Risk Mitigation Through Unconditional Love

We’re on the threshold of a major cultural change.

Organizations are finally realizing that for people to live up to their productivity potential, they have to be happy and fulfilled at work. And in order for people to feel happy and fulfilled at work, they must be seen as individuals.

This is especially true in creativity-fueled industries, where negative emotion destroys the sense of ease and openness that creativity demands.

Friction, Tension, Confusion, and Disillusionment hamstring writers, programmers, graphic designers, and every other kind of artist.

That’s why HR departments are turning to mediation, facilitation, conflict coaching, and Ombuds Offices more than ever before.

I call it “Risk Mitigation Through Unconditional Love.”

These strategies appeal to Humanists and Bureaucrats alike.

Unhappy people:

  • File Lawsuits,
  • Suddenly Quit,
  • Leak Information,
  • Badmouth Bosses,
  • Spread Gossip,
  • Distract from the Mission, and

… Generally Suck to work with.

(Let’s face it. We’ve all been there.)

These problems are often Relationship Issues.

Unhappy relationships stem from hundreds (or thousands…) of small sub-par interactions. Micro-failures on everyone’s side.

There are lots of warning signs for those who pay attention.

Deep listening and conflict coaching can nip a huge percentage of catastrophic conflicts in the bud.

As Lao Tzu says:

Confront the difficult while it is still easy.

To do that, we have to learn to pay attention. We have to learn deep listening. We have to learn how to help people feel heard. We have to learn to excavate the Truth Behind the Words.

We have to learn how to solve problems not by compromising our own values, but by collaborating in a way that embraces everyone’s needs.

In my book, all those learnings are flavors of Unconditional Love. What the ancient Greeks called agape. What the ancient Indians called ahimsa. They are expressions of what modern psychology calls Unconditional Positive Regard.

It’s the paradox of modern productivity: It only happens when you forget the goal and focus on the human experience of the person in front of you.

Hence, “Risk Mitigation Through Unconditional Love.”