It may seem odd to talk about emotions and heart in the workplace, but how employees “feel” directly impacts their performance. Let me explain.

In our industrial age, most employees performed recurring tasks in the manufacturing of products. There was not a lot of formal and creative thinking required; rather, compliance to policy and following procedures generally created a good product. How employees felt, and what they thought, were generally not welcomed into the impersonal production process. We managed people by command and control – dictating and telling. It was effective; that is why we did it.

But that is not today’s workplace. In today’s intellectual age, our employees are face-to-face with customers, not behind machines. They must connect personally and emotionally with customers – they must be thinking and feeling – in order to earn customers’ loyalty. Every customer event must be right, but few customer events are exactly the same. That means employees must be ready, thinking and connecting in order to know how to make the service event right and memorable.

Command-and-control management does not activate this type of performance. Employee performance and loyalty must be inspired, not manipulated. Employees who feel capable, competent, important and valued respond to customers in a loyalty-building way.

Author Simon Sinek presents in his book, Start With Why, that we respond better when our connection is emotional and personal. Employee loyalty is based on management’s ability to win their employees’ hearts, not just their minds. Hearts are connected to our deep emotional side – the side that drives our most significant behaviors. Loyalty is based on heart. “Heart responds to inspiration, not manipulation.” Exceptional performance comes from the heart.

Engage-and-inspire managers:
1. Know their employees and hire them into roles that play to their talents and passions.
2. Customize jobs to play to employees’ strengths and the things they love to do.
3. Provide recurring feedback to build a strong personal rapport and connection.
4. Help employees feel part of the team, important and personally valuable.

Great performance is dependent on committed employees. Employees become committed when they are emotionally invested in their work. Hire the right ones. Help them feel important, capable and valuable. Activate their heart.

Review your management style and assess its impact. Do you manipulate or inspire?