How to Make Your Business a Force for Good
Happy Mental Health Week!
This week while we are attuned to the many facets of mental health, I will offer a proven but counter-intuitive approach to self-care.
We humans are social creatures. As such we need connection and to feel like we are contributing to a better tomorrow. We crave to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Our businesses are a powerful medium to do be of service to others.
Look to your company’s mission for inspiration. There are so many causes you could support. Your company’s mission is a visible guide for ways to give back.
Especially to Millennials, it’s important to serve a higher purpose. We are a conscious generation. Often we are motivated by finding the meaning in our work more so than by our paycheck. It’s also smart business. Feeling connected to a bigger cause inspires employees to stay longer and become passionate advocates for your company.
Do you have an issue that you feel passionately about? It could be fighting cancer, working with underprivileged children, sustainability, or a million other causes.
The big leap is to integrate your passion with what you do daily.
Most companies have a list of values. However, stating them is not enough. The key is to translate values into concrete actions.
Here are some specific examples of actions you can take to live your values:
Take a day to volunteer as a company. For example, a couple times of year your team could participate in an environmental cleanup effort.
Donate a percentage of revenue or profit to a charitable organization. Programs like G1VE assist with selecting an organization and making the donations.
Support other businesses with similar values.
Talk about it – let people know what is important to your company. It will raise everyone’s consciousness.
Practice what you preach in big and small ways. Caring for your team could mean offering paid parental leave to mothers and fathers. It could also be having a recycling bin in the kitchen.
Since exercise improves mental health, offer employees incentives to work out like a discounted gym membership.
These are only a few examples. Depending on the cause you could have many more ways to be of service.
There is a spiritual phrase called “enlightened self-interest.” It means that when we help others, we also help ourselves.
Have you ever seen a bumper sticker about a rescue animal that says something like, “who rescued who?” Helping others increase your happiness, satisfaction, and mental health.
In honor of Mental Health Week, I encourage you to take action. You set the course for your company, so pick a cause you are truly passionate about.
For me, I’m choosing to highlight mental health. It’s a very personal subject for me and I care greatly for the mental health of others. This article is my way of helping people find greater purpose and happiness in their daily life.
Leave a comment and share which cause you picked, the action, and what impact it had.
When you make your work about more than just your products and services, you fill your heart and your wallet. It fuels you to do more and become a force for good in your community.