One area of high concern for me is the lack of self-care in today’s workforce. If we fail to address the need, our people and their families will pay a big price, and it will impact quality in business. The culprit is oftentimes the organization’s culture. Being aware of the behaviors that lead to a lack of self-care is essential to foster productive employees and therefore a growing company. I hope you enjoy this week’s principle.

Self-Care.  Bringing one’s whole self to work has become an important workplace requirement. The results are improved judgment and a greater ability to execute in key areas of responsibility. Research affirms that the best performing employees are those who have addressed this need. The opposite of self-care is self-destruction and it has two aspects–self-neglect and self-centeredness. Self-neglect is the abandonment of self-care, and involves living for work, with little margin to address the rest of life. Oftentimes internal resentments abound due to the lack of downtime, and more mistakes are made as a result of high stress which fosters unclear thinking. Self-centeredness, on the other hand, is the abuse of self-care, where personal agendas trump corporate goals, making it impossible to develop high performing teams where self-sacrifice and putting other’s needs ahead of one’s own needs is required. Organizational leaders who understand these distinctions are careful to monitor and manage these tensions in human behavior. In both cases, appealing to the employee’s self-interest is the key, using professional management skills.

Coaching questions: To what degree do you have need of self-care? What steps can you take to first manage your own need for self-care, and then in your staff?

Read more coaching principles from Dean Harbry on the Internal Innovations website.