Why All Organizations Should Be A Great Place To Work.

What makes some companies great? What’s that magic formula these companies used to get their employees excited about their work? 

Many leaders consistently work to keep their team in a reward state because it releases that feel-good chemical, dopamine, which automatically helps the brain prefrontal cortex boost creativity. Why is this important? It’s important because it helps your team remain inspired and motivated at work. Most firms attract and keep the best talent available; this is not by chance, these leaders understand their team, they understand the dynamics involved to keep people inspired and they genuinely have a love for their people. 

I read several comments from many employees from various companies, and I must admit their expression and descriptions of their workplace were very, very inspirational. For example, take this quote from an employee from Zappos

“It’s not every day that you wake up and look forward to going to work. I couldn’t always say that about past jobs, but it’s something I can definitely say about working at Zappos. The people, the energy, and the culture at Zappos all make work not even feel like work. Time has flown by since I joined the company, and I’ve loved every minute of it.”

Why all organization cannot have an organizational culture that gets you excited about your job. Work should not be a prison sentence, waiting for bail every day at 4 or 5 in the afternoon. We spend so much of our time at our place of work; it should be a natural extension of our home, and I believe in all my heart that every organization should be a great place to work.

All the great companies have similar traits, and their biggest strength is their culture and the ability for their leadership to develop, maintain and retain their unique culture over the life of the company. It is so refreshing to listen and read about companies who tried to make their workplace the best, and the icing on the cake; increased profit because of a great culture. If you are a skeptic, do your own research.

But, the thing that is really amazing; money is not the prime motivator for many of these employees. They are not obsessed with only generating profit. A lot of these employees love the family like spirit in their organization, and a shared purpose that keeps them motivated and inspired to perform at their best. 

Many companies have a deep-seated awareness of their values and implement strategies to generate a high level of employee engagement. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don’t work just for a pay cheque, or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization’s goals and a strong belief in the company purpose. 

When employees care—when they are engaged—they use discretionary effort. This means the engaged computer programmer works overtime when needed, without being asked. This means the engaged retail clerk picks up the trash on the store floor, even if the boss isn’t watching.

This means the TSA’s agent will pull a suspicious bag to be searched, even if it’s the last bag on their shift. When you generate that type of culture; treating your people with respect and dignity, recruiting your employees based on your organizational culture, committing to the organizational values, having open communication on all fronts of your company, creating a culture of trust.

When you create that kind of environment, you have created something so special, only a few companies have mastered. When you create that kind of environment you will witness significant growth in your employees, personally and professionally. As a leader, your team will feed off of you, your team will draw their inspiration from you and as a result, your company culture is a direct reflection of your values.  

When inspirational leadership exists, people raise each other to higher levels of motivation and morality; instill a sense of adventure in others that radically alter the company status quo to run after their goals, dominate their industry and in the process help their team believe in the impossible. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gifford is the author of The Inspirational Leader, Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible, a member of Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, A leadership consultant with GLG, the Managing Director of Gifford Thomas Plumbing and the founder of Leadership First, a company committed to motivating, inspiring, mentoring and coaching over 24,000 leaders every day to believe that the impossible is possible.

If you'd like to develop into a great inspirational leader, follow our 24,500 + community of leaders right here on LinkedIn and download a copy of my book by following this LINK to become a leader who can inspire their team to believe in the impossible.