A recent episode of The McKinsey Podcast focused on how a boss has a direct impact on health, happiness, and productivity. Now that’s quite a bit of influence when you think about it!
Tera Allas, McKinsey’s director of research and economics for its UK and Ireland office summarized the research. Happiness on the job is the second most important factor (after health and mental health) for overall life satisfaction. And an employee’s relationship with the boss is pivotal to job happiness.
Oh yes, and one more thing. 70% of people indicate that spending time with their boss is the most stressful part of the week.
Now that dichotomy is something to ponder. It can be daunting to think how overarching your influence can be beyond your day-to-day working relationship.
Everyone would agree that we all have room to improve and become a better boss, so here are a few ideas to consider.
+ Caring. The cliché that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care comes to mind. It doesn’t take long to check in with people about how they’re doing and asking the question can go a long way.
+ Thank them for the small stuff. You don’t need to wait for a monumental accomplishment. It costs you nothing to say thank you and receiving your thanks can go a long way.
+ Empathy. When you stand in other people’s shoes, they feel better and you have the opportunity to work better together.
Tera comments “happier employees are more productive, more engaged, and more loyal.” I know this probably isn’t the first time you’ve read a statement like this, but it’s always good to reinforce the thought.
Where do you go from here? My recommendation is to change one thing and reinforce that change until it becomes second nature.
