Since February is the month of love, this month’s articles are going to be following a common theme. Let’s start with love in your business…
Contrary to the idea that business is highly competitive, hard driven, cut-throat even, to have love at the heart or your business (pardon the pun) is to show care, empathy, generosity, thoughtfulness and even passion for what you do and the people who are a part of it.
Love can be the energy that supersedes transactional models in business to bring a holistic focus of well-being to the forefront.
Do you show love in your business? Here’s how you can tell…
When employees feel loved they are content and feel valued. And that means:
Creativity flourishes: a loving safe space to share ideas and innovation helps employees feel secure, and that means…
Staff retention and loyalty improves: the way an employer makes someone feel can easily be the deciding factor as to whether they stay or leave. All things being equal, a valued employee is more loyal.
Productivity goes up: in creative workplaces innovation blossoms. And a team that feel loved naturally want to impress.
Showing love in your business goes outside the boundaries of the buildings though, and projects onto your customer base too. To ensure that your customers have easy access to support, are happy with your service and can rely on you to follow through with your promises is to show love.
When customers feel loved they are proud to be associated with you, and that means:
Customer loyalty improves: and they move quickly to being ambassadors.
You are a trusted provider: repeat business, positive reviews and referrals are the greatest compliments your customers can give you. Do you feel confident asking for those things?
Your online reputation is the best it’s ever been: what do your customers say about you online, where they feel freer to tell the truth due to that element of separation?
Further afield even, than your customer base is your local community and the environment. Showing love here is to take part in networking events, trade events, sponsorship opportunities, pro-bono work, ethically sourced resources – you get the idea.
Reducing your carbon footprint: are you able to make ethical choices for your business operations?
Showing good CSR: if you do your part for corporate social responsibilities you’re supporting your community and charities one way or another.
Showing love in these ways can be a differentiator that your employees and customers will appreciate too.
So, if you agree with my thoughts above, or even some of them, you could also agree that love is a crucial part of business, and we all thrive when it love is abundant.