“What would it be like if each one of us brought LOVE into our work environment?”
What was your first impression when you read that question?
She must be a dreamer?
It is not possible…
Huh, bring love to work…What?
You see, when we come across the word “love”, we’re quick to categorize it as an emotion or feeling that doesn’t belong at the office. We worry that if we do dare to bring it up, we’d come across as naïve or emotional–unwelcome qualities in a traditional workplace.
So, we suppress our capacity for love.
And we believe love’s role is to strengthen family ties, friendships, and romantic relationships.
However, anyone who has been in a romantic relationship knows that simply loving your partner as an internal emotion you experience is not enough.
Love needs to manifest as an action–a conscious decision to behave in a way that is compassionate, supportive, and collaborative–for the relationship to thrive.
In the same way, additional skills associated with love such as listening openly, negotiation, setting boundaries, vulnerability, and commitment are integral to effective teamwork and leadership at work.
That’s why we need to bring love to work.
Love is not simply an emotion. It’s an action and a fundamental human value.
6 Ways To Manifest Love As An Action At Work
The truth is, love is not simply an emotion, it’s a commitment to loving actions regardless of the nature of your relationship with the other party.
It’s a choice and a decision we take every day.
It acknowledges how each of us has a story and a struggle, and it’s our humanitarian responsibility to be there for each other in every way we can.
Love as an emotion is limited.
What if we start looking at love as an ACTION VERB for a moment and reflect on the impact and contribution it can have on our workplace?
Here are 6 ways love as an action can manifest at work:
1. Respect
Globalization has opened the doors to multi-cultural and diverse workspaces.
Love as an action is inclusive. It means respecting the diversity in our opinions, genders, beliefs, values, personalities, backgrounds, way of life, etc. It means tolerance to curiosity rather than judgment and fear.
We may be different, and that doesn’t need to be a trigger. Each and every one of us deserves respect.
2. Empathy
The truth is, we all face daily challenges and struggle with uncertainty.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a shift from proximal learning to distant learning and from working at the office to working remotely. Our expatriate colleagues may be homesick and missing their loved ones.
Love as an action is an empathetic effort to understand some of what your colleagues may be going through. You tap into your own situations and experiences and extend your struggling colleagues some empathy.
3. Support
Interdependence is fundamental to the achievement of organizational objectives.
Love as an action realizes that the success of the team is in supporting the success of each member. Sometimes, you may find yourself depending on your team members to complete their tasks on time, share information with you, and even help with your workload when a family emergency demands your attention.
When you act from love, you recognize that you have strengths that you can lend others to help them get by. In this way, you create a mutual sharing of strengths that leads to better results.
4. Camaraderie
Camaraderie is the sense of caring and trust amongst co-workers that increases happiness and productivity at the office. When you feel good about the people you work with, you’re more likely to be excited about your job.
In fact, Harvard Business Review reports that having friends at work makes the job more fun, worthwhile, and satisfying.
Love as an action breeds camaraderie and inspires you to bond with the humans you share your work life with. Put in the effort to connect with your colleagues and build camaraderie through trust, appreciation, and mutual respect.
5. Holding Space
Most of the time we jump into the meeting agenda without stopping to check on how other people are. The “good” you get is an automatic response rather than a genuine expression of how they are feeling.
Love as an action reminds us to hold space for others by openly listening, curiously asking, and sincerely supporting.
Instead of simply jumping into the day’s activities, try asking your colleagues how they are doing and listen. Suspend judgment and resist the urge to try and fix their situation. After all, there’s so much joy from holding space for them to share their experiences.
6. Synergy
Synergy within the team happens through collaboration towards a common goal and the understanding that the power of the team is bigger than the sum of its individual members.
When we come from a place of love, we recognize that the collective value of the team is greater than your personal power, regardless of your talents, strengths, and intelligence.
We do our part and contribute to the team synergy by aligning towards the same goals, staying true to your values, and helping each other.
Love has its place in every dimension of our lives.
When we bring love to our workplace, we create a corporate culture of inclusion, compassion, and collaboration.
Love has the potential to create a motivating and empowering work environment where you can grow personally and professionally.
And it inspires creativity, enhances job satisfaction, and increases employee retention.
In the end, we are social creatures, and the more we nurture love and belonging, the better our wellbeing.
Choosing to love–as an action–is choosing humanity.