"Nachat" - The Ultimate Leadership Internal KPI (& Reward)

As a leader, you have many external KPIs such as bottom-line results, customer satisfaction, employee engagement and many more. But what is your internal KPI? How would you know for sure that you are leading your team towards success?

One of the most frustrating things for a parent or a leader is to see their kids/employees wasting their talent and not reaching their potential. You can imagine how devastated was my mother watching me not investing the time to get great grades so I can get into a good university. In her desperation, she kept she resolved to reversed psychology: “Avi, with such grades, no university will admit you. You will end up as a street cleaner. Just clean well so people who know me will not say that my son can't even clean well the roads."

In the graduation ceremony of my double major degree in Economics and Business at the university, my Mother was glowing with Nachat (Naches in Yiddish). To break the tension, she teased me. â€œAvi, don’t you like the other tie that I bought you?” As she said that tears of Nachat poured on her chicks. It was an unforgettable priceless moment to have the joy and satisfaction of bringing Naches to my mom.

What is Nachat (Naches)?

Naches is a Yiddish word originating from the Hebrew word "???" Nachat. It means the gratification, contentment, pride, and sheer joy that one derives mostly from his/her children, family members, students, and mentees. It is the opposite of jealousy. It is the feeling of elation and blessedness to witness them doing great, achieving their goals, living good values and attaining happiness in their lives. It is the pride parents feel when their children contribute to their family, communities and to society, thereby moving towards their full potential. Naches is the priceless feeling of completing a reward that parents and leaders get when they feel that their selfless investment in nurturing, educating, building character, supplying tools, knowledge, love, money, and care are finally bearing fruit. 

"Nachat/Naches is the a priceless ROI a leader enjoys. It uplifts, motivates and bonds the giver and the receiver for a lifetime"

~ Avi Liran

My mother deserved Naches. After my father unexpectedly passed away when I was 12, he left my mom, a young pediatrician at that time, a big mortgage to pay. Mom took an extra job and accepted more private calls to take care of her two kids. Despite the hardship she had had in her life, the devastating adversities of losing most of her loved ones in the Holocaust, the daily challenges and loneliness after my Dad passed away, Mom always had a sense of humor and a sense of purpose. She perseveringly saved lives as a doctor, while at the same time ensured her kids were doing well and were well provided for.

Coming down from the stage with my graduation certificate in hand, I said, “Mom, this is for you. I would not have made it here without you. From now on, you need not worry that your son will have to clean the streets.”  She smiled and replied, “The first degree is for yourself. Now go and get the Master’s degree for your mom.“ Mom was glowing with Naches.

 Naches @ work?

At the workplace, Naches means similar things, just as the Parent is the Boss and the children are the Employees. Think about it: Our workplace is the family that we choose. We spend there most of our waking hours. Excluding sleeping time, on a weekday, we spend more than double the time at work than with our real families. 

Good "Parent Leaders" are focused both on results and on the short and long-term development of their employees. Net, “Parent Leaders” genuinely care for their own employees by creating a motivating and joyful environment for them to thrive and achieve their full potential, pretty much similar to how our parents do the same for us as children. Like parents, Bosses who can tap into intrinsic motivation, magnify strengths and dedicate resources to help them acquire the right habits and needed character traits, harvest Naches. When employees feel that their bosses genuinely care about them as individuals, it often results in stronger engagement, motivation, and sense of achievement.

Are you afraid to establish a personal relationship with your employees?

In conversations with hundreds of leaders, some leaders admitted that they prefer to distance themselves from their employees. They felt uncomfortable with establishing deeper personal relationships with their employees. They had a fear that employees might abuse the closeness to obtain favors, or they were afraid that it will lead to biased business decisions. Some leaders take this to the extreme, such that they appear cold and uncaring, even though they are actually really nice people. Often this backfires because of the obvious distance that they put between themselves and their employees.

On the contrary, strong “Parent Leaders" know the balance. They show that they genuinely care about the development of their employees, and just simply care about them as PEOPLE. They also know how to draw the line if boundaries are crossed, just as parents do when their own children violate the house rules. They know how to articulate ground rules, while at the same time doing so in an honest, adult to adult manner.

 Embed Naches into your leadership credo!

What is common to the most admired leaders in an organization is the sense of trust that the employees feel towards them for the leaders’ genuine care for their success. They derive Naches and self-satisfaction and accomplishment watching their protégés do well and succeed.  They mentor and coach them just like parents do. They invest time to coach, guide and encourage while giving honest feedback and Tough Love. 

"The Nachat Leadership Challenge: How do I nurture, coach, mentor and train my team so I will be so proud of them" ~ Avi Liran

If you as a leader do not have "Nachat" from your team, if you find yourself micromanaging or frustrated with your team you need to go back to your drawing board and ask yourself what can you do better to nurture your team to success. Make Nachat your internal leadership KPI.

One GM of a big hotel told me: "When I retire, I want to see as many of my talented people becoming successful and admired GMs. I want to feel the satisfaction that I had a lot to do with helping them to become great leaders. When someone asks them, ‘Who influenced and inspired you to be a great leader?’ I want them to think about me."

Update 2018: Mentorship Nachat: This week I had the unique and rare chance to be on both sides of Nachat. My friend and mentee Coen had received his Professional Member title in APSS and a day later, I received CSP title (Certified Speaking Professional). I felt Nachat from Coen Tan. My chest expanded with pride and joy to witness his achievement. I know how hard he worked for it. At the same time, I have called two of my mentors Lenny Ravich and Andrew Bryant who nurtured me to thank them for their role in my journey. How their advice and dedication helped to be where I am. I felt the warmth and the pride of giving them Nachat. These two events made me feel again the inner purpose of Naches: To be grateful to those who helped me and to invest in those who need me.

How about you? What are your leadership mantra and philosophy?

What are you doing to be a leader that inspires and deserves Nachat? 

My other blog posts:

• No Thanks, We Are Too Busy
• Celebrate SMALL Wins 
• Voice Of A Champion - Best Practices In Listening To Your Employees
• Vampires, Zombies & JCL's 
• It Is NOT the End - Use Humor
• Really??? Are All The 10 Happiest Countries in Latin America?
• Be the Winning Horse - A Story Of Asian Positive Leader
• How To Manage A Toxic Leader? Tips from an Asian Leader
• HOW TO CHASE YOUR CUSTOMERS AWAY
• 60 Seconds of Fun @ Work
• Get Mad! But Smell the Flower, and Replace “!” with “?”
• The Laughter Gap - Overcoming The Law of Repulsion
• Deal With It!
• It's Your Response-Damn-Ability!

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Working globally from Singapore, TEDx (IDEASx) global speaker CSP Avi Liran (Economist, MBA and basketball coach) is the Chief Delight Officer of www.deliveringdelight.com. He is is the originator of the creative, inspiring and entertaining keynote talks and edutainment programs Delivering Delight, helping organizations worldwide to tap on their Inner Delight to Lead With Values so they effectively cultivate a Delightful Organisational Culture (DOC) that nurtures Delightful Employee Experience (DEX) which empowers Delightful Customer Experience (DCX).

Avi consults, trains and coaches leaders and manager from Fortune 500 companies how to tap into their inner delight and lead with value so they can walk the talk to drive results. Organisations who work with Avi experience higher engagement, retention, creativity, and productivity while having so much more fun and camaraderie.