How to Get Your Employees to Care
You can’t get people to care until you give them something to care about. And to do that, you’ve got to show them how each employee’s contribution matters to an important mission and to each other.
An emergency room surgeon sees the meaning of their work daily. But does the hospital’s logistics team see they also save lives? After all, they
- stocked the right scalpels
- deployed bandages in the right cabinets
- maintained spare parts for the OR equipment
- added stocks to meet projected patient volumes
- reduced costs 1% so surgeons can have the best instruments
Could your turnover be lower if people had a diagram of how their part keeps the whole engine running?
Showing people why their work matters reduces turnover and improves productivity. Our August 2025 Workgroup has given you some things to think about:
Care About the Mission
- How do your organization’s products or services make the world a better place?
- Do the senior managers retain the founder’s enthusiasm for the work?
- What big trends will make your work more or less meaningful?
- Share customer stories about how your products or services have helped them.
- Dedicate the organization to excellent customer service.
- Share KPIs and financial results, good or bad.
Care About Their Contribution
- Does each employee see how their own contribution matters to the mission?
- What percentage of each employee’s time is spent on meaningful work?
- How are you helping each employee learn how to get better and better?
- Engage employees in the decisions that affect them.
- Cancel processes (meetings, tools, reports, etc.) that aren’t essential.
- Make sure they’re not overbooked on tasks and projects.
Care About Each Other
- Does each employee see how they help other employees and vice versa?
- How many of your managers put their employees first?
- How can employees formally recognize each other for excellence?
- Free up managers’ time so they can build rapport with their employees.
- Provide time and support for employees getting to know each other.
- Keep up the good fight for tolerance, acceptance, and celebration of differences.
