Happy Valentine’s Day! This week is a great occasion to reflect on the integrative power of love. Love is a perfect energy force: it is sustainable (with some care), it is exclusively human (I love that very much). It brings together, it magnifies, it maximizes and it reintegrates. Like all other forms of energy, it can also destroy, generate fear and pain, dependence and despair.

Let's explore how to harness the positive energy of love to solve disconnection, isolation, rapid change and rising fear, to breathe love back into our homes and our work.

Love, Misunderstood

Love is probably one of the most studied but the least understood human behaviors. Some of us are triggered by the word itself: love is not up for discussion, even less in the workplace. For others, love is a private and intimate matter of the heart that has no room outside the home, while some others believe that love has a role to play in everything connected to everyday life, including the workplace. For them, love in the workplace exists in support of a fellow human in the form of trust, respect, empathy and kindness. Wherever you stand on this, we all grasp the power behind the word.

Love, A Human Energy

Let’s rewind a second. Since the beginning of time, the question of love has been triggering heated conversations and producing the most beautiful works of art. Our Greek ancestors were surely the wisest when they defined four levels of love:

• Storge: The love of parents for their child, is the most natural of loves.
• Eros: The erotic love, in the sense of "being in love" as opposed to raw sexuality. This love does not last long, unless it evolves into Philia.
• Philia: The love of friends and equals, is also the love between long time lovers. It is the healing love. The love that lowers blood pressure and creates positive emotions. Today's scholars describe Philia as companionate love.
• Agape: The love of mankind, is unconditional love. The ultimate form of love.

Philia is the kind of love we'd like to see growing in our home and in our workplaces. The type of love that can reconnect us to ourselves and to our fellow humans. The love that can remove fear, improve well-being and transform uncertainty into trust. This love needs work: it needs awareness, it needs intention, and it needs commitment.

Work Needs Love

The word “love” is not welcome at work…yet. Too personal. Too dangerous. Too vulnerable. But if we speak of companionate love, Philia, then we open new avenues for ‘love’ to become acceptable and desirable…. Which in turn gives us access to the immense integrative power of love. Today, after 2 years of pandemic and many more years of accelerating change, the consequences on workplace morale are dramatic: accelerated loneliness (61% - Cigna 21), accelerated stress (55% Gallup 19), burn-out (52% - Cigna 20), and rising mental issues (50% - HBR 21).

The workplace needs healing. And it is not an additional productivity tool or a new individual benefit that will do the trick. Disintegration is too profound. We need reintegrative power. Love is what we need, but it cannot be imposed. In the workplace, love translates into an emotional culture of caring and trusting. It relates to authenticity and empathy with all the other humans with whom we are pursuing common professional goals, like the mission and vision of the organization.

Employees Who Feel Love Perform Better

Research shows that “Employees Who Feel Love Perform Better” (HBR). When people work in a loving culture where they can express affection, tenderness, caring, and compassion for one another­, they report higher levels of satisfaction and teamwork. They are more present at work, more satisfied with their jobs, more committed to the organization, and more accountable for their performance. “Most importantly, though, it is the small moments between coworkers — a warm smile, a kind note, a sympathetic ear — day after day, month after month, that help create and maintain a strong culture of companionate love and the employee satisfaction, productivity, and client satisfaction that comes with it.” In other words, Love is the integrating energy that accelerates a culture of meaning and purpose.

Take Love One Step At A Time

If you are not sure that your organization is ready for love yet, you can take steps towards a supporting culture by encouraging people to create communities around the interests they care about. Go above and beyond ERGs (Employee Run Groups), give everyone in the organization the opportunity to create and join the communities they wish for. Let them be the builders of a culture of caring, trust and belonging. You will be surprised. Maybe you will discover that a majority of your co-workers are dog lovers, that your veterans have amazing ideas for a new service, that your basketball stars are Alex, your COO, Philippe, the new guy at the welcome desk, Rob, the tech guru, and Isabelle, the young woman who works in production. Maybe you will also see some unexpected support groups: people with aging parents, a grief support group or a cancer survivor group. This will be the base for a new culture of caring and love. It will make your organization stronger, more efficient, and it will increase the positive impact of your organization on the world.

Ready to build a culture of care, trust & belonging? Ready to give love a chance at work? MixR can help you get started. Visit www.mixr.net to learn more and book a demo today. And, don’t be shy - spread the power of love across your networks! Happy Valentine’s Day :)