LEADING WITH LOVE

Today, I want to talk about a little four letter word: love.

Specifically, love in the workplace.

And no, not love in the general idea of romance, but love expressed through kindness.

Through positivity, support and caring.

Love is rarely talked about in the professional environment. But around here at Terradin, we love love. As one of our core values, we strive to incorporate it into everything we do.

Love for our co-workers, our clients, our work, ourselves.

Here’s a great example: every Wednesday we sit down and individually write handwritten letters to people, thanking them for something they’ve done or some way they’ve impacted our lives. We pop those bad boys in the mail and spread the joy around. Gratitude Wednesdays are always a bright time around here.

And it’s really a beautiful thing.

When I walked into the office this morning, I was delighted to see a bright blue gift bag sitting at my desk, accompanied by an envelope inscribed with Happy Boss’s Day! My team had gathered a few quirky items (the light-up football for ages 4+ was the highlight of the bunch), just to show they appreciate me and love to work here.

I’m not sharing this to brag. I’m sharing because this small act of kindness is exactly the kind of thing I want my team doing on a regular basis. I want to spread the love around. I want to lead from a place of love.

Love driven leaders help their employees reach their potential. They incite creativity, encourage free thinking and inspire their teams to do better every single day.

On average, a person will spend around 90,000 hours of their life at work. That’s a third of our lives. We spend more time in the office than we spend with our significant others, our children, even by ourselves. So why shouldn’t we lead with love?

In a study from Administrative Science Quarterly, researchers found that employees who felt they worked in a loving environment reported higher levels of satisfaction with their jobs, are more productive, and have a stronger commitment to their organization.

Of course metrics matter, but when you want your team to perform to the best of their abilities and enjoy what they’re doing, this passion is only going to come from a place of love.

This feeling of love can seep into life outside of work as well. People who are happier have lower heart rates, stronger immune systems, and generally report having a better quality of life.

Making the transition to leading my company with love didn’t happen overnight. To be honest, it was a bit of a challenge. As a leader, you naturally want other people to make the same decisions you would make. But that’s basically as improbable as the sun rising in the west.

What I’ve discovered is that if your employees make decisions from a place of love, these decisions will almost always end up being the same as yours. Because the mindset is the same.

To add onto that, when these decisions come from a place of love, my team will never fail. They’ll either win, or they’ll learn a lesson. Sure, everyone will make transactional mistakes, but they’re making their decisions for the right reasons and that’s where our success comes from. We’ve seen improvements in everything from moral to productivity, and of course, revenue.

We owe all of these successes to love.

Here’s a challenge for you – start building a culture of love in the smallest ways.

Go the extra mile to show your employees you care. Share a smile, be enthusiastic, give more high fives and celebrate small wins.

These moments will build on each other to help create and maintain a company that thrives on love.

I hope you and your team can start to experience what we feel around here every single day.

Love,

Luke