Thriving is good for people and business.
As a leader, you have a lot on your plate—from driving results to ensuring you create great experiences that attract, retain, engage and develop people. And leaders have a tremendous impact on people in terms of their mental health, engagement and morale. It’s a lot of responsibility, but also a lot of opportunity.
And helping people thrive is worth the focus, because when people flourish, it’s good for them, and it also has powerful impacts on business performance.
The good news is research suggests three straightforward ways to lead so people are more likely to feel fulfilled, energized and rewarded in their work.
Thriving Is Good
Of course thriving is good for people, but it’s also good for business. When people were thriving, they said they were more productive (89% of people), more likely to go above and beyond (83%), more effective (82%), more able to do their best work (79%), more creative (67%), more committed to staying with the organization (66%) and more likely to speak well of the organization (52%), according to Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership.
But what is thriving, really? It has two fundamental components. One is great performance today and another is growth and striving for the next accomplishment. This is based on extensive research over the years in multiple areas—from elite athletes to child development and mental health.
In addition, thriving includes a constructive response to challenge and it encompasses aspects of mental, physical and social elements which result in vitality, according to academic research.
When people are thriving at work, they say they feel more confident (86%), more engaged (82%), happier (76%), more inspired (68%), better about themselves (62%) and more energetic (62%), according to the Simmons University data.
People want to feel valued and appreciated.
Facilitate Performance
One of the first things you can do as a leader to help people thrive is to create the conditions for them to perform well. In fact, according to the Simmons University study, one of the primary factors for people who were thriving at work was feeling they were making a positive contribution.
As a leader, align people as much as possible with their talents. If they thrive on interacting with customers, do your best to build client interactions into their role. Or if they are energized by analytical work, give them assignments which emphasize their skills.
You won’t always be able to make perfect matches between what people want to do and what they have to do, but when you can find as much overlap as possible, it contributes to thriving through great performance.
Create Growth
For people who were thriving, growth and learning were also primary factors. So as a leader, ensure you’re asking people about what kind of development they would most value, and in what ways they want to grow.
Don’t assume everyone wants to climb the hierarchy in the standard way. People may prefer to grow their network or benefit from greater levels of flexibility—or high levels of responsibility without direct reports.
Ensure you’re matching development opportunities with what people most value in terms of the meaning they find in their work.
Recognize and Reinforce
The third primary factor in thriving at work, according to the Simmons University study was feeling valued and recognized. As a leader, be sure you’re paying attention to your team members’ work and giving them feedback. When you hold people accountable for results, you send a message they have value and that the organization needs the outcomes of their efforts.
Recognize people in ways that mean the most to them. For some this may include fanfare and for others, it may be a quiet lunch with the team. And ensure you’re creating a culture of appreciation and gratitude among the team generally—by recognizing people authentically and liberally, by building relationships among team members and by encouraging colleagues to provide encouragement to each other.
Make it Count
No matter what kind of work people do, the act of working has meaning. The jobs we perform make a contribution to the community, and they offer an opportunity to express talents, skills and capabilities.
And it’s possible for the content and experience of the work to be meaningful as well—significantly driven by performance, learning and recognition—with leaders who create and foster the conditions for these.