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“There is a direct link between how happy your employees are and how profitable you are.”
Chelsea Kneeland and Ron Friedman begin their conversation by exploring how The Best Place to Work came to be. Dr. Friedman noticed that there was a great deal of research on workplace motivation, but it was not easily accessible, so he set out to write a book grounded in research with actionable strategies for elevating employee performance and company success. Besides increasing profit potential, other benefits to boosting employee morale include decreased turnover and burnout, enhanced creativity, and learning how to get the best out of people.
A key component of Dr. Friedman’s research and recommendations is what he describes as the three psychological needs required for ensuring a great workplace culture. These include mastery, relatedness, and autonomy. He expounds on ideas for fostering these needs in your employees, which include learning and sharing ideas gleaned through podcasts, forming connections with colleagues through personal interests, and seeking team members’ input for how to achieve company goals.
Chelsea and Ron also discuss the problem of micro-management, its basis in fear, and how to combat it with abundant communication. They conclude by emphasizing the importance of enhancing your workplace culture by having leaders who lead by example. If we know that sleep, exercise, and work-life balance are crucial for our health and optimized performance, then leaders need to model these healthy priorities for their employees to imitate.