How can leaders create an environment where trust and cooperation thrive to achieve sustainable success?
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
Not just managerial skills that handle metrics or individual intelligence or skills that determine organizational success, but also how well people collaborate, and leadership excel. Feeling a shared burden unites society, and struggles add value to accomplishments. A true leader prioritizes others’ needs over self-interest to protect them, especially in challenging times, fostering loyalty and unity.
Fear vs. Trust: Building a Safe Workplace Culture
Fear of job loss or hierarchy pressures drives self-preservation over shared accountability. True leaders listen to employees and create caring environments, and focus on their organization’s purpose (“The Why”). Healthy organizations prioritize care for people over the drive to win. To make a strong workplace cultures there should be empathy and trust to succeed in this internal dangers that could be reduces by creating conditions for employee success, not by changing employees because they should be treated well as a family not just numbers by offing safety belonging and trust which will strengthened the organization against external threats. A broken Circle of Safety forces individuals to protect themselves rather than collaborate.
Prioritizing people first leads to long-term success over short-term results because employees perform better when they feel valued, trusted, and cared for, which reduces workplace stress and anxiety, diminishing the increase in heart attack risk and the poor outcomes. Sometimes the stress can result from the lack of control and not the job’s demands or effort required _ Leadership roles tend to experience less stress due to greater autonomy and control _ so a leader should empower employees, especially those closest to information to improve decision-making because a top-down control leads to collapse.
Workplace happiness is critical for mental and physical well-being, influenced by the mood and the work environment than hours worked. Many feel trapped in unhealthy work environments due to familiarity or lack of better options. A strong organizational culture promotes communication, collaboration, and problem-solving, enabling people to achieve together beyond individual capabilities _ Humans are social creatures, survive and succeed depending on trust and cooperation. This support for one another triggers biological rewards.
The Science of Collaboration: Neurochemistry & Well-Being
There are chemical systems in our brain that influence behaviors and emotions. The first one is the selfish system (endorphins, dopamine) that motivates personal achievement and gratification, they provide short-term rewards. The other is the selfless system (serotonin, oxytocin) that fosters trust, loyalty, connection, and group harmony, here, it is recommended to create smaller groups (150 is an ideal size for maintaining camaraderie). They take time but create lasting bonds of trust and collaboration. Endorphin is released during physical activity to mask pain or laughter, they reduce pain and enhance feelings of pleasure, dopamine on the other hand, provides satisfaction for goal achievement to receive recognition which drives us to seek success and personal satisfaction. Just by setting goals they will an increase in dopamine then focus. The problem in dopamine don’t offer lasting fulfillment and loyalty because of the addiction of hitting targets (Generation Y’s impatience stems from a misunderstanding of success as instant and a distraction addiction). On the other hand, Serotonin is linked to feelings of pride, confidence, status, and belonging, and a sense of value, it’s crucial for social bonding and building self-esteem in relationships, it motivate also individuals to support and lead others, it can be fueled in companies by recognition systems like awards. While oxytocin is released during moments of closeness, like hugging or acts of kindness, promoting trust and loyalty among people and a sense of belonging, a lack of it can lead to challenges in building trust, which arises from active concern for others, beyond just rule-following, and forming relationships. Oxytocin boosts immunity and counters dopamine addiction enhancing safety and mutual protection. Each chemical is produced to protect us. For example, Cortisol is released under stress or danger to prepare us for survival, causing harm to the cognitive function, health, and workplace balance when prolonged.
Servant Leadership: Sacrifice, Empowerment, and Legacy
To address this issue, true leaders sacrifice and serve, not just work on their ranks and titles. By giving a sense of purpose to their team, they inspire individuals who believe in a higher purpose to resist following harmful orders. Great leaders prioritize purpose, stand up to external pressures to focus on long-term success; they invest in trust, belonging, and caring cultures.
Shared Responsibility: Leadership Beyond Hierarchy
True leadership is not exclusive to top positions, a leader doesn’t blame authority figures for their mistakes; it is a responsibility shared by all members of the group. Hierarchies have deep evolutionary roots in human and animal societies, emerging as a natural way to organize groups and ensure survival. Try to know and understand your teams personally more to feel more sense of responsibility toward them and show them the positive impact of their work to motivate them more and drive their commitment to the organization. Respect and empathy outweigh talent or personal ambition in fostering collaboration and sharing, which supports innovations. The difference between a leader and a dictator, the former inspires vision and loyalty by sharing responsibility and fostering confidence in teams by being honest in agreeing, disagreeing, and making mistakes, while the latter provokes resistance and rebellion. Leadership impact is judged not by actions during tenure but by the legacy left behind.
Loyalty & Corporate Truths: Beyond Money and Shareholders
To make employees loyal to the company, leaders should foster belonging and offer meaningful reasons beyond money. Shareholders are not legal owners of corporations; corporations own themselves and are not required to maximize share price.
Buy the Book: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek
Also Read: Cultural Diversity: Global and African Communication Styles for Collaboration
