For a can-do team that pushes through whatever gets in the way, people need to have the essentials that build engagement: safety, belonging, and purpose.
As a leader, it never hurts to ask everyone on the team for ways to shore up a general sense of safety, belonging and purpose, but the optimal approach is ongoing and proactive. The mere act of paying attention to behaviors—yours and everyone around you—helps set a reassuring and supportive foundation for people to do great things regardless of what crosses their path. That’s at the heart of author and serial entrepreneur Christine Comaford’s advice to foster greater agility, resiliency, and engagement, which is summarized into these three steps:
1. Nurture people’s safety.
- Listen to concerns and form contingency plans.
- Normalize their unique experiences as something that happens during growth and change.
- Assure people that you have their back, and you’re in this with them, together.
2. Foster a sense of belonging.
- Let people know how glad you are that they’re on the team.
- Ask others for ideas about better (or more) communication and information-sharing.
- Involve people in projects and ways to collaborate.
3. Let people know they matter.
- Never hesitate to call out someone’s key strengths.
- Hand pick someone to lead a key initiative.
- Talk about the difference they’re making, and how they’re valued and appreciated.