This Thanksgiving you may be hosting dinner in your home or going to your parents or in-laws to be with family. The word home means much more than the dwelling where we were raised or the three-bedroom colonial we go to after work. Home embodies emotion, tradition, comfort, and heart.
As we navigate through the different stages of our lives, the physical structure where we reside changes–college dorm, apartment, starter house–but the need to feel comfortable does not. Once in the workplace, our place of employment really is our home-away-from-home. The location may change, but once there, we all need the same – to feel at ease, welcomed and accepted for who we are.
A building provides shelter, safety, and security to fulfill our most basic survival needs. But the place where we gather, whether a childhood residence, university dorm, or workplace cubicle, is merely an empty structure if there are not individuals there to help nurture our growth and sustain our needs for belonging, achievement, and self-worth. Whatever our industry or profession, there are certain aspects of a work environment that need to deeply satisfy us:
•A boss that helps develop us.
•Team members that trust, respect, and collaborate with one another.
•A feeling of contributing to a greater cause and using our talents to the best of our ability.
Just like going home for the holidays, we are reminded as adults that we need the same thing from our environment that we needed as children: opportunity to showcase our talents; people that care about us; and a family that gets along with one another.
A house is not a home until you put loving people in it. And a business is not a healthy work environment until you have individuals who put heart into everything they do.