Newsfeed

Build a Caring Culture

Have you ever found yourself driving but instead of thinking about how to get to your destination, you’re focused on your to-do list? You’re likely operating on autopilot, using your driving skills and knowledge to get you to where you’re going.

This can also happen in the workplace. We all go about our business, often unaware of those around us. While concentrating on our to-do lists is important, we should also focus on being present, embracing social connectedness and actively caring for the safety and well-being of others.

Here are four ways you can help establish an actively caring environment from where you are:

  1. Be Authentic. To truly connect and build relationships with others, you first need to create a foundation of trust where everyone feels safe to be themselves. While this feeling of vulnerability may be uncomfortable at first, being ourselves from the start will help cultivate genuine bonds.

  2. Be Curious. Invest genuine time in learning about your peers. From business objectives and achievements to their personal interests like a favorite sports team or activity. This requires a conscious effort to exchange your own wants or needs for the interest and attention in others.

  3. Be Helpful. Ask yourself how you could be of service to your peers. Whether that be lending an ear, helping them avoid a high-risk situation, sharing a resource or connecting them with people in your network who can help with a project. As the saying goes, “A little goes a long way.”

  4. Be Courageous. Research shows the lower the connectedness between individuals, the more courage is required to intervene on behalf of another’s safety or well-being. This means you may feel some vulnerability when reaching out to new people or those who you’ve met before but haven’t cultivated a strong relationship. Practice being courageous and if you see something, say something.

Our schedules may be booked with meetings and our to-do lists miles long, but don’t forget what Mother Teresa once said, “Never be so busy as not to think of others.”

For more information about the benefits of making connections in work and life, check out this webinar.

Written by: Mackenzie Reulein

Return to Newsfeed >