate Leadership Council Employee Engagement Survey covering 50,000 employees in 59 organisations over 10 industries across 27 countries it was found that leaders who trigger emotional engagement release 400 percent more discretionary effort than those who trigger rational engagement. There is a direct relationship between employee engagement and discretionary effort, such that improved workforce commitment results in increased performance of from 20% up to 57%.

That’s math – and it quantifies the results of spoken affirmation, as emotions arise from the heart.

I suggest that it is the ethical responsibility of any team member (leader or otherwise) to affirm the heart of others on the team. No team member operates in isolation. It takes the health of each to become the health of all. As leaders, it is also the most productive way that one can lead! Would we allow people to starve and expect optimal performance? Individuals cannot be emotionally engaged at work unless they are reconnected or restored into meaningful relationships with all the other members of the same organization (community, family…etc).

The foundational key to the resilience of any individual, and therefore any organization (for every organization is a incorporation of individuals) is the condition of the heart.

“Above all else, guard the heart, for it is the wellspring of life!” Proverb
When you affirm someone, you feed their heart. Their heart hears a message in one or all of the following 3 ways:

1. I am valued as a person
2. What we do as a team is important to others
3. What I do is important to my team
4. I have a voice, and someone is interested in hearing it

We are all free to choose what we will do with our time. We can spend the next hour cleaning up our email, or get up from our desk and speak affirmation into another heart.

It is a proven fact that one of the most important aspects of resilience is affirmation. Consider the possibility of leveraged return through affirmation – and choose wisely.