How to create a culture of caring

Simon Sinek is getting a lot of response to his video called, “Why Leaders Eat Last.” The video is an entertaining review of some of the basics of neurochemistry and how they affect people in the workplace. His basic message is that the key to success is people consciously taking care of each other. Taking care of others releases oxytocin and creates a safe, productive, and healthy environment. While this is very good information, he only gets to the “so what” in the last two minutes of a 45-minute video. The problem is that he provides no guidance on how to apply this good information to individuals or to even more challenging corporate cultures. Here’s how organizations can create cultures that align with Sinek’s perspectives:

• Guide the star performers to create a collective, compelling purpose statement.
• Proliferate the purpose statement in a way that honors everyone’s participation (alignment on purpose goes far to reduce fear and boost safety).
• Create a collective path to mastery and follow it until everyone is great at his or her jobs.

When everyone in an organization is aligned on purpose and everyone trusts that their colleagues are good at their jobs, all individuals—and the culture—have the internal resources to be more consciously caring. Simply saying, “Be more caring,” is a little like telling everyone to hold hands and sing “Kumbaya.” It’s a nice idea, but it’s not very useful. Instead set out to consciously build a culture of alignment, confidence, and caring. All of the neurochemicals will flow in the best way possible. Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net]]>