Back to Basics: What truly matters to us

Today, I want to write about 2 topics that are near and dear to my heart:??

1. Helping and caring about people?
2. Questioning circumstances when they do not feel right?

The reason I am bringing this up today is because the vast majority of business environments I have been in lately, do not feel right. They do not feel healthy. They do not emanate caring, consideration, happiness or love.?

It is very important for us, as business leaders, to create an environment where people feel safe, secure, valued and taken care of. When the world around us feels as if it is crumbling, we need our businesses to step up and provide us with a feeling of safety.?

Because the reality is, a company is not just somewhere people go to work. The company you work for is part of your life.??

It’s the truth.??

And this carries a huge responsibility for business leaders. A responsibility that I don’t believe many have been taking seriously.??

From my observations, a lot of employees feel as if they are being treated more like machines than actual people. They are numbers, minions. They are there to do the bidding of the business owners/leaders. There to make the organization money and that is it.??

This is very dehumanizing. Your employees deserve better. They ARE people.?

Not only is this dehumanizing but it also leads to an immense amount of feelings of hopelessness, despair and ultimately ….. stress ….??

Something we have enough of in our world today!? Something that our business world NEEDS to stop creating more of.??

Now business leaders, you may be thinking, “Why all this blame on us?”?

There is a reason, a very big reason.??

Research estimates work stress as the 5th leading cause of death in the US. According to Jeffery Pfeffer, Stanford Professor and author of Dying for a Paycheck, “In total, workplace environments in the United States may be responsible for 120,000-excess deaths per year.”??

That’s a BIG DEAL.?

With the numbers being that high, 5th leading cause of death, that means that it isn’t the “other guys” doing all the bad stuff. It means that it is happening right in our backyards.??

We ALL need to take some ownership of this. And with ownership comes change.? With change comes an enhancement to our little corner of the world.???

I am not only speaking to you, business leaders, I am also speaking to myself.??

I am taking responsibility and creating valuable action towards creating safe, secure and loving environments for people to work in every day.?

My something is the Back to Basics Index.?

The Back to Basics Index helps organizations understand how their employees are truly feeling when they are sitting at their desks and digs deep into the challenges and problems an organization might be experiencing.??

It points to where organizations can implement positive solutions to help them improve on both the people and process sides.???

It does this by examining 6 foundational elements that are pivotal to an organization’s ability to be streamlined and functional.??

These 6 elements are:?

1. Stability?
2. Connection
3. Trust & Influence
4. Boundaries?
5. Fairness
6. Innovation

With this index, I am supporting and guiding organizations in getting back to the basics of caring. Not only in saying that they care, but actually SHOWING that they care.?

For example, I think every organization has a vision, mission and/or value statements that go like this:?

1. We’re going to provide the best product/service to our customers?

and?

1. We’re going to provide a WONDERFUL environment for our employees to work in?

Great to have those words on your wall; however, are you truly practicing what you preach? Would your employees give you a 100% score on all 6 foundational elements in the Back to Basics index??

Let’s start practicing what we preach, because the reality is, if work stress is the 5th leading cause of death in the US, we’re not doing a great job practicing it.??

Let’s band together to create an environment where everyone can truly thrive. Where everyone feels safe, secure and valued.?

Only then can we have an amazing, uplifting and positive impact on the community around us and those we care about: our employees, our friends, our family.????