“In my work with leadership teams and corporate clients, I’ve asked thousands of managers and team members to think of a great team they’ve been part of and identify what made it different. In anonymous surveys, in nine out of ten cases, the top three factors are ‘we cared about each other’, ‘we had each other’s back’ and ‘we encouraged each other’.
This reinforces the importance of feeling like we belong, which is a fundamental human need. These qualities also mirror what Harvard Business School’s Amy Edmondson calls ‘psychological safety’: when team members feel they can be their authentic selves, suggest new ideas without fear and challenge ideas they disagree with. Google’s Project Aristotle found that psychological safety was by far the most important factor in their best teams.
Some leaders call skills such as empathy, respect and compassion ‘soft skills’, but in today’s workplace we need a better term. As leadership author and former Silicon Valley executive Minette Norman argues, ‘Call them strong skills, brave skills, or leadership superpowers’. Norman’s work highlights the courage and strength required to exercise these skills in the workplace. They’re essential for leaders who want to create environments where employees feel valued, included and enabled.
Treating people well brings immense benefits in employee engagement, discretionary effort and productivity. Research from Gartner, Gallup and Harvard Business Review shows that psychologically safe workplaces have 76% higher engagement, 50% more productivity and 74% less stress.
A great leader’s care mindset
The most effective leadership strategy is preventing crisis. Think of it like this – it’s much easier to maintain good health than to recover from a heart attack. Leaders need to keep their teams (and themselves) in what I call the ‘green zone’; that space where people feel energetic, optimistic and resourceful. The alternative is the ‘red zone’, where people feel angry, depressed and ashamed.
The three pillars of prevention, early intervention and performance are:
- Self-care: Building your own resilience so you can lead from strength rather than desperation. When you’re running on empty, you have nothing to give your team.
- Crew care: Creating belonging and safe, resilient groups. This isn’t about being soft. It’s about building the foundations for high performance.
- Red-zone care: Knowing how to identify and support struggling team members effectively, without burning out yourself or becoming their therapist.
These pillars are all critical and interconnected. Together, they increase resilience and growth and reduce risk, building sustainable success. Organisations with strong management approaches have higher retention, better performance and healthier cultures. Employees who feel supported are twice as likely to work in sustainable environments and experience fewer conflicts.
