Show You Care

One morning several years ago, I walked into my business partner’s office first thing in the morning and started right into a rant on a business issue. When I looked over to him for reaction he said, “good morning to you also, how are you?”

Around that same time we were golfing together in a tournament and he made a great shot. I had my mind on something else and started in on him on that as soon as we got into the cart after. When it was his turn to talk he said, “Thank you, for telling me what a nice shot that was.” In our next partner feedback meeting Terry suggested that I might want to be a little more attentive in this area not just with him, but with everyone in our company.

Showing I care in small ways every day, like asking people how they are and taking time to listen before we talk business, was tough at first for me, but as I have gotten better at it and seen the results it has become second nature. I really do care; I just needed to show it more.

Image by Emerging Wasteland. Click for link.

The correlation between not feeling cared about and resigning has been demonstrated many times in research. Someone scoring poorly on the question “someone at work cares about me” is up to 37 percent more likely to resign than someone scoring highly. One business unit was studied extensively because of its incredible improvement in a very short period. They saw sales increase 16 percent, customer satisfaction increase 5 percent, and productivity increase 68 percent when the previous unit manager was replaced with one who excelled at creating a culture of caring for one another in the unit. This same unit went from last place of 11 business units in the company to first place in less than two years and grew from 150 employees to over 400. The ‘caring culture’ was found to be the biggest factor. People felt they belonged there and would do almost anything to support their “tribe”.

Showing you care is sometimes a habit learned but we can probably all agree that anything you can do you show your team you care about each of them and/or build a feeling of belonging in your team is worth doing.

IBEX Payroll extends our profound respect and immeasurable gratitude to all the ancestors and keepers of the land on whose traditional territories our work takes place. We acknowledge that we are on Treaty 1 territory, the traditional gathering place of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene people and the traditional homeland of the Métis people. This land is sacred, historical, and significant.

Every time we acknowledge this truth, we have an invitation and an opportunity to reflect on the wrongs of the past, what we do in the present, and what we can do to continually honour the people whose lands and water we benefit from today.

This statement only acts as a first step in honouring the land we reside on and its peoples, and must be paired with education, understanding and informed action.